Raising G-Rated Kids in an X-rated Culture

My daughter is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. This year, she has been given some internet/research assignments for school. This has made me very nervous.....type in the wrong thing (which is easy to do for a child who does not spell very well yet) and you never know what will pop up on the screen! Then you begin thinking about the online predators and you might just want to throw the computer out the window altogether.

Parents would be wise to spend time with their children on the computer and teach them how to research, give them a list of websites that they are allowed to browse etc. and also be WITH them as they begin learning to navigate the computer. However, they are going to eventually have time when you are not going to be there 100% of the time. So, how do we protect these innocent eyes and hearts?

One of our MOPS members gave this article to me about this very subject and I would like to share with you the good resources that it contains. These are several excerpts from Pastor Keith Missel on his series "Winning the Battle for Purity."

Here are a list of Internet Resources:

Covenant Eyes: www.covenanteyes.com - This is primarily an internet accountability service (where history is emailed to someone), but they have recently added filtering.

Safe Eyes: www.internetsafety.com - Protects your family from harmful online content and keeps you informed of all web activities

Be Secure: www.bsecure.com - The recipient of PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award for parental controls software

My Kids:  www.mykids.com - Provides both an internet filtering and numerous other internet tools for parents

Plugged In:  www.pluggedin.com - Focus on the Family- Sharing a light on the world of popular entertainment (music, video games, movie reviews and more)

Clear Play:  www.clearplay.com - A new type of parental control where you can personalize the playback of your movies by simply selecting content types you want edited from your movies (ie. violence, sensual, vulgarity, blaspheme, bloodshed, etc.)

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I believe that with this filtering process, we must turn over our children, once again, to the Lord in prayer. He will give us wisdom when we need it most. He PROMISES that in His Word. As our kids get older, things like this can really make a parent fear....however, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of PEACE!