How to Protect Your Kids from the Dangers of Myspace.Com

Lately it seems that everybody has a my space account. I remember a few years ago at a birthday party, my cousin asking me what was my myspace page. My response to her was "Sorry, I don't have one- I'm 30."

Now everyone has one. From the Presidential nominees to your child. I have not allowed my son to have one. My excuse to him is that he is too young and would violate myspace's guidelines, since you have to be 13. Problem is a lot of kids under 13 have one by saying they are older.

Children and even adults do not realize the dangers lurking on-line through communities like myspace and facebook. They do not realize that anyone can figure out what school they go to by simply posting a picture from their school football. Posting a picture seems harmless enough, but it is not when you are talking about putting it online where anyone in the world can view it. Think about that- someone from another country can see a picture of your child.

Additionally the user needs to make sure that none of their friends who are allowed to post on their page say anything descriptive, such as "see you at the game Friday". If this happens, BAM! Now the predator knows your child is going to be at the football game Friday.

Don't get me wrong. I think myspace and facebook can be great tools for keeping in touch. People do not want to believe that some people in the world are as bad as they are, but the truth is we do have predators around us. Even those that will drive hours to approach your or your child. A few suggestions for parents of children who have myspace pages:

· If you allow your child to have a myspace page, make sure you have the user name, password and email address associated with their page. I would even go as far as to suggest that you set up the page and only allow your child to get on their page only after you log them on (they can't change any of the controls if they do not know the password).

· Express to them that they are not allowed to accept any friends unless you (the parent) know them. Many predators claim to be someone similar to your child- such as a 14 year old girl who goes to the rival school.

· Check their page frequently. If you see anything that warrants deleting their page/account, do it. Don't second guess yourself with something this important.

· Check their friends pages frequently. You can see comments that your child is posting on their page, as well as other peoples comments. You would be surprised to know what information and how much of it can be gained from viewing your friends' friends pages. Even go as far as viewing those friends' friends pages. Make sure everything is up to your standards and nothing is going on that you would not condone.
· Make them keep their page PRIVATE- this allows only those people who your child has "friended" to view their page and post comments.

Remember there is a lot of information that can be obtained from google searches. Someone across the country can see what city your child lives in, figure out what school they go to and create a pseudonym posing as someone similar as your child in an attempt to befriend them and gain their trust.

We all want our kids to be safe and that comes with parental monitoring, since children do not know the limits of what is appropriate to post online. They do not yet comprehend that once it is online, it can live online there forever.