| Teaching Parents to Monitor Their Kids Online |
| Thursday, 09 October 2008 17:10 |
Helping parents cope with the fears of their kids going online is the impetus behind a new three-year partnership. The advocacy group, Kentucky Child Now, revealed Thursday that it will combine its cyber safety education efforts with those of the Kentucky Attorney General and the Kentucky Education Department. The cornerstone of the effort will be workshops and school assemblies, beginning with a two day, statewide workshop in Lexington in late November. There will be a push to teach parents how to monitor their children's' on line use and mentor them. "Young people don't need to be left alone, in their room, with their computers and the doors shut," said Attorney General Jack Conway during Thursday's announcement at Collins Lane Elementary in Frankfort. Turning to the 12 fifth graders at the press conference, Conway added, "Sorry kids, but you ought to show your parents what you're looking at online." Doris Settles, an Internet safety expert with Kentucky Child Now, says that, while the World Wide Web is a great learning tool, it can also cause problems. "We are also sending these children on a trip around the world, all expenses paid unchaperoned, something we would never do in a face to face world," said Settles. The Education Department's Associate Commissioner for Education Technology, David Couch, said the challenge is to find balance in how you monitor computer use. "We want to make sure people are aware, but don't close the door," said Couch. "There is a tendency when these things happen and people say the way I am going to deal with this is I'm going to shut everything completely down." |
