Do you have kids? I have kids. Twin daughters. Since they have a mommy that works as a web developer, they are the envy of all their friends as they get my old computers when I upgrade to a new one. This year I bit the bullet and got a new Dell for one daughter when her sister was to be the recipient of the power laptop I was giving up. To make up for not having as much power, we got her a fun yellow color. Seems to make her happy and I don’t foresee her using Photoshop or any high-end graphics programs, so the performance should be adequate. At least for the time being.

So many parents are concerned about their children’s experience on the internet. And right they should be. I thought I would share a few ways we set this up to be enjoyable and safe for my daughters. I’ll also show you where they go to have some fun — as this is Friday Fun afterall.

First thing I did was load Firefox as their primary browser. I recommend Firefox as it doesn’t have quite as many tracking/spyware issues as IE. The next thing I did was set their start page to www.yahookids.com This way they have a kid-friendly place to go that will also limit their search options on what they see when they search from yahookids. You can reset the start page by going to tools >> options>> main. From there you can type in what you want their homepage to be.

I customized Firefox for them with a theme. As one is a lover of all things pink, and the other into dolphins and stuff, we set up a theme accordingly.

The most favorite place they like to go is Fun Brain. I hear them playing games from this site quite often. It is educational and also fun — a win win situation for them and for me!

I found this great typing site that helps them hone their typing skills. They really enjoy this one. It’s called Dance Mat Typing. As my girls are dancers, they very much identify with this site. Another win, win!

What about email? It is really a personal decision as to whether your child should have their own email account. I decided to set one up in gmail for the twins as they like to email with their grandmother in Colorado and Wyoming or their cousins across the US — even their cousins in Sweden. However, I used gmail’s built-in filtering system to make sure they only get email that is from approved senders. Everything else is deleted. No spam, no unwanted messaging. It was pretty simple to set up.

1. open your gmail account

2. click on settings, then filters

3. click on “new filter”

4. in the TO box type in your child’s email ie: yourchildsemail@gmail.com

5. in the Doesn’t have: list people’s email addresses that you allow them to get email from UNMONITORED. For instance grandma@grandmasemail.com or mommy@mommysemail.com or daddy@daddysemail.com or bestfriend@bestfriendemail.com — make sure to include the “or” between each email address.

6. Then go to “next step”:

7. check all these:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
Forward it to: youremail@youremail.com
Delete it

This will send YOU all the email that is not approved. You child will never get a Viagra ad or an email from a stranger. Their spam folder will always remain empty. If you get something that you want them to see you can forward it to them from you instead if it showing from the original sender. You can always add more approved people later.

That’s all it takes. Works like a charm.

Have a great weekend! I’m laying low as we are in the midst of the Sturgis Bike Rally. I have nothing against bikers, but I am working on a record here. After 30 years of living in Rapid City, South Dakota I have not once been to the Sturgis Rally. I’m trying to make it into the Guiness Book of World’s Records on that one.