• Be reasonable and try to set reasonable  expectations for your child. Pulling the plug on your child’s Internet usage is rarely a good response to a problem—it’s too easy for them to go “underground” and establish accounts at a friend's house or at other places.
• Be open with your children. Encourage them to come to you if they encounter a problem online—cultivate trust and communication because no rules or filtering software can replace you as their first line of defense.
• Talk with your children. Find out how they use social sites such as myspace and facebook, Make sure that they understand basic Internet safety guidelines, including privacy protection and passwords, the risks involved in posting personal information such as an address, avoiding in-person meetings, and not posting inappropriate photographs.
• Consider requiring that all online activity take place in a central area of the home, not in a child’s bedroom. But remain aware that there are always ways children can access the Internet away from home.
• Try and get your children to share their online blogs and profiles with you.  Keep in mind that it is possible to have multiple accounts on multiple sites
  

The following books in the Library collection can fill in many more details for you. Have your library card handy and you can go directly to the library catalogue to reserve these titles.

The complete idiot's guide to Internet privacy and security / by Preston Gralla 005.8 Gra

Generation MySpace : helping your teen survive online adolescence / Candice M. Kelsey 004.6780835 Kel

 Keep your kids safe on the Internet / Simon Johnson 004.678083 Joh

MySpace for dummies / by Ryan Hupfer, Mitch Maxson, Ryan Williams 004.69 Hup

 MySpace unraveled : a parent's guide to teen social networking from the directors of BlogSafety.com / Larry Magid and Anne Collier 004.6780835 Mag

A parent's guide to the Internet / by Ilene Raymond  025.04083 Ray

Totally wired : what teens and tweens are really doing online / Anastasia Goodstein 004.6780835 Goo

What in the world are your kids doing online? : how to understand the electronic world your children live in / Barbara Melton, Susan Shankle 004.678 Mel