Parents, vigilance is key. Protecting your kids from Internet smut may be hard, but it’s not impossible. Talk to your kids. Keep your computer in a common area. Limit Internet time. Know who your kids are chatting with online. And get an Internet filter -- NOW! There are many great, inexpensive filters on the market, but I use the filter from BSafe.com.

When I first started researching the dangers and garbage prevalent on MySpace months ago, I asked my then-13-year-old daughter, “Kristin, do you know about a site called MySpace?” She replied with a sigh, “Yes, Mom. But I can’t get to it because our filter blocks it out!” After whispering a prayer of thanks for such a great filter, I asked her, “How many of your friends have pages on MySpace?” She replied, “All of them.” What followed, of course, was a serious discussion of why her time was best spent elsewhere.

And guess what ... she “got it.” When I took the time to let Kristin know about the kind of folks flocking to the site to market to and even stalk America’s youth, she instinctively understood that there are better places to hang out.

The point here is that our teens are not dumb -- they just need parents to guide them. Don’t let your silence about a cultural fad like MySpace be misinterpreted by your child as a stamp of approval.

I believe the Internet has the ability to be one of the great liberators of the American family. It allows parents to work from home and puts the wonders of the world at our fingertips. But it is also a web of weirdos. It’s up to parents to harness the good and filter out the bad. With the millions of great sites that serve our families well, there’s no need for our kids to spend time on a place like MySpace that refuses to act responsibly by filtering out the pornographers.

You wouldn’t let a pervert or pedophile enter your home or speak on the phone with your child, would you? So why on Earth are you letting your kids hang out with them online?