Madam, - Fionola Meredith's article "Keeping an eye on the kids - To snoop or not to snoop" (October 15th) played upon the all too common misconception that keeping track of who your children make contact with is "snooping" and not responsible parental behaviour.
While some parents may take supervision a little too far, what I find even more disturbing are the parents who blindly ignore the activities of their children on the internet.
Recent reports indicate that "nearly a third of young people have received unwanted sexual comment online or by text and just 7 per cent of parents know their child has been subjected to such material".
To take the issue of trust and mix it up a little with excessive snooping leaves many parents in a quandary.
Should I let my 14-year-old daughter have a free rein in her internet activities and deal with the possible consequences, or should I attempt to educate her on responsible online behaviour?
In the same article Melanie Read is quoted as saying that "online teen tracking amounts to a form of internet child abuse." I wonder if Ms Read would have the same view if her son or daughter was being groomed by an internet paedophile?
Internet safety contains two vital elements: the education of parents and the education of children.
Responsible parents make sure that they educate their children to the possible dangers posed online, just the very same way that they taught their children how to cross the road safely as toddlers.
Parental filtering software is a vastly underrated tool which parents can use in conjunction with their children, so one wonders why only one in 10 parents within Europe choose to use it - perhaps because accusations of snooping make parents take off their parental gloves? - Yours, etc,
ANGELA FITZSIMONS,
Kidshield Europe,
Mosswater Wynd,
Cumberland,
England.