Parent Talk: Internet Kids

If you are around elementary school aged kids, you’ve probably heard of the website Club Penguin, which is popular with the 7 and up crowd.

With tons of websites aimed toward kids, little ones are heading to the web at an early age. Although I don’t let my kids, ages 5 and 7, use the computer without my supervision, and only let them go on educational sites, there will be a time when I’ll have to let them explore the web on their own.

I will admit that I let my kids play with my iPhone all the time, which results in way too many games of Angry Birds, but I don’t let them do any internet searches.

As my kids get older I find that parenting decisions are a bit more challenging. Figuring out if one should sleep train or co-sleep and when to wean a baby, seem so minor in comparison to making decisions on when they can stay home alone, ride the subway on their own or surf the web unattended.

My Parent Talk question of the week is -- When are kids old enough to go on the Internet by themselves? When do kids get email addresses? Any advice on monitoring kids and the Internet?

Looking forward to reading your responses!