Google and Facebook have made big moves lately to improve child safety on their platforms. They will control what ads can be shown and have built mechanisms to block abusive behaviour. (link)

This sort of thing is looming like a gathering tornado in my consciousness. How can I control what my children are exposed to online when they have a will of their own? I can’t. I can guide them and explain stuff to them.

An interesting point (made by Ben Evans in his latest newsletter) is this: When people in crypto talk about building new social networks with decentralised, deterministic models, I wonder how such systems could make decisions like this. Put another way – is there an element of benign dictatorship in FB, Google and the like, which we as parents should embrace? I think there is.

On the internet and particularly with social media, there is a battle for attention. This means there will always be distasteful and abusive content because, among other reasons, it creates the biggest shock factor. It draws attention.

Children are vulnerable to shocking content, let alone anyone with criminal desires. Only the large platforms have the power to control content in some way, shape or form. Even FB and Google will be unable to stop all the bad stuff getting to your child.

My children have very limited access to the net still, but already they have figured out how to turn on Netflix. They don’t search for anything more than cartoons, but one day they will get curious. Any help from Google or FB in managing this will be most appreciated.

Who needs a stiff drink?

I came across this quote:

Even the most assiduous of modern parents will not be able to protect their children from internet porn, drugs, or alcohol, even if they lock them in the basement (in which case they only end up exposing them to the snakes they harbor within themselves). We might have learned such things by watching the great, degenerate totalitarian utopias of the 20th century. Leaders and citizens alike attempted, with ever-increasing desperation, to force everything that existed into a defined, comprehensible and too-perfect order. That merely ensured that chaos burst forth without reserve into their souls, and then into their societies. 

Jordan B. Peterson

So as parents what can we do with this world in which we plant our innocent children? Well, one of the first things to do is to pay attention. Attention to what you are doing, to what you are saying, and to what you are exposing your children. Then as they get older you need to watch what they are exposing themselves to unwittingly.

When I lived in Sydney I used to walk past a sign on the way to work outside a pub. It said “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”. Obviously we can’t protect our children from all the snakes and temptations of the world, but we can notice them when they strike, and then we can try to act on them. This might not work, but what is the alternative?

On another note – I’m listening through the chimpwithcans playlist on apple music for the first time in a while. Give it a listen!

Happy Wednesday, chimps.

I heard it before i saw it. The drama, noise and crying was all at a slightly different level to normal. I was feeding the littlest, and by the time I was able to come through to the rest of the family, the blood was everywhere.

I think three things can be major contributors to a child getting injured.

1. Children have a will of their own. They want to hide and explore and discover without adults hovering over them. Controlling where they can do this is a good tactic.
2. When there are a few of them around, children try to keep up with the oldest and the strongest. This puts the younger ones at risk.
3. Before a certain age, young children are very unsteady on their feet and inaccurate with jumps, swerves, hops, runs. As such, they are highly susceptible to a larger mass (big kids and adults) throwing them this way or that out of control.
4. Bathrooms are terrible places for children to play. Sharp edges, slippery surfaces and hard floors.

This is obviously a short list and there are many things that can cause an injury, and often times it is inevitable that kids will get bumped. However, keeping the 4 things above in your mind when looking after kids will lower the chances of a bloody mess and hospital visits.

We took the kids to the beach today. Being able to get to the beach in 15 minutes is one of the best things in my life. I walked the littlest all the way along the sand to the very far end of the beach and back. I built castles in the sand with the older girls. A beach and some good weather makes life calm and simple for children. Kids do best when they have a task. Especially if the task involves getting messy, creative, sandy, wet and active.

I didn’t manage to get any music in today. No playing. No listening. Thats what tomorrow is for.

Happy Sunday, chimps.

If everything is busy, it pays to get organised. Today I found myself in a lucky but stressful position – My work is busy, My family is busy and I am busy. I turned to an app called Evernote.

With its latest update, Evernote is incorporating To Do lists with all the notes, and I love it. Today was the first test of relying on it as an organisation app, and it worked very well. No more stress for me then. Evernote to the rescue?

Sort of. As great as Evernote and my organisation skills were today, there is always that curveball you weren’t expecting. Mine came in the form of Biscuit, my labrador. Our neighbourhood has 11 children from various families all of a similar age, all girls. A few of the families were watching the children play at sundown. Picture an idyllic street in an idyllic neighbourhood on an idyllic day. We are all chatting politely, being neighbourly.

Biscuit the lab shows up with a chicken in his mouth and chunks of feathers falling to the ground. My direct neighbour points out that this is his daughter’s chicken, and that is your (my) dog! I shout at Biscuit, who drops the chicken, who runs back through the open gate from whence it came, patchy and bruised missing a few feathers.

I believe the chicken is fine, and Biscuit was hauled back into my house before he chased some more birds. Bad neighbours….they need an app for that.

When dealing with little children, often you have to pretend to be excited by something. Even when there’s nothing exciting.

Yesterday a 6 year old gave me a taste of their smoothie. It was made of lemons, oranges and milk. Curdled milk by the time I tried some. “Delicious!” I said. Why???!

To protect their feelings of course. To avoid destroying their confidence. To be friendly and build a relationship. To encourage any effort of creation. To not be a d**k!

That said, it was a complete lie. A well intentioned lie. But a lie.

It’s funny how often this happens with little children and adults.