Monday, January 14, 2008

I Hate the Internet!

Okay, actually I have a love hate relationship with the internet. I love it - my kids love it. This is a problem. We have the computer in the dining room, a fairly public place. I have told my children acceptable sites to visit and I am usually pretty informed at where they go. In fact - my husband is actually addicted to a game that he plays so he knows what the kids are doing when they are playing. I sat here on the couch and watched Jackson play a game with dirtbikes and racing and it looked harmless. He learned about the website at school. Fast forward to last night when Jordan sits down and says what does #*$#! mean? When I asked where she HEARD the word it was the internet. Namely the website with the seemingly harmless "dirtbike races". Seems there is another option where users can create characters and you can click on them and for example, drop rocks on Napoleon Dynomite and he will yell things like "IDIOT!". I guess someone else created a character who, when things are dropped on him, yells swear words. I am so annoyed. They miss out on a fun little dirtbike game because someone else has to ruin the website. And then I am reminded that I need to pay MORE attention to the entire websites they visit instead of just one area. Not to mention I get to go to the school and inform the headteacher of the website. I look forward to spring when they are playing outside until dark instead of trying to occupy their time inside.

6 comments:

Pam said...

we have parental controls through our internet/tv service...we just gave stepson his own computer for his bday and it was funny as hell to see him get upset that he couldn't get on a lot of things or appove email contacts w/o his dad seeing them first. steve did loosen up a little, but he does have access to stepson's myspace. husband just had to take off internet access on stepson's phone because he was texting and downloading things (things that none of the kids are allowed to do on their phone). what's funny is that we took it off before, but after awhile, we decided to put it back on because we do let them get ringtones, the day after we put it back on was when the messaging started. stepson's portion of the bill alone was over 40 dollars. it's usually only 10 bucks a month (line charge)

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

My kids don't really use the internet yet, except for a few specific preschool sites. Thank goodness!

Anonymous said...

We kept Marissa off MySpace, until my SIL said she'd add her as a friend, and could do the 'spying' for me to keep me up to date if there was anything inappropriate going on. Just recently she told me something about someone who used to be her girlfriend last year, about MySpace, and I told Marissa, and this is WHY my husband and I decided, it's just not a good thing for teens to be on. I'm with you, it's nice for her to communicate with her friends and share pics, just like blogging, but it takes one person to ruin it. Good for you to inform the teacher.

BTW~ I did tag you, so it would give us more to read about Jordanisms.

Have a great Monday!

Anna Maria Junus said...

You could buy your kids some PC games so that you know what they're playing.

What annoys me is when the schools expect parents to provide kids internet access. It's easier just not to.

Unknown said...

You and me both! The internet thing sounds familiar. You have to be so careful with games. If it's not cusswords, it's female characters wearing G-strings, barely-there bikini tops and high-heeled leather boots.

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