Kids can easily meet predators online. They can also be snatched up off the street walking home from a friend's house. Sexual predators are everywhere. Some might even live on your block. You should check every few months or so to be aware of how close they are. http://www.familywatchdog.us/

This is a great site. Just enter your address and it shows you a map with color coded squares to tell you where predators live, work, etc.

As kids get older, they want to play online. Mine plays games mostly and Ive joined some of the sites she plays on to see for myself what goes on. But we can never be positive. You cant take anything for granted. I get a ton of spam, sometimes for adult sites, in my email. I would be a fool to think those same emails couldnt end up in my daughter's inbox.

My daughter told me 2 of her friends think Im too protective over her. I said to her, "Better to be over protective than not care at all, right?" She agreed. Dont get me wrong, she's 9. She plays with her friends, gets to have overnighters with a few of them and she just started walking to school with an older friend. Aha! You see, there is the problem. She's always ridden the bus, even tho school is only a half block away from us and there are crossing guards to view their every move. It's a 5 minute jaunt across the street basically.

I'm just a worrier when it comes to her. Ive always known the worst thing that could even happen in life would be to lose her. So I guess I freak out a bit. She, however, loves her new independence.

When I was growing up, children didnt have access to the internet. It wasnt even around yet. My idea of having fun on a computer was to play donkey kong or pac man. So people my age may be having a hard time deciding where to draw the line with kids and the net. I know I am. Let's start with online game sites.

Club Penguin is a reasonably safe place for young ones to play. I joined after my girl did, to make sure it was safe. I even play on there with her from another computer in the house. That got me thinking though. If IM on there, how many other adults are? You can have your child log-in under safe mode, which is where there are a list of preapproved sayings and that is all they can use to talk to each other in certain settings. Thats about as safe as one can get online.

Another thing she likes to do is download games. Not interacting with anyone but the computer, also very safe.

She isnt allowed in chat rooms, but she does have a messenger service. She rarely uses this but when she has, Ive had her under "invisible" so people cant find her.

Safekids.com is a good site with lots of info on how to keep kids safe online.

I have a myspace which I use to keep in contact with my family back in California. I dont know if I ever want to allow her to have one though. I guess well see when she's old enough. Kids can be so mean and it seems to be getting worse with the use of the internet.

People can be anything they want to be here, it's scary how many people arent themselves anymore. We need to watch out for our kids and keep an eye out for other's as well. Kinda like a big online neighborhood watch. If you see a child doing something you know is inappropriate online, I would hope you would talk to them about it. You never know, you could save a life.