Protecting My Kids Online

They love playing on our iPad, iPhones.  Two of them now have iPods (one bought his own & the other won his).  Now, there are some really good apps on these apple devices.  Especially some good math apps to help them in school.  However, there is wireless internet available on them too.  So, safety while being on there unattended is so important.  We have a responsibility to guard our hearts, for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).  What goes in our hearts, whether by what we hear, see,  or experience,  it shows up in our lives. Eventually, this will be my children's responsibility & it is to some small degree now.  But, this is largely my responsibility.  It is my responsibility to protect their hearts. We are careful what we allow in our home, on our tv, radio, out of our mouths.  The internet is a tricky one because it's got everything on it & it's on every device now.  It's more challenging that the other things to monitor.  I keep thinking of Adam & Eve.  They were so tempted to eat of this tree that would give them knowledge of good & evil, make them wise they thought to understand both good & evil.  So, this is clearly a temptation we can have, to know evil.  No child is exempt from curiosity & the Bible says a child left to himself brings his mother to shame....we can not leave our kids to themselves in todays information age with all forms of evil right at their fingertips with the click of a button....Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.  It is our job to protect them & train them.  God calls us to be excellent at what is good & innocent of evil (Rom 16:19).  It is our job to raise our kids this way.  So, every new gadget they get, whether 3ds, kindle,....whatever, i'm like the little gadget for dummies girl figuring everything out about it before they even get it.  Seeing what they allow & can access, if they can "text, call, video chat".  So, I know this is a struggle & challenge for so many parents.  I'm by no means tech savvy at all, but I thought I'd share what I've found thus far to help & I'd love to hear from anyone about what they know : )

Child's OWN Ipod/Ipads:  Safari (apple's internet browser) has no filter.  This is a big issue.  Our home wireless networks may have a filter or whatever to keep inappropriate material from coming through, but if they take their iPod next door & your neighbor doesn't have a filter, they can pull up a lot on safari.  Example:  my child was looking up kawasaki videos & it took him to youtube....unfiltered videos with language & other mess.  So what I've found that works best if it's their own device:  Disable Safari under settings/restrictions.  Get the app MOBICIP.  It's great.  maybe free? can't remember, but it is an internet browser that filters everything from the internet appropriate for your child's age (elem, middle, high school) .  Mobicip even has a premium service for $ that will limit their hours online, send you reports on what they are looking up, etc...  Good stuff!  Oh, & another thing on these I have turned off their texting & FaceTime apps.  I give them the freedom to play on their devices outside of my direct presence, so I have to know they are safe.  When I leave town, I turn on FaceTime so they can see us & talk to us when they want.  It's a great feature, but just not one to be left available unsupervised.  There are a lot of restrictions you can set on iPod/ipads/iphones under settings/general/restrictions.

Child's own 3ds/ Kindle:  Don't even get me started on the 3ds.  I never liked seeing kids on these little things all the time.  Well, we have one, & the only thing it's good for is leverage.  It's like our new form of time out & is only played on when behavior is good, school is out, sun is up, & chores are done.   3ds has all kinds of security settings.  Check them out & err on the side of caution.  Because there is wireless on their iPods & it's very filtered on there, I've turned wireless off on all of their other devices.  Wireless  is off on our 3ds.  Kindle--wireless if off on this too & i don't even put games on it. The 3ds & iPod are for games. Kindle in our house is for reading.  It's great for reading too.  He can read at night in the bed & really enjoys it : )  His reading has taken off & I credit that partly to reading at bedtime on the kindle.  I can check out books from our public library & put them on his kindle for free....all online : )  You just need your special pin number from the library.  I've heard there's a MOBICIP app for kindle as well for those who use the internet on their kindle.

PARENTS IPHONE/IPOD/IPAD:  This is where it's been tricky for me.  I like Safari for internet.  But, unless I completely turn it off under settings, it is always available for my kids to access while they are playing other apps.  So, I want a way to keep them off of my internet, but I don't' want to have to surf under the MOBICIP elementary filter.  So, tonight after trying every way I could find to password lock my safari app, I gave that up & got a new internet browser in the app store called Mercury.  It is supposed to have a passcode to open it every time, so my kids can't use that browser.  I'm turning off Safari, I'll use Mercury, & they have Mobicip.  I'll keep you updated as to how this works.

After all this, I just want to turn off all electronics & tell the kids,  "let's get spoons & go play in the dirt pile."  Much simpler!

Okay, there's my not so technologically correct Mom's Filtering Service.  Please share your knowledge with me!  This is just another one of the many hats we moms get to wear : )  But, we are building something eternal, something strong, something worth everything...

Fear or Faith

Here again, I'm faced with the fight of faith over fear.  Tonight we had to rush one of our children to the E.R. for a severe food allergy reaction.  I have had to apply my faith over two of our other children & allergies.  Allergies that have affected their breathing.  Allergies that have affected so many decisions we have had to make.  Can we go out to eat there?  Do his other caregivers know how to treat a reaction? Will they recognize a reaction quick enough?  Will they remember what he can't eat? Does he feel left out because he doesn't get a piece of the birthday cake?  Is that cough just a normal cough or is it more?  But through that I've learned & seen God's faithfulness.  He has kept them when I missed it.  He has given me promises of peace for them.

Tonight, again I am faced with this.  Maybe it's the knowledge from being a nurse that makes the fear so much easier?  If i didn't know how serious it was, i would be nonchalant about this.... not Knowing the potential process of an allergy reaction.  But, she is okay, thank you Jesus!  Sleeping now while I am awake.  Awake wishing she didn't have this.  Awake thinking of all the things I must change in her environment to keep her away from that food.  And all the people that now must be as vigilant as me in that.  Every label I will read before she can have a bite.  Every question about every food I will have to ask.  Every snack that she can't have at snack time.  But she is breathing normal now : )

Fear tries to grip me from what happened to what happens now.  But then I remember Jesus.  I remember he has promised that great is the peace (wholeness) of my children.  That he satisfies them with long life & shows them His salvation.  That no weapon formed against them shall prosper.  He has given them all things richly to enjoy.  He has plans of peace & not of evil to give my children a hope & a future.  I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.  I can walk by faith & not by sight. His grace is sufficient.

I remember one of our sons when dealing with his allergy told a friend that God had made him like that, with those allergies.  Oh how that broke my heart.  My prayer became that he would know God, not as the one who gave him this condition, but that he would know God as his Healer.

My children's faith will be strong.  They shall see the salvation of the Lord.  They will be considerate of each other & protect each other from potential harmful things.  They will pray for one another's healing.  Even tonight when we returned from the hospital, the kids gathered around & all loved on their sibling.  How precious.  How Great is our God that he will make all things work together for the good of my children & our family as we love him & are called according to His purpose.

So, tonight I will think on these things.  Not on the what if's but in God's Word, his promises, his goodness.  I will rest in this. He is faithful to his Word & the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  Great shall be the wholeness of our children!

Captured

He's captured my heart, my affection & adoration.  Remember when you first fell in love?  You were just completely captured by this one.  I remember that so well....being captured by everything Jesus is.  None compared, none drew my attention like him.  He has everything we seek.  He is all we need.  There's always more to know & more to love.  He accepts us at our best & our very worst; he loves us the same.  We're the apple of his eye.  Prayer, his word, his presence, praise, church.....this shouldn't become just something we have to do or put on our list of things to do.  Life can become so hectic with so many demands, that if we are not careful, even keeping up our relationship with the Lord can become another thing on our to-do list.  Maybe it's time to go back to the enjoyment of who He is, his goodness, his purity, his strength, his Truth, his joy, his presence.  Our hearts can become so cluttered with the cares of the world.  His Word will wash out the mess that clouds our minds & lives.  He purifies us, simplifies us, refreshes us.  This should never get old.  This love is forever, it's perfect.  His mercies are brand new every morning.  Every day he has a gift for me & he's already given me the greatest gift.  There's nothing like his presence, absolutely nothing.  In it, I'm complete....nothing missing, nothing broken, everything is well.  Time to enjoy Him : ) Taste & see that the Lord is good!

Loving This Season

Oh how I know season's change.  We go through so many seasons.  Getting to be home with our baby & taking care of our other three children is right where I want to be.  Strange how things change.  I remember not too many years ago being quite discontent just being home.  There was so much I felt I needed to pursue.  But this season will only last a short while & our kids will be older, more independent, so I am going to enjoy every watercolor picture we paint, every date I have with each child, every happy meal, every snuggle, every bed time & the enjoyment of it all.  All the other things I felt were so important for me to pursue can wait.  This is right where I am supposed to be right now.  Thank you Lord for allowing me this season. Thank you James A. for supporting me in it : )