My son was in the kitchen the other day looking for a gift for his mom on my Amazon account. When I peeked over his shoulder, I couldn't believe some of the images and words I saw on the t-shirts and cups on the screen. He was being completely innocent, but it seems that the internet trash still found him. At first, I was upset. Then I thought to myself, "Is it really that different than driving down the road in my car?" When he's riding with me, I can't always control everything he might see out the window. But you know, in those moments, we just take time to talk about what happened or what we saw together. Why should this situation be different just because it happened online?
I don't know if I'm too uptight or not tight enough when it comes to the internet and devices in my house. I imagine every parent feels this way in some capacity. I don't have the magic answer. I did realize something in the online shopping moment with my son, though. I have the knowledge and ability to handle the situation. I think many times, we just need to apply the real-life skills we already have to a new context. Transfer what you already know about life into the online world.
I'm not sure if that is any more comforting. The world is still dangerous. However, this perspective helped me decide how to respond and gave me the resolve not to overreact. We got past it, and we bought his mom something special and awesome that would have been impossible to find in person. I know this wasn't some life-changing situation, but there was a lesson in it for me. I'm not going to let the trash we come across get in the way of spreading the love we have to give... online or in real life.