Spam Filters

Our e-mail spam filter at work has been off-kilter for about a week. So every day my inbox is flooded with dozens and dozens of interesting offers to work at home, buy replica watches or Viagra, and increase the size of various body parts (some I don't even have). I didn’t realize how much the filter was shielding me from!

In a sense, we as parents are “spam filters” for our children. We protect them whenever and however we can. We don’t want them exposed to the harsh realities of the “real world” before they need to be. We don’t want to see them hurt.

This week Carter brought home some handouts from a police officer who had visited their class to talk about Internet safety. I asked him what he learned. “We talked about not sharing personal information so I might have to change my user name,” he said, referring to his e-mail. “We have to be careful with pop-ups (windows) too. We should tell our parents about them, especially if they are pornography.”

Stunned, I asked, “Do you even know what pornography is?”

“I do now,” he replied.

Sad that a 10-year-old needs to know that for his own protection. Apparently I need to upgrade my Parental Spam Filter package. My outdated version isn’t prepared for this type of world just yet. Is yours?