I read your report (TMID, 14 October) regarding the use of the internet by children and could not help but wonder what these children’s parents are doing.

It is surprising, and rather shocking, that children of primary school age are allowed to use the internet without any monitoring at all. It is even more worrying that they are allowed to chat with “strangers” and at times have gone to meet them.

First of all, how can children as young as seven, or even a bit older, be allowed to go out on their own? Where are their parents?

Secondly, why are these parents not monitoring what their children are doing on their computer?

I believe that children should not have their own computer in their room. Computers should be installed in the “more public” areas of the house, especially if the children are still very young. In this way, it is much harder for them to enter sites which are not suitable to them.

Chatting – if allowed, because I have doubts about this too – should also be monitored closely. Let us all remember that adults can join in chatrooms for children, and not all adults have good intentions. It is easy for an adult to correspond in a child’s tone and induce the child at the other end to do things that a child should not do, such as going on blind dates as your report said.

I think that it is up to the parents to see that the internet is used well.

M. Caruana

San Gwann