Are your children blogging and/or social networking on the net?  If so, you really need to check out this website http://www.netsmartz.org/ if you want to keep your kids safe on the internet.  This site is an interactive, educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America for children ages 5   to 17 as well as the parents, guardians, educatiors and law enforcement.  Children can learn how to stay safe on the internet, since the site uses age appropriate activities to teach them how. 

As a parent you need to be aware of what your children are doing on the web.  Monitor your children's accounts, who are they meeting online.  Check their buddy lists and address books.  Yes, block out inappropriate sites, there is a parental control feature for restricted sites.  Set family internet policies for e-mail, IMs, blogs and social networking accounts.  Educate your children by telling them never to divulge their name, phone number and address to a stranger.  Lastly, keep your computers in a place in your home that you can stay involved with your child's activity on the net.

Emailing fun stuff to the young children (I do) is a fun way to stay in touch with them.  It could be a cute joke or something appropriate that someone has emailed me.  Then they email it to their friends.  They ask me where do you get this stuff?  And it also gives me an opportunity to leave them a wonderful message about them, how proud I am of them, how much I care and love them, etc.  Great way to build closeness and at the same time keep them busy without having to go looking for someone to communicate with.  This also helps use up some of the restricted minutes that they have on using the interenet.

Lori Hagge, Realtor, GRI, CRS,  ASP, SRES Designated, Century 21 Diablo Valley Realty, Concord CA

http://www.lorihagge.com   lori@lorihagge.com    925 998-8844