Kirstie Allsopp has revealed that she bans her sons from using the internet in their bedrooms and accused charity the NSPCC of not doing to enough to prevent children from viewing porn online.
The Location, Location, Location star spoke out after a report for the NSPCC’s ChildLine service found that 12 per cent of children aged 12 to 13 have made or been part of a sexually explicit video.
Kirstie, 43, who has two sons, aged eight and six, tweeted her feelings on the matter.
Would you take your 12 year old to a porn shop & say "take your pick"? If you allow free access to the Internet that's what you are doing.
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) March 31, 2015
We have a strict rule, no internet connected devices in bedrooms. Kids tend not to look at porn, or beheading videos, in the kitchen!
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) March 31, 2015
After listening to Peter Liver, the director of Childline Services, on Radio 4′s Today programme Kirstie said that the charity needed to do more.
Shocked by utterly inadequate response from @NSPCC to their own report. Where was advice on protecting kids from online porn? @BBCr4today
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) March 31, 2015
When is NSPCC going to say "protect your children from viewing it online" a chat with ur child won't crack it. @BBCr4today
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) March 31, 2015
Her comments come after screen stars Damian Lewis and his wife Helen McCrory revealed that they forbid their two children from using computers during the week.
The couple also impose a '10-minute rule' for weekends, fearing their nine and eight-year-old boys will be unable to express themselves if they overuse technology.
Peaky Blinders actress Helen told Stella magazine: “I want the children I meet to be less interested in staring at a computer screen and more interested in talking to me.
“There’s a whole generation of children growing up who don’t seem able to express themselves.”
