Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

Years ago there was a TV commercial that asked, "It's 10 O'Clock, do you know where your children are?" In today's world, you might think your children are safe because they are in their own bedroom and you know exactly where they are. But do you really know where they are? If they have a computer like most kids do then they are probably surfing the web.

You need to know what they are looking at on the Internet. The good news is - the Internet is a great tool for looking up information; you can find just about anything there. The bad news is - there is too much information that is not suited for children and it is readily available online. Also there are a lot of predators that hang out in chat rooms and other places your kids frequent on the Internet!

It's not just pornographic sites that you need to worry about either. There are chat rooms and forums and instant messaging and MySpace and all kinds of places that your kids can go that could be dangerous! Check up on them, see what they are doing on the computer. If your child has a MySpace account or a web page of their own you need to be looking at it. See what they are into. You can learn all kinds of stuff about your children by looking at their MySpace page.

Talk to your kids and ask them about the Internet and MySpace. If you have to sneak a look at their computer when they are not around. Look in the drop down menu of the address bar on their web browser and see where they have been. Check the Recent Files list on their c/drive. Look in the Temporary Internet File folder and the History folder. If you do not know where to find these things, you need to learn; there are tracks left behind that will help you see what your kids are up to.

To view your temporary files in Internet Explorer:
1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and select Internet Options.
2. On the General tab, under the Temporary Internet Files area, click the Settings button.
3. Under the Temporary Internet files folder area, click the View Files button. Of course, if your children are really computer savvy then they will know how to cover their tracks. So the best thing to do is establish some Internet usage rules while your children are young and just like everything else, hope that they abide by your rules.

Here are a few Internet safety tips to pass on to your kids:
1. Never give any personal information to anyone you meet online. Especially names, passwords, phone numbers, addresses, and birthdays.
2. Never meet up with anyone you don't already know. Don't announce party plans or tell anyone your schedule.
3. Make sure you know who you are chatting with. Not everyone is who they pretend to be!
4. Don't e-mail or IM people you do not know.
5. Don't download content from the Internet unless it is from a trusted site; it could contain spyware and viruses.