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Kids today do not go outside and play like we used to. They do not go play baseball in an empty lot down the street anymore. They sit inside chatting online with strangers. Sometimes these strangers really are just other kids wanting to talk to their friends. However, other times they are predators luring our children into a trap.

One of the favorite places preteens and teens like to hang out online these days is the social networking site
MySpace
. The appeal is that you can create your own unique profile. On this profile you can post pictures, a bio, keep a blog, chat with each other, and leave comments on each others pages. There is a way to set your profile page to private, however, predators can still get past as we have seen recently by disguising themselves as a teenager and making friends with your child.

One way I think we can keep our children safer is to make them go through a mandatory Internet safety course at their school. I say this because, let’s face the facts during their preteen and teen years a lot of what their parent’s say goes in one ear and out the other. So an Internet safety class that is required at the school can teach them important things that can keep them safe while online.

For example, when posting a picture a lot of kids do not know how to make sure it is a safe picture. The picture should have identifiable markings in it. No school or team clothes. No school or home in the background. No other pictures in the background. Basically the picture, if they absolutely feel the need to post one, should be as plain as possible. Little tips like these that they will learn in an Internet safety course will make a big difference in their safety.

With the rate that social networking are popping up these days it is hard to monitor which one your kid is on and which one they are not on. This holds especially true when they have access to these sites at the school library or even a public library. They can have joined five or six different sites while we parents innocently think they are just safely talking to their local friends on myspace. This is why the more parents and children know about Internet the better. So please make yourself as aware as possible to the many possibilities that the children have out there as well as the dangers.