Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend an event sponsored by Leap Frog on Internet Saftey. Christy Matte from About.com's Family Computing Guide spoke to us about keeping our children safe on the Internet, and I was surprised that I had a lot to learn.

1. Statistically, it is not risky to post your children's pictures on your blog. This was a relief to me, because I have waxed and waned on this topic from time to time. Sometimes I post my kids' pictures liberally, figuring that if there were a real danger, we'd hear about it on the news. Other times, I have been known to go through my blog and delete photos and only use pictures where the kids are blurry or far away, in an attempt to keep them safe from would-be predators and pedophiles. According to Ms. Matte, who said with a wry smile, "Your children just aren't that cute." And she assured us that crazy people generally aren't flying across the country to abduct kids they see photographed on their mothers' blogs.

2. The most likely forum for a child predator to take action is a chat room or via instant messaging software. According to Ms. Matte, this is the space where parents should be most vigilant. She advised us to keep our children away from these forums if at all possible, and to carefully monitor who they are talking to if they are participating. Usually, predators take advantage of kids from unfortunate situations — children who do not have adequate supervision and feel unloved and uncared for, but it pays to be cautious of having kids unsupervised in chat rooms or instant messenging programs.

3. The topic of MySpace and Facebook accounts came up. We discussed whether or not it is appropriate for parents to be privy to their children's online conversations — particularly the private ones. The general consensus was that it's wise to allow children some privacy, but that if they are willing, it's helpful to be "friends" with your children in these forums. At the very least, it is wise to have access to their passwords, even if they are given to the parent in a sealed envelope, so in the case, God forbid, that something awful were to happen, the parent would have access to the child's information and conversations.

4. Ms. Matte warned us to be careful of the information we reveal about our families and our children. She cited an example of a series of posts where a mother might reveal a collection of information about her child that would make the child an easy target for foul play. She suggested that we take care in what we share.