There are lots of forums and social media sites designed to give teens a place to share their problems and hopefully find some advice and support, even if it is from strangers. Unfortunately, many are not used that way and some serve to have the opposite effect. There have been dozens of horror stories from all over the world about teens who were bullied online and wound up taking their own lives. As a result, parents with troubled kids need to not only make sure they are giving them extra attention, but also monitor children internet activity. Making the choice to monitor internet activity can be a difficult one for parents who want to trust their kids, but doing so can help prevent another story, like that of Amanda Todd, from entering the news cycle.

Unfortunately, parental control for internet monitoring is not an easy task. It is impossible for parents to stand right behind their children and physically monitor every minute they spend online, especially if kids have smartphones. While some parental restrictions can be applied to browsers and websites can be blocked, harmful content can often come from sites that generally appear innocent, especially social media. Because of that, parents who don’t necessarily know how to monitor internet activity should invest in helpful software programs and tools.

Most parents will have apprehensions when it comes to monitoring — or spying, as many kids will call it — things like online conversations. But good software programs make it simple, and can help mitigate serious problems. They can record instant message conversations, emails, and other interactions and then send alerts to the parents so that they know what to look for. In turn, it is easy for them to monitor children internet activity and know exactly when they need to speak up and try to find a solution to any particular problems.

The internet, to some extent, represents the great unknown for both kids and their parents. Consequently, kids can make mistakes that lead to issues like cyber bullying that have drastic consequences, and parents might not know how to prevent it, let alone stop it. Knowing every website a kid visits is difficult, but the right software that lets parents monitor children internet activity can be quite helpful. It might make the difference between being able to move beyond internet problems and make sure teens do not put their own health at risk.