Please, let me ask you an important question.
As a parent, how do you feel about your child or teen seeing adult content online without your knowledge or consent?
Is it better to prepare our children, knowing that this is a possibility, rather than aiming to protect them from it?
As a parent, I feel it is better to prepare and teach my children how to be more mindful of what they will, inevitably see, and help them deal with it and react in the most positive way possible.
This will mean, holding those tricky conversations we all dread to some extent but it is important to do this to find out if they’ve ever uncovered any content that made them feel uncomfortable.


Sitting with them while they navigate tiktok or youtube is a good way to familiarise yourself with the type of content they normally encounter. It can also be helpful to be there to explain some of the things they will see.

Sharing experiences like this can help you both feel comfortable enough to be honest with each other, allowing you to have an honest conversation about the things they have seen and how it makes them think and feel.
Being by their side when they first go online also means that you can watch what they watch and discover how the various algorithms choose content for them.
By doing this we are helping to prepare them to go solo because it is impossible to shield them forever, as well as unhealthy.
I believe, our roles as parents should be to guide our children & prepare them for the world around them.

The days of asking parents about anything are on the wane (you can just say ‘gone’ instead), when you can just ask Google. However, although Google knows a lot, it doesn’t know who it is talking to and I certainly don’t want it telling my kids inappropriate things so that they find out about sex first online.
I want to have the conversation with them and let them know I am here to listen and help. Even though I may stumble over my words, it’s not because I’m embarrassed, it’s because as their parent, I’m trying to find the words for a conversation I never had with my parents.
Yes my words might not come out right but, I know that I am showing my kids that I am available to them, ready and willing to talk and, more importantly, listen.