iPod touch Parental control of internet access

[iTeen]

Maybe talk to him about the problem? I'm a 15-yr-old boy and my parents trust me completely.
If you try to block him from stuff, it just has an effect where he will try even harder to get to what you don't want him to see. trust me, it'll be a negative effect in the long run.


Hope I helped.

I'm 15 as well...totally agreed.

 

[rusty.]

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot that can be done. It's akin to when we were growing up. My parents didn't allow me to watch R-rated movies, so I just found a friend whose parents did. Mind you, it wasn't very often, and usually, the R-rating was due to swearing and light violence, not nudity.

I'm also a father of two, and I don't mean to rag on the OP, but can someone please explain to me why a 15 year old needs an iPod Touch in the first place?

Why not I'm 15 and have one?

I can't see a 40-50 year old person having a use other than exercise or on a commute to work.

Some of my teachers allow me to listen to it in class, i use it on the bus, and at the gym.

There are uses for 15 year olds to have them.

 

[rusty.]

I think you should get him interested in something else.
My personal suggestion? "Naruto" or "Halo". Excellent anti-*insert problem here*. I've converted some pretty "corrupt" friends thanks to one or the other.
Try that.

^_^


(every Naruto episode is available on Youtube, a button conveniently located on the iTouch homescreen)

Social suicide?

 

[kaenai]

Reading this, you didn't even need to say you weren't a parent.

I'm a parent of two teens, and I talk to them about things all the time. I always have, and they still listen, even at 13 and 16. They may not always agree, but they hear what I have to say, because I don't condescend to them, or treat them like they don't know anything. Kids know more than we as parents assume.

To the OP:
Maybe this is a good time to have a discussion with your son, if you haven't already. It's a good idea to let him know where you stand on these issues. Whether he agrees with you or not is up to him, but at 15 years old, he's past the age where he needs 'protection'; perhaps guidance is a better idea. Just a suggestion.

@ BOSS10L :: My son actually earned his, and I'm pretty proud of him for it. Besides, no one really needs one, now do they.

 

[pismodude2]

While that may be, it's still no excuse. In no way is it okay to tamper with someone else's network.

If that were the case and the neighbor was unknown, there would be no reason to provide any details (or make something up!). Certainly that's a better option than hacking their network. ...You might as well break into their house a steal the router - problem solved!

Yeah, that'll work. "Ummm, I don't know if you are the person with the unsecured Wi-Fi, but my so- I mean, dog, yeah, my dog is looking up porn on it, so please block it. If it is you..."

 

[EricNau]

Yeah, that'll work. "Ummm, I don't know if you are the person with the unsecured Wi-Fi, but my so- I mean, dog, yeah, my dog is looking up porn on it, so please block it. If it is you..."

There's no need to block certain sites; if the router were secured using WEP or WPA, his/her son would not be able to access it.

Your attempts to justify tampering with a neighbor's wifi are indeed concerning.

 

[pismodude2]

There's no need to block certain sites; if the router were secured using WEP or WPA, his/her son would not be able to access it.

Your attempts to justify tampering with a neighbor's wifi are indeed concerning.

That still leaves us with the problem of asking everyone in the neighborhood to secure their internet for an unmentioned reason. Is it worth becoming the creepy neighbor? Only EricNau, protector of all that is ethical and just in the world can tell...

 

[EricNau]

... EricNau, protector of all that is ethical and just ...

I like the sound of that ...it may just have to become my signature!

 

[Jack Flash]

That still leaves us with the problem of asking everyone in the neighborhood to secure their internet for an unmentioned reason. Is it worth becoming the creepy neighbor? Only EricNau, protector of all that is ethical and just in the world can tell...

Why not just clue his neighbor in that he/she needs to secure his/her network. If a "good guy" can see it, "bad guys" certainly can, too.

 

[pismodude2]

Why not just clue his neighbor in that he/she needs to secure his/her network. If a "good guy" can see it, "bad guys" certainly can, too.

Ok, problem solving time, get all our ducks in a row here. He said "some careless person in the neighborhood has an unsecured wireless." NOT A KNOWN PERSON!!! (Well, it could be, and therein lies the problem) Please, for the sake of simplicity, someone tell me this guy has just one neighbor!

P.S. I have a hard-core solution for if the MacRumors Forums fail you: BECOME AMISH

 

[Jasper2k]

I'm also a father of two, and I don't mean to rag on the OP, but can someone please explain to me why a 15 year old needs an iPod Touch in the first place?

Well on the flip side, I also am a father of two, and my 10-year-old has an iPod touch which he purchased with his own money saved from odd jobs and selling his old stuff on eBay (with my direct assistance and supervision of course). He earned the money, he wanted it, we discussed the costs and the consequences of dropping/damaging/losing it, and he got it.

Does anyone really NEED an iPod of any flavor? Probably not, but that has nothing to do with age.

 

[tonyshucraft]

to misquote the movie Superbad to not say anything explicit:

Guide his mind not block it.

The best way a person can be taught anything is not to be forced into it. That applies to parenting too. The examples here of when a kid was forced to do something and rebelled are good ones.

You will get nowhere by beating something into someone and at the same time doing nothing won't work. Explain your thoughts, and say you disagree but don't force your kid to believe or act like you. You can set rules and all of that but if you go to high on things, they are going to rebel.

Of course, if they rebel, that can be a good thing in some ways. That can show you what you are doing wrong as a parent. When they do that, talk with them. Try to understand what they think.

My parents let me drink when I was younger on occasion, even though they said they didn't like drinking. But I wasn't forced into it and I ended up not liking it. I also tried smoking when I was under age and I didn't like it. So I didn't do it. Not because I am a person that goes "drugs are the worst thing in the world" because I am liberal on that issue.

What I am saying is act as you think you need but be careful because doing something too extreme may be as unhealthy as what they may be doing in the situation you disprove of.

Also, I am not a parent but does not mean that I don't know how it is to be a kid or not understand some psychology.

 

[The Menacer]

Some kids don't share the same morals or religious beliefs. It's better not to shove stuff down your kid's throat than force them into abiding to what you believe when they're showing that they don't want to follow it.

I am a 15 year old, and I am completely the opposite way. I'm VERY glad my parents taught me their morals and beliefs. If they didn't, a) I'd probably be out getting plastered every night and b) they wouldn't be good parents! It's a parent's JOB to teach their kids right and wrong. You act like parents and kids are in a democracy here! Parents have the ultimate power over their children, and the children should shut up and listen. Even though it's hard for me to do sometimes, it's very cool to be the only one of my friends who's never gotten drunk or high in his life. And it was because of my parents.

And by the way, if your parents are buying you alcohol, I don't think you are in ANY position to give recommendations on how to parent...

 

[John.B]

I'm a parent of two teens, and I talk to them about things all the time. I always have, and they still listen, even at 13 and 16. They may not always agree, but they hear what I have to say, because I don't condescend to them, or treat them like they don't know anything. Kids know more than we as parents assume.

I get what you are saying. My point was more along the lines of the fact that kids need their parents to be their parents and not their "friends".

When reasoning works, that's great. When it doesn't, well, someone has to be in charge and it shouldn't be the kids. A good lesson in limits will help them be successful later in life for the stuff that really counts.

I wish my own parents had understood this, but I can only correct that on a go-forward basis with my own kids.

 

[YuriVoorhak]

Wow, 14 years old and looking at porn? What has this world come to?

As a non-parent, here's hoping your kid doesn't find out about the gajillions of public wifi hotspots pretty much everywhere I eat and shop. I'm sure we'd all rather you explain the birds and bees to him, so I don't have to run into him at a Panera Bread restroom.

 

[nateco]

Umm,. What about people who have standards and morals or religious beliefs? Or what about the people that just dont agree with Pornography and other explicit material?

seems like the kid doesn't have any objections to that stuff.....you might....but people can make up their own minds....it's not your job to control people..it's your job to help the kid make good decisions, not make those decisions for him.....if he wants to watch naked chicks....that's fine, everyone else does too.


Dare ya to try and find any man alive who didn't have a magazine or two stuffed under their bed as a teenager.


At 15, you're three years away from voting...you can drive a car, some places, you can even own a gun......there's nothing on the internet that needs to be filtered from a person......if you did your job right as a parent....the kid will know what's what.

 

[nateco]

I am a 15 year old, and I am completely the opposite way. I'm VERY glad my parents taught me their morals and beliefs. If they didn't, a) I'd probably be out getting plastered every night and b) they wouldn't be good parents! It's a parent's JOB to teach their kids right and wrong. You act like parents and kids are in a democracy here! Parents have the ultimate power over their children, and the children should shut up and listen. Even though it's hard for me to do sometimes, it's very cool to be the only one of my friends who's never gotten drunk or high in his life. And it was because of my parents.

And by the way, if your parents are buying you alcohol, I don't think you are in ANY position to give recommendations on how to parent...

Booze is not harmfull....it's not evil either......heck, I take great pleasure in trying different beers from around the world...I love a good stout....good scotch....and lots of people drink wine for reasons other than getting plastered.

You've never gotten drunk.....glad yer proud to be loser with pretensions towards fermented beverages....seriously....square.

Smoking pot is not gonna kill you....I don't do it...but lots of people do....hell, most of the world, besides the states,it's common place for people to smoke dope.....it's not like other hard drugs...most places isn't not even a serious crime to smoke dope....and getting busted smoking dope in public is like open liquor here..small fine..away ya go....nobody really cares.


You totally bought the propaganda didn't you.

 

[theman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

Seriously, if you want to get your kid to stop watching porn, this is what you do:

Rent/buy/download a movie, and tell him it's time to have a serious discussion about sex (you know, the whole birds and bees thing). Start playing the movie and tell him about safe sex and condoms etc, as well as some parental wisdom about the meaning and significance of sex. All that sort of stuff. See if he has any questions. Be honest and open with him. This will remove the rebellious aspect, aswell as the curiosity from it. And, above all it will completely scare him away from porn for a while...

 

[kaenai]

I get what you are saying. My point was more along the lines of the fact that kids need their parents to be their parents and not their "friends".

When reasoning works, that's great. When it doesn't, well, someone has to be in charge and it shouldn't be the kids. A good lesson in limits will help them be successful later in life for the stuff that really counts.

I wish my own parents had understood this, but I can only correct that on a go-forward basis with my own kids.

Of course; I understand that very well. I've never had to 'reason' with mine; maybe I got lucky and they're just really even-tempered teens (oxymoron or what?). xD
At any rate, they know who's the boss around here; as long as they follow the house rules, everything flows smoothly, and they've learned that pretty easily over the years - no major blowouts or anything. That's where we agree; limits matter.

As for setting limits on what your kids see online, it's very hard to do that, especially when setting limits on behavior outside the home. I think someone else here had a good idea. Set up a rule that from time to time, you will ask to see his browser history periodically. If you find explicit material (and not just search results, but something that shows he's been actively "looking"), then - well, the OP can decide on the consequence there; might be different for everyone.

The best thing, though is to have a chat with the boy. Seriously, if his mom has 'the talk' with him instead of his dad, he won't even want to look for a while, because his mom's face will be in his head for a while every time he thinks about it. That could be good or bad. A real benefit is that his mother may be able to teach him a modicum of respect for the women he's staring at, and eventually the one's he'll be talking to or dating.
They're not likely to be from the same set anyway.

 

[Ickus]

I am a 15 year old, and I am completely the opposite way. I'm VERY glad my parents taught me their morals and beliefs. If they didn't, a) I'd probably be out getting plastered every night and b) they wouldn't be good parents! It's a parent's JOB to teach their kids right and wrong. You act like parents and kids are in a democracy here! Parents have the ultimate power over their children, and the children should shut up and listen. Even though it's hard for me to do sometimes, it's very cool to be the only one of my friends who's never gotten drunk or high in his life. And it was because of my parents.

And by the way, if your parents are buying you alcohol, I don't think you are in ANY position to give recommendations on how to parent...

Ok im 16 and and my beliefs and moral are totally different from my parents and you dont see me going around doing drugs and alcohol. There is actually a form of government that alot of people live in which is a democracy even in a hosuehold. And wow if you think thats cool you have some mental issues

But seriously you should just tell him thats what you are against but not force him not to. Its a phase hes gonna go through at some time in his life so trying to stop it is kind of useless cause he'll do it anyway

 

[Muncher]

...if you did your job right as a parent....the kid will know what's what.

That's a great point. I totally agree, a parent cannot make up for bad skills by restricting their kid further, they can only make it worse.

@theman: That's truly awful (in a good way) ! I would be so embarrassed if that happened to me!

 

[flymach1]

Wrong

Booze is not harmfull....it's not evil either......heck, I take great pleasure in trying different beers from around the world...I love a good stout....good scotch....and lots of people drink wine for reasons other than getting plastered.

You've never gotten drunk.....glad yer proud to be loser with pretensions towards fermented beverages....seriously....square.

Smoking pot is not gonna kill you....I don't do it...but lots of people do....hell, most of the world, besides the states,it's common place for people to smoke dope.....it's not like other hard drugs...most places isn't not even a serious crime to smoke dope....and getting busted smoking dope in public is like open liquor here..small fine..away ya go....nobody really cares.


You totally bought the propaganda didn't you.

Alcohol isn't harmful? So far this year there are over 6,000 drunk driving deaths. I think it was harmful to those people. How many broken marriages, broken dreams, lost jobs, etc, have come from people's abuse of alcohol? Same thing with dope or any other substance that people abuse - including prescription meds. Since it reduces your mental faculties and your motor skills, it is harmful - even if the effect is temporary, what you do when not fully in control can be permanent.

At 15 the brain isn't fully developed. They don't have the problem solving skills and experience base to draw on to make all the decisions they could be faced with. That is a simple medical fact. Any parent providing alcohol for a minor is an idiot and a criminal.

 

[old-wiz]

Any parent providing alcohol for a minor is an idiot and a criminal.

And suppose your kid gives alcohol to another kid and something happens to that kid? boy you are going to jail.

There was a cartoon in Dilbert once where he said he was going to write an unbreakable porn filter for the computer. One panel said "You are going to pit your programming skills against the hormones of millions of teenagers?" Lots of it is curiosity and it's 'forbidden' stuff.