Des Moines Register
11-02-06
Parents' Internet literacy is Vilsack's new agenda
By PHILIP BRASHER
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
Washington, D.C. - Life after the governor's mansion will find Christie Vilsack
looking for ways to get parents involved in their children's Internet use.
Vilsack, who is ending her eight years as the first lady of Iowa, on Wednesday
announced plans to help the Verizon Foundation and the National Center for
Family Literacy find and reward programs that work with parents on Internet
literacy.
Kids need to learn from their parents both what to avoid on the Internet and how
to use it properly to communicate with others and find information, she said.
"We can't protect them. Once they have a cell phone, they can go where they
want to go," she said.
The Verizon Foundation is financing four $5,000 awards and one $25,000
national award to programs that "demystify" computer technology for parents and
caregivers and help them guide children in using the Internet.
One such program, according to Vilsack, was a three-day seminar for parents put
on earlier this year by a Lutheran church in Clive. The featured speaker was
Doug Gentile, a child psychologist who runs the Media Research Lab at
Iowa State University. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny will hold similar
seminars later this month with Gentile.
Finding other such programs may not be easy. There are few of them around,
and the ones there are primarily attract parents who are already concerned about
their kids' media use, Gentile said in an interview.
"Mrs. Vilsack is correct in saying that there is a big need here. What we haven't
seen is a way to deliver the information to the families that could use it most,"
Gentile said.
He encourages parents to start discussing media use with their children before
they reach their teens.
"A lot of parents feel they can't control it, that technology is changing so fast that
they're out of touch with it. But, in fact, parents are in a truly powerful position and
the main power comes from discussion," he said.
The Verizon Foundation is an offshoot of the New York-based Verizon
Communications Inc., one of the nation's largest telecommunications firms. The
foundation has helped pay for Vilsack's project of giving books to kindergarten
students in Iowa.
Vilsack said she didn't know how much time she would spend on the Internet
project or whether she would be one of the judges for the awards.
She compares parental involvement in kids' computer use to teaching children
about driving, alcohol or sex.
"We also have to have a conversation with our children about the technology,
what the rules are in our family and how that might be different than the rules in
someone else's family," she said.