Scared and Ignorant

[Raising3GD's]

Hi all...I am a Grandfather to 3 granddaughters who we also adopted. The oldest is 12 years old and before we realized it, she became addicted to the internet. She says she just chats to people about dogs on an internet site called "virtual pups". But my wife and I fear that she might be involved in more. Her school counselor suggested that we install a spyware program on her computer. We don't want her to be victimized by some predator. Any suggestions?

[dixinites]

Originally Posted by Raising3GD's

Hi all...I am a Grandfather to 3 granddaughters who we also adopted. The oldest is 12 years old and before we realized it, she became addicted to the internet. She says she just chats to people about dogs on an internet site called "virtual pups". But my wife and I fear that she might be involved in more. Her school counselor suggested that we install a spyware program on her computer. We don't want her to be victimized by some predator. Any suggestions?

DO IT! Keep the computer in a "family area of the house" and restrict her access when you are not home. Good Luck, and Bless You for taking care of your granddaughters!

[Zoey]

Originally Posted by Raising3GD's

Hi all...I am a Grandfather to 3 granddaughters who we also adopted. The oldest is 12 years old and before we realized it, she became addicted to the internet. She says she just chats to people about dogs on an internet site called "virtual pups". But my wife and I fear that she might be involved in more. Her school counselor suggested that we install a spyware program on her computer. We don't want her to be victimized by some predator. Any suggestions?

Spyware is what you want to get rid of on your computer, not install. What you want is a program that tracks what your granddaughter is doing; what sites she is going to. I googled for you, and this is the first one that came up.

http://www.pctattletale.com/

I strongly suggest you check into it. It is so good to read how much you care about your granddaughter. She is a lucky kid to have a grandpa like you.

[dixinites]

Originally Posted by Zoey

Spyware is what you want to get rid of on your computer, not install. What you want is a program that tracks what your granddaughter is doing; what sites she is going to. I googled for you, and this is the first one that came up.

http://www.pctattletale.com/

I strongly suggest you check into it. It is so good to read how much you care about your granddaughter. She is a lucky kid to have a grandpa like you.

Good advice Zoey... Didn't read enough before I jumped in (re: Spyware), lol. Somehow my tired brain read "anti" in there! I agree, it's nice to read that someone is keeping an eye on her computer usage.

[Mishell1383]

Good suggestions ladies! Also you can block certain things that will nt be available to her. ALso its very important as Zoey stated, Do NOT let her be on the computer in private, make sure its in a family place that is not discreet, like a tv room you all go in during the evening to watch tv together.

I like your search for advice, it shows you care

[sharlock]

Originally Posted by Zoey

Spyware is what you want to get rid of on your computer, not install. What you want is a program that tracks what your granddaughter is doing; what sites she is going to. I googled for you, and this is the first one that came up.

http://www.pctattletale.com/

I strongly suggest you check into it. It is so good to read how much you care about your granddaughter. She is a lucky kid to have a grandpa like you.

Really good advice Zoey. I hope you don't mind but I pasted your suggestion on You can help us save our kids thread as posters had recently been discusssing this.
Thankyou

[Zoey]

Originally Posted by sharlock

Really good advice Zoey. I hope you don't mind but I pasted your suggestion on You can help us save our kids thread as posters had recently been discusssing this.
Thankyou

I don't mind at all. I am glad I posted something that may be useful in helping protect our children from the creeps out there.

[Chocoholic]

This is another piece of software that people may be interested in: http://www.spectorsoft.com/

It's pricey but invaluable and works like a hot dang!

[MyTwoWings]

These are all very excellent suggestions folks! This is exactly what I've heard the experts say about internet usage by children. However, with the childrens' friends who have lax parents in this area, laptops, and now these phones with internet access most kids are using the internet in a lot of places where they can't be or just aren't supervised.

Just like teaching kids the dangers of talking to strangers or walking too close to a parked car with someone inside it or being careful when walking across the street, kids need to be taught the importance of safe internet use and why certain usage is unsafe. Kids should...

Never give too much personal information out about themselves no matter how much they feel that an internet "buddy" is their friend or how private their communication is... no giving out their real name (especially their last name), no giving out their phone number, address, places they go that can be identified, etc.

Never post their photos... kids hate this one, but perverts specifically look for kids' photos.

Don't let them have a MySpace or other personal page without their parent also having access to see what it is they are doing with it and what they may be puting on it.

Don't let them have access to a webcam.

There's probably a lot of other things, but these are just off the top of my head. There are several books on this subject that would be very helpful in finding out how to go about checking up on what the kids are doing on the internet but also what to teach them about internet use to keep them safe and why they need to follow certain protocol for safety reasons.

[Louisadelmar]

Two things:

I never hesitated to spy on my kids if I thought there was any possibility something was going on.

Places like MySpace, Facebook etc should cooperate with you in any checking you need to do since your kids/grandkids are underage.

I would definitely install what Zoey suggested.