This never happens tho - parents dont sometimes even know how to use the tech. Its like giving a gun to a child and telling them its ok, just remember when you open the packaging to take the safety off.
...and oh yeh the safety software changes every few months so you will have to review it
> Because if internet/tech is the gun then the clear solution is “not giving your children guns”.
Funnily enough, no. The clear solution is to ensure that you talk to your children about [gun|online] safety. Show them how to use the [gun|internet] safely. Make sure they know that they can ask to use your [gun|device] any time they'd like -- but only under your supervision.
Take the mystery away through education and experience, and like anything else [guns|the internet] becomes just another part of adult life. Just one more thing that can be dangerous if used incorrectly.
> Make sure they know that they can ask to use your [gun|device] any time they'd like -- but only under your supervision.
You could do that, but there's no particular need for it. "No guns until you're 16" works fine. You don't need to "take the mystery away".
You need to use the internet a lot before you become an adult, you need to use a gun never before you become an adult. You need a lot of practice to build up internet safety skills, you need barely any practice to build up gun safety skills.
Go ahead and have a basic gun safety talk, that's a good idea, but that's all you need.
> "No guns until you're 16" works fine. You don't need to "take the mystery away".
This is what leads to stories about kids who make their way into their parents’ locked storage and hurt themselves or others.
“The mystery” is what leads kids to investigate things on their own. Let them know they can just ask. If they do ask, explain what you’re doing as you clear it. Strictly enforce the four rules. Let them disassemble it, or do it for them if necessary.
It’s just a tool. No less useful than a drill or saw, and no more or less dangerous than the car or can of gasoline in the garage.
> This is what leads to stories about kids who make their way into their parents’ locked storage and hurt themselves or others.
> “The mystery” is what leads kids to investigate things on their own.
Do you have evidence that learning gun safety without use doesn't do enough here?
I'm not convinced there's all that much mystery. Even if talk doesn't do enough, I bet letting your kids use guns once would do more than enough to clear up mystery. If you let your kids use a gun every week (or whatever "any time" means) it's because you're a family that likes guns, not for safety reasons.
Okay, I think "use guns once or twice with them" is a very reasonable idea for gun safety.
And it ends up being extremely different from internet safety. It's much much harder to teach and it's not practical to supervise the full learning process.
Apparently the average age of mothers is 30 - these parents should understand the risks of technology having be exposed to it themselves but we don’t seem to be seeing improvement in this area like we might expect.
The problem is that they also understand the benefits of technology. It's easy to limit "screen time" in the abstract, and not too hard to keep it going through toddlerhood if you want. It's much harder to tell your 12 year old that they're not allowed to stay connected with their friends when your own friends just sent you a meme in the group chat 5 minutes ago.
A lot of us experienced the opposite problem. I had parents that restricted large parts of the Internet that probably would have been fine to access. The Internet has changed a lot. It wasn't until I took in a zoomer who grew up with unrestricted Internet access that I realized how damaging it could be.
...and oh yeh the safety software changes every few months so you will have to review it