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What is your child learning today that you’re not teaching?

By Kirk Noonan

Lindsay Harrup, a colleague’s 15-year-old daughter, attends church regularly, is active in her youth group, is an honors student at a Christian school, and is an ace on her notebook computer. That final detail puts her within clicking distance of a worldwide Web of information and misinformation.

At her parents’ insistence, Harrup’s Internet service provides a thorough filter to pre-empt any pornography she might stumble upon. Even so, that hasn’t stopped the occasional unsolicited and insidious e-mail from slipping into her inbox.

“I immediately put that person’s address on my block list,” says Harrup, “so I never hear from them again.”

Porn is not the only detrimental thing teenagers have to contend with on the Internet and in the world. Each day, up to 500 times according to some research, children and teens are bombarded with advertisements packed with messages telling them they would be happier or cooler if they owned or did this or that.

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