Do you (or did you) worry about what your young children can view online?

I have to agree with Norman here. Know your kids and know what they are doing. Kids are going to be exposed to things they shouldn't see no matter what you do. The important thing is that your kids know they can come to you with questions about what they see, not try to shelter them from anything that you might think hurt them. That's how you raise an unhealthy kid.

My concern (as a parent of two who are too young to be online yet but will be someday) is not so much with the "what is my kid seeing online" but rather on the overall relationship the kids might have with the online world. Most comments here are viewing it as a problem of keeping kids safe from predatory forces or disturbing content online. Obviously that is a concern, but I think the more dangerous threat are the things that don't immediately set off alarm bells like that. Teen suicide rates, particularly among girls, have been increasing since the introduction of smart phones and researchers are suggesting this is because social media creates such a damaging social environment for young people. The more their identities become tied to online presence, the more vulnerable they are to the nastiest impulses of teenage society, which are among the nastiest on the planet. Its like the technology has made bullying about 100 times more effective than it was when I was a teenager in the 90s.

My kids are not getting phones until I feel confident that they have the self confidence and strength to ignore the cesspit of teenage bullying that goes on in there. Worrying about them seeing porn or Trump stuff or whatever is a way lower concern for me.

If you educate your kids, they can confront to the whole world.

Don't be lazy parents indeed.

People worry too damn much. What they should do is try to know what their kids are viewing, then explain things to them, give them some easy to understand examples of what you are saying, and for goodness sake be an example yourself. If you are not being lazy or stupid about it, your kids will work out....assuming there is not something wrong with them from birth.

I agree that educating your kids well is vital, to give them the ability to think critically about what they see online, as well as in the classroom and on TV.

I worry more about the cyber-bullying. Fortunately, my kids got through pretty much unscathed, but some these kids can be quite nasty with their anonymous postings.

I'm happy we didn't have the Internet when I was growing up.

No Norman there really are many things children should not see until they are older. Very gruesome and disturbing things and dangerous lies.

Worrying is useless because it will happen anyway.

Education and critical thinking is the only way to manage it.

For the very young ones unable of proper judgement (I would say around below teenager) , controlled internet access is quite critical.

Buy lots of art supplies, and when you are home, put your cell phone in a draw. That is what I do.

You also have a kitchen...kids love to cook. Be with your kids, not just overlooking their Safari and Google History.

Plus, there is a lot more fun things going on outside the home rather than inside. I have neighbors that never take their kids out. That is child abuse in my opinion.

Use a kid friendly DNS service and this goes a long way to protecting your home network.