I was watching Dr. Phil today and one of the segments was about a ten-year old girl who is online alone frequently and speaking explicitly with some gross older men. Having a ten-year old who technically savvy, I was interested in what was going on.

The parents say she just keeps getting back online and they don't know what to do. They've read the chat logs and they are horrible. They've tried re-directing her to kid friendly sites to no avail. It came to a head when an adult called the house at 2am.

I found this all hysterical and sad. How passive some parents are - simply nip this in the bud. Why are people placating children and living with risks they can't control?

Let's look at the issues they posed:

• The young lady started getting online with the playstation. Solution -> turn off that option.


• She abused instant messenger talking to these adults. Solution -> why does a ten-year old have her own AOL account? Uninstalled all chat options.


• She would get up late at night to chat when her parents when to bed. Solution -> the computers can only be accessed by a password that only the adults know.


• Or hey - just turn off the internet in any machine you can't control. Heck if my child was talking to predators, I'd remove the internet all together! This is her life, this child is being abused.

In our house, we have four PCs. Hayley has her own computer in the playroom and it is not online. My husband and I both have laptops. If Hayley wants to use one, she has to use it in the living room with one of us there. I check it regularly to see what she is doing, often I'm actually sitting there with her.

Also we've gone over more than once the risks of predators online. I've been very clear about what can happen and what come people want. Sad we have to do that but the facts can't be denied.

Protect your children, preserve their childhood.