Parents should talk to their children about online dangers. Moms and Dads must encourage their sons and daughters tell them about their online acquaintances, without fear of being scolded of punished.

But should parents use monitoring software? It's a difficult question. Software for parental control is a useful tool, only if applied right.

My opinion is that monitoring software is "strong medicine". Like any medicine, it has its own side effects that can be worse than disease. Any medicine, if overused, can do harm. Computer monitoring is last resort, when all other means are exhausted. Don't do it just because you think you should.

Using monitoring software will be appropriate if you feel you are losing control of situation, or have lost it already.

For example, your teenage son or daughter seems to be completely withdrawn from family.

You don't know his/her friends well enough--maybe you even haven't seen them and doubt whether they exist at all. You have no idea whom he/she is chatting with. Your teenager receives phone calls from people you don't know or is making long-distance calls to numbers you don't recognize. Your son or daughter gets letters, gifts or packages from people you haven't heard about.

Every day he/she spends hours on computer, especially at night. when you enter room he/she changes screen. Maybe you found pornography on your child's computer. If your child uses an online account that belongs to someone else, you also should be alarmed.

Don't keep computer in your child's bedroom. In fact, nearly three-quarters of home computers are located in a place like living room, according to survey. A wise thing to do. If your child uses Internet in a living room, it is easier to watch what he or she is doing online.

And, of course, there is a great variety of monitoring software products. Their purposes may vary from simply recording time computer is on/off to logging every keystroke your kid makes. Use one of them if you are sure it is absolutely necessary. But remember that your kid might be more technically savvy than you. Lots of them can erase their traces.

At any case, you must let your kid know you care for his or her safety -- both offline and online.

Remember, you are not an incompetent parent if you’ve done everything possible to relieve your baby’s colic and you need to step away from situation for a while. This simply makes you human.