My kid is coming to the age where I think a laptop is in order.<p>I'd like for him to largely have unfettered root/admin access to mess with anything and everything except arbitrary web sites.<p>When it comes to the web, I'd like to be able to establish an allow list ( or maybe a deny list )for the usual reasons. And I know TOR makes this even harder. Any ideas how I can achieve these protections or how close I can come to achieving them.<p>Any advice from parents who have had to confront this situation?
I'm interested in hearing how people handle this as well.. My son is not old enough to be online yet, but when he is..<p>My thoughts so far have been to explain to him that the Internet is a wild place, mostly filled with ugly things and lies, and that while one cannot be safe from ever seeing any of it, one should recognize that it is not good for you and go away from it. Probably pretty naive, but I can't whitelist everything that can be of value, and blacklisting would only make some things seem that much interesting.. After all, we only lock away valuables, right?
[random advice from the internet]<p>Instead of trying to lock down the internet, work toward open communication because your relationship with your child is social not technical.<p>The challenges your child will face are not merely confined to the internet. And when they hit puberty...well, people have been hitting puberty since long before the internet.<p>The best way to protect your child is to arm them with judgment and a logistics train full of love, patience, forgiveness and understanding. Good luck.