WALDEN’S WORLD

We parents can never be too neurotic

When I read about the “smart toy” tipped to be this year’s “Christmas hit” – a dinosaur named Dino that is able to collect information about your child’s “likes and dislikes”, answer questions and read bedtime stories – I had a fairly succinct reaction: no. There was the £89.99 price tag and the vetoing of any speaking toy after that business with a malfunctioning Homer Simpson last year, twice-hourly squeals of: “Doughnuts of the world beware – it’s judgment day!” and a sleepless night.

But most of all it was the fact that Dino – along with several other toys including a singing robot and a teddy bear that links to your smartphone – had failed to win approval from the Mozilla Foundation, the not-for-profit organisation that campaigns for better internet accessibility and safety, after fears it may be vulnerable to hackers.

It reminded me about the specialist security expert, Will Geddes, I once met at a party. “Parents always think they’re being neurotic,” said the man called upon by billionaires, CEOS and A-listers to ensure their personal and cyber safety. “But in my experience they’re rarely neurotic

enough.” As the co-author of Parent Alert: How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online,

Geddes had one piece of free advice for every parent out there: “Take a sticker and cover up the camera hole on every desktop, laptop, ipad and iphone your child uses. Simple, safe – and no, not neurotic.”