Skypig

Looking for some opinions?

Have got ADSL at home hence 24/7 access if we want it.

Have a 13 year old with a PC in her room and it like the other 3 machines in the house are networked and have net access via the ADSL.

Whats a reasonable limit to apply to net access for the 13 year old?

My thought are from 6:30 to 10:30 Pm weeknights, and till Midnight on Friday & Saturday with additional access 9:00 AM to Midday on the weekends. With the flexability to swap hours here and there but the total number of hours remaining the same.

She wants it available 24/7.......

So if it was your 13 year old what rules / restrictions would you impose?

fobotcso

I really don't envy you your dilemma! Your proposal sounds over-generous to me but it largly depends on the character of your 13 year old and whether she uses it continuously within those hours or fits in her other activities such as sport/homework as well.

There is so much that is good out there, but it is possible to stumble on the bad without meaning to and that can divert a 13 year old's attention.

Chat rooms can be a dreadful waste of time - but then I'm not 13!

Got a similar arrangement on ISDN at home here using third party software from NZ called Wingate and all Internet access is through the "Server" PC in my study. With it I can check on the URLs that my son has accessed when I've long been in bed and asleep.

I wish he spent as much time reading his orthopædics as he spends playing Backgammon with folks (usually Turkish) he has never met. But what can I say when he's 23?

You need to let your kid know that you are completely involved with her use of the Web and spend some time sitting with her, discussing where she's been and what she thinks.

Other than that, I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how to bring up their kids, so excuse me if I trod on your toes.

Hamrah

Skypig,

Been there, done that.

Your time restrictions seem quite reasonable. At 13 they need to understand that some control is required. Having it available after 24/7 will lead to very late nights in chat with the mates.

I presume you are using something like Cyberpatrol, which allows trading of unused hours and restricts dodgy sites like PPRuNe

H

Skypig

Thanks Chaps, I kind of figured I was on the right track

As to access control thats been sorted out by a plug in timer controling a relay on the CAT5 line between the switch and her PC's NIC.

All that equals an automated and very easy to change way of regulating hours.

Now just a matter of her getting her to see the value in the idea...

stagger

Obviously I have no idea what your kid is like but I remember what I was like when 13 years old and at the time my thinking would have been...

Where is the plug in timer going to be installed? In a locked room? Where's the key? I wonder if I could get get away with borrowing it and getting a copy cut - then I'd have 24/7 access whenever I wanted it. Or what if the ethernet cabling is hidden? I could run a parallel cable that bypassed the relay and maybe my parents would never know.

Hey, but that was then, of course kids today are much better behaved!

WhiteSail

Give her "all she can eat"

I have a 14yr old, and she has access to the internet under a similar computer system to yours.

These day's, at 13/14, they are young adults, and providing you expalin it's a privilege to have the access, and therefore, she has a responsibilty to treat it with respect, my experience is, they "rise to the occasion".

Somebody mentioned chat rooms, and they were right. They are a complete waste of time, and I have no doubt your daughter (at first) will become addicted to one or another of them, but it is surprising how rapidly they become bored with them. Like a chocolate factory really, when you have unlimited supply, you soon go off the idea!

Look at it from the "other side", you can always tell her, that abuse will lead to restrictions being placed upon her access.