Talk about uncharted territory for today’s parents – the Internet, chat rooms, Instant Messaging and blogs – these comprise a “virtual” arena in which our kids are networking socially. How much do we know about them? Once we buy our kids the computer and set up the Internet connection, how involved should we be in what happens next?

Back in the day, parents could pretty much keep track of their kids and their friends because for the most part, our communities provided a physical boundary to safeguard against the unknown dangers that lay beyond the neighborhood, school and church. Today’s kids are venturing into cyberspace, a place without such boundaries, a place filled with opportunities like MySpace.com, where they can sign up for free to “share photos, journals and interests with your growing network of mutual friends.” Sounds innocent enough, and it’s good for young people to meet other young people, right? Assuming, that is, that others on these social networking web sites are the same age, and not adults. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

So, how do parents deal with this new virtual environment? How do they help their kids and teens get the maximum benefit of new technologies, while minimizing the dangers?

First, get educated. The Polly Klaas Foundation recently polled teens and tweens on their use of the Internet. The findings are sobering. For example, half of the teens surveyed said they had communicated online with someone they never met; one-third talked about meeting someone in person that they had only known through the Internet; and 10 percent of those surveyed learned that a person with whom they were communicated online that they thought was their own age, was really an adult who misled them.

Then, get engaged. A fair number of organizations has resources to help parents provide a safe cyber-environment for their kids and teens. Here are a few of the many that I found by googling “Internet Safety”:

i SAFE
SafeKids.Com
GetNetWise
CyberAngels
NetSmartz Workshop