My DS accidentally saw a disturbing image online

[Anonymous]

This is a teaching moment but not for you to teach your son about transgendered or non binary people at least not primarily.

[Anonymous]

Why would an eleven year old be googling mint candy? Is he a confectionary artist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would an eleven year old be googling mint candy? Is he a confectionary artist?

He likes mint candy. He's 11.

[Anonymous]

Interesting though - I Googled it and the image did not just appear or pop up. I would have had to click another link to get to the image (I did not click it). So DS clinked another link to get to the image?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^^If this is it, op you need to expose your kid to the broader world. He should know that some men dress like women. And most men have a penis. If it wa truly just a guy lounging there, it shouldn’t be all that distressing.

This is OP. You cannot be serious. An 11 y/o kid does not need to see a woman with a huge dick. That's not the same thing as knowing that there are people who are different in the world. He doesn't need to see anyone naked right now. He doesn't need sexual images in his world right now. He certainly does not need that cognitive dissonance of a woman with a penis right now.

I never said he NEEDED to see anything. But if he was aware of those two simple facts of life - some men wear dresses and most men have a penis then I think it would be much easier to explain. And far less shocking overall.

Does your son know tran men and women even exist? Or has ever been around a cultural event or city where they may be?

And, yes, I’m absolutely serious.

I AGREE WITH YOU AND THESE IMAGES SHOULD BE PRESENTED IN SCHOOL BEFORE AGE 11.

For real, dude, you have no idea what OP's kid knows or doesn't know about trans people, and it's totally beside the point. Images of giant cocks are still unexpected when you are looking for images of a kind of candy you like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting though - I Googled it and the image did not just appear or pop up. I would have had to click another link to get to the image (I did not click it). So DS clinked another link to get to the image?

It isn't clear that the link would bring up a picture of....that...though. He may have been googling mints, he may have been googling something a prankster friend told him to look up on the bus. Whatever.

It does not sound as though the kid expected to see that image and it seems pretty clear that the image frightened him. I can actually see how an unexpected picture like that could scare a kid.

Give the kid and Op a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would an eleven year old be googling mint candy? Is he a confectionary artist?

He likes mint candy. He's 11.

LOL. OP you are so THAT mom.

I bet you excused your son's bratty behavior when he was 8 by saying he was "tired" or "teething".

I bet when he was 2 and ruined grandpa's plants and he scolded him you cut the grandparents off for making your sweet little guy feel bad.

Your kid is a liar and the only way you are going to be able to properly deal with this situation is if you stop coddling him and accepting his lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting though - I Googled it and the image did not just appear or pop up. I would have had to click another link to get to the image (I did not click it). So DS clinked another link to get to the image?

It isn't clear that the link would bring up a picture of....that...though. He may have been googling mints, he may have been googling something a prankster friend told him to look up on the bus. Whatever.

It does not sound as though the kid expected to see that image and it seems pretty clear that the image frightened him. I can actually see how an unexpected picture like that could scare a kid.

Give the kid and Op a break.

It does matter. Because it wouldn't have come up if he was just googling , mintts,mintt s, mint s, mint candy or mints he had to google specifically for that thing. It's a good thing he had the crap scared out of him because he had no business looking that up, and OP needs to ignore the crocodile tears and have a serious talk with her son about what's appropriate use of the internet for him, how to deal with the questions he has, and how to deal with peer pressure for him to look up inappropriate things.

[Anonymous]

Uh oh.... OP.

Better watch out when he gets to the weather part of science... he might "accidentally" google Stormy... and his friend Daniel together.

Prepare some kleenex this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have safe search of the equivalent turned on so that obscene images won’t turn up in search results? It’s not a perfect filter, but it gets most stuff so if you have it off I’d turn it on.

How to turn on safe search?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Thai tranny lounging with her/his dick hanging out.

You can be male by birth and identify as male and like to dress in drag. A man who dresses in women’s clothing is not necessarily transgender. In fact, given that people who are transgender identify as the opposite gender of their birth, a transgender woman with a penis is unlikely to use their penis sexually like that.

I’m so utterly exhausted of this stuff.

OP - Agree with you 100%, and very sorry this happened. While I agree that you’re now in a position where you may need to provide some context, I do not agree that you’re somehow at fault for not having “prepared” an 11 year old for a graphic depiction of every permutation of sexual deviancy on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Why does it seem a lot of OP's emphasis is on how big the d*ck was? If he doesn't know that penises come in different sizes yet, I'm sure he'd find that out soon. Would this somehow be better if the penis was smaller?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Thai tranny lounging with her/his dick hanging out.

You can be male by birth and identify as male and like to dress in drag. A man who dresses in women’s clothing is not necessarily transgender. In fact, given that people who are transgender identify as the opposite gender of their birth, a transgender woman with a penis is unlikely to use their penis sexually like that.

I’m so utterly exhausted of this stuff.

OP - Agree with you 100%, and very sorry this happened. While I agree that you’re now in a position where you may need to provide some context, I do not agree that you’re somehow at fault for not having “prepared” an 11 year old for a graphic depiction of every permutation of sexual deviancy on the internet.

It's nice you have the luxury to be exhausted of this stuff.

[Anonymous]

I have an 11 year old DS. While I’m sure he would have been shocked I don’t think he would have screamed and been so traumatized. He probably would have said “whoa - I just saw something CRAZY” and then explained how he legitimately accidentally got there.

It’s also in how you spin it, your refusal to even look to see what shocked him confirmed for him that this was a most terrible incident. I would have said “whoops! THats something neither of us wanted to see, But people come in all different varieties. Next time I’ll help you use my computer so that doesn’t happen again” and we would have moved on with our lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would an eleven year old be googling mint candy? Is he a confectionary artist?

He likes mint candy. He's 11.

LOL. OP you are so THAT mom.

I bet you excused your son's bratty behavior when he was 8 by saying he was "tired" or "teething".

I bet when he was 2 and ruined grandpa's plants and he scolded him you cut the grandparents off for making your sweet little guy feel bad.

Your kid is a liar and the only way you are going to be able to properly deal with this situation is if you stop coddling him and accepting his lies.

Wow....there is something extremely wrong with you. As if it matters, I'll explain exactly what happened so you can grasp that not every kid who comes across an inappropriate image on the internet is some kind of lying deviant.

His brother saw a shiny packet on the counter. I had just opened it to add some sliced almonds to the green beans we were having for dinner. Younger brother said, "oh, is that jr mints?" DS, who frankly would rather google mints than do math, said "I love jr mints" and clumsily fast-typed MINTS TS into google. Yes, he clicked the first link in the list. Why, I don't know. It was first. That's when he saw the image of someone who looks female but had an erect penis. It scared the shit out of him. HE DID NOT NEED TO SEE THAT to understand about transexualism. He is not a liar. He did not sneakily google something he heard on the bus. It was a random accident and I am sad for my kid. Your comments are weird and say a lot more about you than me. I feel bad for your kids.