Seat belts and bike helmets probably do work, but making laws to enforce their use? I don't think so. I'm reminded of a conversation on my bike journey (passing through Humptulips, Washington) where we filled up our bottles from a garden hose, saying: "We're from the in-between generation that drinks from the hose but wears helmets."

Even imagining a law that would try to keep me from drinking from the hose makes me chuckle. - Though here in Mexico there have been such efforts to discourage people from drinking municipal tap water in favor of buying bottled water. Of course in the name of our well being!

I thought Australia had pretty strict gun laws already. But clearly, that doesn't keep people from getting one if they really want to. Or if they do, people will find another way to cause massive harm, such as driving a motor vehicle into a crowd. It has happened...

Will we have to give our ID to Facebook to prove we are 18? If that happens, it just goes to show that it has never been about the children's health and safety.

So how do I think parents should effectively protect their kids online? I suggest teaching them to identify the venom on the internet, become aware of what it does, calling it out for what it is, and staying away from it. Of course this is a long and ongoing process, which requires ideally more than two parents. But I'm sure friends, neighbors, and interested families can get together to do this. Kinda like how kids are collectively taught not to play with poisonous snakes and spiders (honestly, something I can only imagine, but supposedly is part of the Australian reality - please verify or correct me otherwise).