Do you feel like all you do is fight with your kids when you are only trying to find out what they are doing on the Internet? I constantly felt like a complete nag and even when I got an answer out of them, I wasn't sure that they were telling me everything.

I know how easy it is to go from one site to another on the Internet. Every site is filled with links to more and more sites. You know what I mean. You are on one site, and you click a link that looks interesting. You may do this several more times and before you know it, you are so far from where you started and you don't even know how you got there.

I know that this has probably happened to you too. Well, if this happens to us, it must happen to our kids too, right? Will their judgment be as good as ours if they end up with something in front of them that they shouldn't be looking at. Will they immediately close it? Or even worse, will they save it and go back to it once they have found it?

I know that my kids don't try to do what I warn them not to, but the Internet makes it so easy to end up in places that they shouldn't be in. What can you do? Can you sit and watch them every minute that they are on line?

This just isn't reasonable.

I looked and looked and did sample trials of several different types of software before I found just what I was looking for. Did you know that there is a way that you can monitor where they have been and who they have been talking to without their having to know that you are doing this? This doesn't make you sneaky or dishonest. After all, you are only trying to keep them safe.

Here is what I do. When the kids get off of the Internet, I just scan through the sites that they have been on that day. If everything looks okay to me, there is no need to talk about it. I can also trace what they have written and their passwords if necessary. Again, my intention is never to prevent them from privacy so if they are just communicating with their friends, I don't even read what they have written.

But, when I come across something that doesn't look right to me, I talk to them and get them to tell me what they have found or who they have met. I never have to tell them that I already know, but by knowing, I can get them to have a conversation with me and get them to understand how dangerous it is to communicate with people they don't know or be on sites that they should not be on.