The newest concern for parents is Internet safety for kids. Children are growing up with information at their fingertips, but many of the places they go on-line are not safe. Chat rooms can expose children to unsavory ideas, and many other websites regularly collect information from children about their parents, their schools, and even their addresses.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. Pedophiles are attracted to kids’s websites too, and regularly try to lure kids into meeting them in real life. There have been many abduction cases that resulted in child molestation and even child pornography.

The facts of on-line child abuse are hard to face, but parents can be relieved to know that there are many ways to improve Internet safety for kids. As with all child safety precautions, it is best to work actively with children so they can learn how to navigate the world’s traps and tricks when they are on their own.

In a perfect world, parents will always be able to monitor what their children see on-line, but of course this is next to impossible. By following the tips below, parents can gain more control of what their children see on the internet, and also rest assured that their kids will know what to do if accosted on-line.

The big picture is to agree on some “house rules” for using the Internet. Even better is to make a pact with them about on-line behavior. Here are some common rules many parents make for kids:

1. Never give your personal information on-line, including real name, address, and school. If any webpage asks for information, check with parents’ first.

2. No meeting with people from chat rooms - unless parents’ agree. Also, parents’ should arrange to go with them to a first meeting.

3. Never send picture of yourself to others.

4. Never download any software with parental permission.

Further protection is to keep the computer in the family room, rather than in the children’s bedroom. Or, agree on times when they are allowed to surf the Internet, so they can be monitored from a distance.

Kids want freedom of information, too, despite legitimate parental concerns for their safety. Often it is difficult to monitor them directly, so consider these tactics:

1. Check the Internet history weekly by clicking on preferences for most browsers.

2. Enable parental controls on search results for Google and the other main search engines.

3. Invest in software that tracks Internet history and also bars web pages that may be unsafe.

It is unfortunate that parents have to balance their children's trust with concerns for their safety, so I always recommend that the above tactics are used only as a "last defense."

Since the Online Children’s Protection Act of 1998, websites that request information for children under the age of 13 have to get parental permission first.

This is the first step towards a safer Internet, but the on-line world is still crawling with predators. And kids regularly perform searches that accidently result in child pornography websites. If this happens, report the page immediately to the national child pornography hotline by calling 1-800-843-5678.

Children may never be completely safe on the Internet. However, by becoming more involved with children’s interests on-line, parents not only are making their kids safer, but also building stronger and more trusting relationships. Monitoring your kids may be inevitable, but the best approach for improving internet safety is not to just make rules, but to instill real values that stick.