How do you control internet access for your kids?

[Tin Pot]

Little Knees hasn't thus far been that interested in the internet, being largely happy to look up the odd thing on wikipedia, and always with one of us to help initially.

However, I am aware that the appeal of the internet will inevitably increase as she gets older, and so I've begun to wonder about how best I might put some sort of control on it. I'm very much in favour of teaching her to be careful about what she does online, and would hope that whatever I set up will allow her sufficient freedom that she will rarely if ever come up against the restrictions - but as a responsible parent I feel that I should put in some barriers to prevent the seedier parts of the web encroaching on her childhood.

I'm thinking of running the connection through a proxy (squid, possibly?) on a Pi or similar, but before I start investigating, I wondered what solutions others have come up with.

Talk to them, tell them what the problems are, ask them to talk to you when something inappropriate happens.

Security controls won't protect curious and ill informed children (or adults).

On my shared machine I also use K9 free from Bluecoat. They analyse all the traffic to and from the machine, blocking based on settings and website reputation.

 

[r04DiE]

I'm too lazy to read all of this thread so forgive me if this has already been mentioned. The best way is to control it at the router, using OpenDNS.

 

[r04DiE]

I honestly don't think you can, in any meaningful way. It has to be part of a more general, as it were higher-level, approach to raising 'em right. If they have the will, they'll surely find a way - with or without the help of their friends. It's a bit like when they're older, trying to help them stay safe at night: you can't police them while they're out, and excess strictness will just turn you into enemies, and is likely to end up being counter-productive. You have to try to instill the right values more generally, so that when they choose, they mostly make the right choices. That's my take on it anyway, and I think ours have turned out pretty good, overall.

^^This is also spot on and better than any other type of control. But if you need it, do it at the router.

 

[KneesUp]

I'm too lazy to read all of this thread so forgive me if this has already been mentioned. The best way is to control it at the router, using OpenDNS.

But by using TOR you could load whatever you liked.

 

[Andy_R]

I'm too lazy to read all of this thread so forgive me if this has already been mentioned. The best way is to control it at the router, using OpenDNS.

Ermm.no.. As a parent, the best way to control it, is to discuss it, and not shy away from contentious issues. Be open, frank, and supportive with those children of an appropriate age. Don't try to block; your children are more than likely more tech savvy than you, and will see that as a challenge. Instead, adopt a healthy "if there is something you see on the 'net that bothers you, talk to me about it" attitude. My son is 13 and has shown me a couple of websites that Google directed him to, that he felt uncomfortable about and we worked out why Google had sent us there, and how he could change his searches. It was nothing pornographic - he was researching the similarities/differences between religion/extremism for a RE project. (And before anyone gets a band wagon going, it was about Catholic/Protestant versions of the same Christian religion)

 

[Andy_R]

If I want him to clean his room though, I change the WiFi password....

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

And before anyone gets a band wagon going, it was about Catholic/Protestant versions of the same Christian religion...

So much better and more acceptable than those "darkies" and their religions

 

[slowmotion]

Once your kids get to secondary school, they will have enough clever friends to run rings around any parental controls. That's the truth.

 

[jonny jeez]

Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify, I did say in my opening post that I'm very much in favour of teaching her to be responsible - and I should have said that the only computer she uses for the internet at the moment is in the kitchen - when she does use it, it's when a parent is cooking. You're all absolutely correct that teaching her not to give out information and so on is the best thing to do.

I think I was more thinking of protecting her from the many ways companies (and individuals, I suppose) might try to exploit her online rather than to stop her seeing things, to be honest. She has my old laptop but only uses it for offline stuff, and it's running Linux so it's pretty secure anyway I guess, compared to Windows at least.

The time thing isn't an issue at the moment because she never takes any device upstairs anyway. I used to work in schools, and also in IT, so I know kids tend to find ways around things - I was thinking of connecting the proxy directly to the router which in turn only provide internet access to it (filtered by MAC address or something) and securing those settings via password, but I suppose she could if she wanted just put a clean install on the proxy because she'd have physical access to it (because it'd be behind the tv next to the router) - I would imagine that when it got to that stage I'd accept that she knew what she was doing (And as I typed that it occurred to me that she could get a PAYG data dongle when she's older anyway)

Your general approach of education is the best one.

No matter how many filters and clocks you place on your router, they will get around it by borrowing a mates btwifi login, or popping to the nearest wifi (macdonalds, mates house, school) and doing whatever they want internet wise.

You may also be surprised at how many access points the average house has to the Internet, old "dead" handsets, tablets, iPods, television not to mention their laptops, phones and home pc's.

I took to switching off our router every night But realised that next doors wifi is still accessible, so now take my youngest daughters handset off her at 9.00 every school night. I haven't yet felt the need to scan her room for hidden devices but I know she has at least one old iPhone some place.

 

[jonny jeez]

so you leave all the pron sites available for access ??

funily enough though they have never been accessed when I look at the logs , which shows the trust thing works.

??

Or shows that they know how to deploy proxy browsing.

 

[KnackeredBike]

I took to switching off our router every night

My parents used to do that which I got around by the simple expedient of plugging an old router into another phone socket

 

[Sandra6]

Those of you who think your children will - or have already - find a way around any controls you set, does that not highlight a basic flaw in your parenting?

The fact that your children will deliberately go against you? Would it not be better to have a conversation about that first?
Mine are no angels, and boundaries are meant to be pushed, and believe me they have done some stupid stuff, but something as basic as that would be a given.

 

[jonny jeez]

Those of you who think your children will - or have already - find a way around any controls you set, does that not highlight a basic flaw in your parenting?

The fact that your children will deliberately go against you? Would it not be better to have a conversation about that first?
Mine are no angels, and boundaries are meant to be pushed, and believe me they have done some stupid stuff, but something as basic as that would be a given.

do you believe that children will do whatever their parents want or tell them to do, all the time?

 

[Drago]

Internet device locked in gun safe = no access to internet.

 

[Ian H]

My son's internet use is monitored by his wife.