Privacy and Parental control software:

It's a tough decision whether or not to use parental control software to monitor your children's online activity and behavior while on the computer.

Many parents feel that to do so would be an invasion of their children's privacy. And while to an extent that may be true, not using some sort of parental control software is an invitation for problems that could affect both you and your child for the rest of your lives.

Nowadays it seems that you can't turn on the television or open a newspaper any more without seeing a story about online pedophiles, Internet abductions, or online sex offenders preying on children they find online. So the issue surrounding the use of Internet monitoring software isn't really one of privacy ethics, instead its one of necessity.

You may trust your child completely and rightfully so. However, children and particularly teens are extremely vulnerable to online predators, because teams feel a sense of safety and anonymity when using the computer, in chat rooms or using instant messaging software.

But it's this sense of the vulnerability and false sense of online safety that is what can get children and teens into trouble. No matter how smart or clever or intelligent you may think you were child or teenager is, I can guarantee you that none of them have the emotional or intellectual sophistication of a 40-year-old pedophile.

And it's only a matter of time before your teen or child is approached online for sex, if it hasn't happened already. And if it has, don't be surprised if your teen hasn't told you about it.

The scariest part is that it's usually not a blatant sexual request. Pedophiles are extremely sophisticated in the way they approached children. They'll often work on befriending them and spending weeks developing online relationships of friendship and trust, before convincing the child that they should meet them in person.

The use of parental control and Internet monitoring software can and will give you a shocking inside view the online activity of your children, and it's well worth the angst and conflict that you may feel for “snooping” on them.

But being able to monitor chat rooms, instant messages and using email monitoring will give you a very different perspective of who you think your child is.

For many parents, this aspect alone is enough to keep them from using parental control software or monitoring their children online, and that's too bad. Because in doing so these parents are missing the opportunity to be there for their children and help guide them life choices that they make

But the fact is that even if you aren't worried about the estimated one million pedophiles online because you think your child is too smart to fall for that, parental controls and Internet monitoring software can also help you support your child in making the right sorts of decisions when it comes to the teen peer pressure issues.

Most parents want to know if their children are sexually active, or are considering becoming sexually active. Parents are even able to see recorded screen shots that can tell them whether or not their teens are involved in drug use or using alcohol, or what really happened at that party last Friday night.

Once again parental controls and parental control software can give you the answers to the questions your children won't answer directly.

While it's true that using Internet monitoring software does prevent some ethical questions relating to personal privacy, most parents would agree that their children's personal privacy comes second to their personal safety.

For more information about parental controls software, Internet safety tips, and teen peer pressure you can visit our web site at: http://www.PCTattletale.com