With these days technology, finding out what you child is doing online, which sites he visited, who’s talking with on messenger, it’s no more a difficult option.
Of course, there are people that might say that parents can be more effective in protecting their children by spending time discussing and educating them about the dangers of sharing information online with strangers. I totally agree that family members should talk in detail about privacy and the web. But I also agree that this is a very difficult thing to achieve, and there are plenty of cases when the children forgets about the education he/she received especially when a new colleague comes into their school and that colleague makes him/her feel much appreciated if she changes.

Placing the computer in the living area where you can easily see the screen so you’ll have some idea about activities that children are doing on the computer including the websites they are visiting frequently. This could be another solution, but don’t forget that the main advice for the parents is “stay involved with your children’s internet activity without looking over their shoulder!” they will always find a moment when you are not around to access everything they want. Talking about people under 18, this is the age when you form your opinions about social issues, human rights, and religion, so, don’t let your children be influenced by others.

Chat messenger software

There is also a program out there which is dedicated to the recording of chat conversations. With all the criminal acts being committed online I don’t blame programmers for going out and creating a software application designed for recording chat messages. These tools are very powerful and can track many conversations from Yahoo, MSN, Google, ICQ, and more. The reports from software like this is sent to your email and also daily. The files can be hotkey and password set so that nobody can access it other then you.

These programs will definitely help you become a more involved parent with what your kids do online. Kids have a mind of their own and often times won’t be able to tell the difference online between someone their age or someone much older then them. Parents need to explain the problems kids face online so that this way they are aware of it.