Child Safe web browsing - any ideas?

To be fair the internet wasn't around when my daughter was that age and didn't really get into the internet until she went to high school which by then was a bit to late ...Although I have heard of good bits of kit out there and some software too ,but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called as it was suppose to be excellent..Or if you go with your choice it would possible have to be a trial and error to see if it works fine ....

I do wish they would force these all dodgy sites to use a .something then it would almost be a case of blocking that .something.Anyway good luck with which ever way you do decide to go 

Hi Steve

You might like to consider the use of a child friendly search engine such as:

Swiggle

Kidrex

Kiddle

There are more on the pdf available Here

Thanks for the suggestions, bit shocked by safe search kids though 

I quite like swiggle, it's one of the better ones and it's got good credentials (swgfl.org.uk)

Kidrex isn't too bad, and basically a new Google Safesearch frontend.

Kiddle is awful, and just an adsense generator 

But the one that makes my blood boil is number one on the list of that pdf link. Never heard of the Media Literacy Council, but looks like its Singapore based 

Their recommendation is to use safesearchkids com. Oh my word, this is everything that is wrong with "children friendly solutions".

Check this out as a screenshot of the home page:

Here is a close up of the top menu, yep a good old Google adsense unit.

It gets better, here are some of the Google ad's on the right hand unit:

Now before anyone says, ahh that's only because it's your search history and targeted adverts. Trust me, I'm not looking for any phones, kids or adult, or any car insurance!

Am I the only one that thinks this is disgusting for a site that is trying to promote itself as a child friendly portal?

This site is nothing more than a commercial adsense site, misleading being promoted to parents as a safe haven.

Just to finish it off, they use the Taboola ad network to add some more monetizing to the site. You normally see these adverts on things like news sites.

Maybe the kids need some PPI advice???

So the quest continues, but I think swiggle is a good starting point 

Hi Steve

Yes, unfortunately it is a sign of the times. Anywhere you can put an ad, they will put 3. It does get a bit wearing, but with fewer and fewer manufacturing companies, more and more service companies are being formed, all jostling for attention and Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook et all are happy to help and take the cash.  

Clearly they believe that adults use these sites more frequently than perhaps they really do, but it is not going to help they cause, as stats will show that the users of such sites ( the search engines for children ) will not respond anywhere near as much as they would like and revenues will fall.  

Most children will be blissfully unaware of what any of the ads mean, but some of the pictures are in bad taste ( bearing in mind the site's users ) at best, and as you have rightly pointed out some are provocative or controversial or even totally inappropriate.  

The website admin should be notified of such bad practice.

Hopefully Swiggle will be all you want in terms of a children's search engine.

My apologies for the pdf and its unfortunate content.

Swiggle is going down a storm, daughters been enjoying that but I'm going to check out the content filtering box. 

I'm genuinely amazed at the lack of decent solutions for what must be a massive and growing problem. hmmm, smells opportunity....

Hi Steve

Good to know that there are some reliable sites out there for children.  Yes, a niche indeed.  

Regards

I think this is a real area for concern and is surprising there isn't a more obvious solution. Friends and parents I talk to really stress about allowing their kids online. 

Maybe somewhere like Netmums may throw up some ideas?

Well just signed up to Home Halo, so now waiting for the router to turn up, and shall see how it goes...

You should check out these articles.

How to Child Proof Internet Sites

Child-proofing the Internet

As for YouTube, if you're using a browser, chances are there's an add-on or extension that can help you block certain videos or channels. Or you can just turn-on the safe mode or something in the settings.