It is difficult to protect your child from every imaginable danger lurking online.  It is possible, however, to greatly minimize the risks.  The way to do it varies based on the child’s age.

1. Pre-K

The littlest keiki will require your help going online.  The key is not to let her play online too long, limit the time to 30 minutes.  It should be a collaborative experience, similar to reading a book together.  A small child will have manual dexterity issues but will enjoy computing very much.  With the right approach, it can be a valuable, educational and interactive experience.

2. Elementary to middle school

This age group is more autonomous but still very innocent.  They can stumble across inappropriate information online.  You should closely supervise all online activities and explain what is acceptable online and what is not.

You can take advantage of many parental control tools supplied by ISP providers, routers, Windows Vista, Mac OS, or stand-alone software.  See, for example, Vista parental controls options: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/parental-contr ols.aspx.  Some common antivirus software like Norton, Trend Micro, or McAfee may include parental control features or offer them as optional downloadable extension.

3. Teens

Protecting your teen involves a whole new host of issues, iluding ncbullying, sexual predators, divulging personal information, etc.

As a starting point, it is imperative that your computer stays in a public space where you can monitor any online activities.  Leaving your child in a room behind the closed door with computer and internet is like leaving him within the arms length of a sexual predator.  Naturally, teenagers are at a highest risk because of their tech savviness, pressures of adolescence, and superhero belief that nothing bad will happen to them.  Add their reluctance to listen to the parents and you have a recipie for disaster.

Another problem is teens’ frequent use of the file sharing sites, such as Kazaa, Lime Wire, Bit Torrent, etc.  These sites are swarming with spyware and viruses that can expose all of your computer files to the rest of world.  You should encourage use of legitimate sites, for example, iTunes.  Having a full security suite and frequent updates is also a must. Finally, you should probably reformat your operating system at least once a year to purge all the accumulated spyware and viruses.

It’s also a good practice to have your teen sign a computer usage contract – agreeing to acceptable behavior.  You should educate yourself and your child about the online dangers and teach them not to be too trusting.  Everything in the online world is not what it seems to be.  People you meet online – are frequently not people say they are – a woman can turn out to be a man, a young boy can actually be a grown man.  The best protection is behavioral.

As parents, it is important to take interest in what children are doing, develop rapport, and keep an eye on dangers.  Spend time to learn about online issues – the same way as you learned about how to buy a home, fill out a college application, or garden.  With your child’s safety at stake, you can’t waive your arms and say ” I don’t know anything about computers.”

The bottom line is, I don’t encourage spying on every keystroke of your child.  The best fence is no fence at all. You can use a great monitoring software but the best protection is – an open communicative relationship and laying down the laws – such as : you can’t meet with strangers you met online.

James Kerr is Chief Geek at SuperGeeks. You can also follow him on Twitter: supergeeks