Zip it, block it, flag it
There is a new campaign in the UK to help teach children and parents about the dangers of using the Internet, games such as Club Penguin where little ones can talk to strangers who may or may not be children and the dangers of chat rooms for older children. The slogan is zip it ( don’t give out personal info), block it, ( block anyone that makes you feel uncomfotable so they can no longer communicate with you) and flag it ( talk to your parent/teacher/adult about what has happened) I like the slogan, it’s catchy and gets to the point.
My teenage son has just asked for some headphones for his birthday to use with a playstation game. It was so that he could hear more clearly what online strangers are saying as they play the game with him. Not the best birthday gift idea as the language can be terrible as people play this PS3 game. To its credit, the PS3 does scramble it so you can’t hear clearly what is being said, but the odd swear word or sentence does get out and you don’t need to be a brainbox to know what f stands for. Clearly there is no way he is getting headphones.
My daughter is begging me to give her MSN. She’s 11 and is the only one in her year group of around 40 children that doesn’t have it, or so she tells me. Letters have gone out to parents about bullying that has happened within another year group using MSN, another letter came out about children sending emails with nasty chain mails attached. I’m standing firm. If she wants to chat to her school friends she can pick up something called a telephone. Or I can be really cruel and she can wait until the next day to speak to them.
My 8 year old doesn’t have email. I didn’t think that was a problem until her French teacher told the class that they should all have email by now and set them homework where they would be required to enter their email address. She didn’t do the homework. She’s 8, she plays with Barbies, she still believes in Santa, she doesn’t need an email address. Who would she email?
I’m not operating in the dark. We have three pc’s in the house, the children can use the pc’s at certain times of the day but I know that there is either homework going on or specific games which I know about. Nasty chain mails, bulling with MSN all passes me by. The children are happy and if the only battle I have with my daughter is on giving her MSN then I think we are getting on pretty well!!
Remember, zip it, block it, flag it……
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