How to keep your children safe online

Given half a chance most kids would spend their entire lives online to the exclusion of all else. Between games, chats, and the sheer amount of information on the internet why do anything else at all?

It's up to parents to teach moderation and keep their children grounded in the real world, just as it falls to them to limit access to age appropriate content. But how? Even if you don't work outside the home it's hardly feasible to spend all of your time hovering behind your children, watching hawk-eyed for any stray mouse clicks.

That's where parental control software comes in. Not only will it allow you to automatically limit and enforce your children's internet usage, it will also filter out websites with inappropriate content or ads, monitor chats for specifically chosen keywords, and block computer downloads. Some programs will even send you reports detailing your child's internet activity.

But these programs aren't cheap. A piece of parental control software with most of these features can cost you upwards of a $100 just for the software, and that doesn't include any of the live add-ons that can run about $30 a month. Luckily there are cheaper programs out there, as well as free parental control software programs, although with limited features.

The real question when shopping for free parental control software programs is: what features are really appropriate for your family? Are your children young enough that you want complete control which websites they visit and what images they see? Are they in school and need to do research for homework assignments?

It's a difficult balancing act between privacy and safety, worry and trust, but once you figure out exactly what your family needs you can decide just how much you need to pay to keep you children safe from the perils of the World Wide Web.