Toddler Computer Protection

Among the many actions you can take to keep your Toddlers out of the "Internet/PC Danger Zone", is this nifty software brought to my attention from a recent ParentHacks posting. ToddlerKeys when activated will lock your keyboard, mouse, power button and cd drive doors from pounding and abuse, and will provide a bit of a sound/light show to satiate curiosity.

Squibbles: Parent Resources

Check out this new online site for kid-friendly sites, called "Squibbles". It's based on user submissions and votes, and caters to Parents and their knowledge/understanding of what's good and safe online for kids.

New rule: NO using someone else's computer

Well, it finally happened...Didi (8 yr. old) was over her friend's house (Kim), and her friend invited her to play on her computer (in her basement, unsupervised). Of course, the computer was totally unprotected, and, regardless of the fact Kim's parents had told her only to go to the "favorites" links, someone had told Kim in school that "www.hannahmontana.com" was a cool site (or something similar). This led to the appreciation that "www.yournamehere" might be interesting, so she tried that. A few tries and mispellings later, naturally up popped a porn site, that the girls laughed over for a while before Kim's Mom intervened and shut the party down.

Suffice it to say Dadministrator had to let Kim's parents know of this blog, and other information like it....plus, the new rule is: Our children are simply NOT allowed to play or touch a computer in someone else's house. Period. End of story.