Web Page Monitoring

Family Safe Solutions allows you to monitor web site traffic as well as the other things mentioned on the blog. It has a web interface where you can view the various web pages that your children have viewed.

Another thing that I really like about it is the fact that you only have to install it on one computer in your household and not every single computer. That really makes things nice! We let our children know up front that we had the program and they are aware that we can see their activity on the internet, but this feature would also allow any parent to view what their child was doing in "stealth mode".
I didn't mention it in my previous posts, but one of the most annoying things that I had with the other programs I have tried was how difficult they were to use. My youngest daughter (not old enough to have to worry about chatting right now) likes to play on several of the free websites. While these sites are perfectly clean, the other applications I tried would prevent her from seeing certain parts of the pages. That is not the case with Family Safe Solutions. The easy interface will allow you to set pages based on their rating or by manually typing the information in.

My Latest IM Patrol

Last night my oldest daughter was on her computer "chatting" with her friends. I decided to come to my office and just take a "peek" at what all was being said. After view the logs of what I consider absolute nonsense, I saw the IM (Instant Message) from her friend that said:

"Ask your mom if you can come over tomorrow and go swimming at my house. My parents are not going to be home and my friends sister is getting us some beer. We are going to have a party"

I was sweating.. What would my daughter say?? I just knew the question was going to be asked of me "Can I go over swimming tomorrow?". "What would I say?" Luckily, I didn't have to face that situation because she told her that she could not come over that her mom would never go for it.

Needless to say, my $3.99 I spend each month on Family Safe Solutions is going to be getting a working in the coming days. I have set up a monitor on the particular friend she was talking with and I will be keeping a close eye on what is being said in the future.

Website Monitoring

As I have said many times on my blog, several products are available today that will allow you to monitor your child's web site usage. You have the ability to view pages, block pages and set up some for approvals. I have purchased no less than 10 products from different vendors through my ongoing process and all but one has been un-installed.

The One that I will continue to recommend is Family Security Net for all of your child Internet monitoring. It is by far the easiest product I have used and is at an excellent price. The price of the product is $3.99 per month and you will have a one time setup fee of $29.99.

I don't know about you, but that is absolutely nothing to pay if it makes me feel like I have a better grasp on what my child is being exposed to online. This product is unique in what it has to offer. You can virtually monitor every aspect of what your child is doing online in several different ways.

Please, read my reviews of the different aspects it has to offer and check out the product. I know I have found the best product for me and I feel like it would probably fit your needs as well.

You can view the product at:

Monitoring Instant Messages

Instant message monitoring is currently my new threat.

I felt as though I had a good grasp on monitoring website activity and thought I was "super dad" only to find out some shocking news after reading an article several months ago. I would like to share with you a couple of disturbing facts I discovered:

• 55 Million children use the Internet and 75% of the time they are online, they are using some type of instant messaging program.
• 1 in 5 children where sexually solicited online through some type of instant messaging application.
• only 18% of the most serious incidents were actually reported.

For those parents that are not Internet gurus, Instant messaging is the method kids talk to each other now. They have a "friends list" and they can tell who is online and can talk to them in real time. It isn't like email where one sends a message and then waits for a reply. This is instant...

I began a frantic search on software that would help me monitor this activity. I began to ask myself questions like:

• What are my children talking about?
• Who are they talking to?
• Is the person on the other end some sort of child predator?

Like any parent, I want to give my children the space, but I do not want them to be an innocent victim. I found several products that would allow me to see the logs the next day, some even a few hours after the chat was over but I really wanted the ability to check in when I wanted to and see what was going on in "real time".

I found a product that I would strongly recommend to any parent that wants to see what their child is doing online. (click image below to view product)

While I am sure opinions will vary, I do not believe this is an invasion of your child's privacy. I simply stand by the belief that you are protecting your child and taking the responsibility as a parent to keep them safe whether it be from them self or some Internet predator.

Monitoring Your Child Online

As the father of two girls I am very concerned about protecting them on the internet. I have researched and bought several products to help me keep my kids safe from view content that I believe is unappropriate.

My quest began a couple of years ago when my oldest daughter asked me why all those girls on the internet didn't have any clothes on! I was taken back by this comment and immediately began surfing online for some means to control this madness.

I am not claiming to be an expert on the matter, but I have had several trial and errors in my quest to protect my children and I am still learning! At first I thought as long as I blocked the websites that were serving unappropriate content.

My research has led me to the purchase of several different pieces of software (many of which are sitting on the shelf becuase they were to confusing to use). I have been using Family Safe Solutions for the last several months as a mean to Monitoring my child online and I absolutely love it.