Spend time online with your child to teach correct behavior. Below are some additional tips that can make the Internet experience more rewarding for both you and your child.

Ø      Locate your computer in a common part of your home, not in a bedroom or secluded room.

Ø      Bookmark your child's favorite Web sites to minimize searching and mistyped URLs.

Ø      Talk to your child. Tell them exactly what is Ok and what is not acceptable regarding Web sites they can visit.

Ø      Make sure your child knows that they are to behave courteously and respectfully while online with friends or strangers.

Ø      Consider sharing one e-mail address with your child so that you can monitor messages.

Ø      Keep an eye on your phone bills and credit card statements for unusual charges.

Ø      Set time limits and rules for Internet use and enforce them. Believe it or not, Internet addiction is a real thing!

Ø      Establish consequences for when your child violates the rules (i.e. losing Internet privileges for 1 week)

Ø      Explain to your child that if they should receive "dirty pictures" (pornographic spam or child pornography), make them understand that although they might be embarrassed, they must alert you to any such mailings. That's one of the "rules".

ü      Forward copies of pornographic spam or threatening messages to your ISP.

ü      Contact your local police or the FBI.

ü      Contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children if you are aware of distribution, or solicitation of child pornography.

ü      Praise your child for reporting this activity.

If you are not an experienced computer user, you need to learn how to surf the Web and use chat so that you understand what it is your child is doing online. If you don't know how to do this, your child can probably teach you! If you are near a Community Collage they probably offer an inexpensive course that can be completed in a few hours.