According to Pew Internet & American Life study, 74% of high school age children in the United States use the Internet regularly. By the time kids reach high school, they’re likely to know as much or more about the Internet than do their parents. Teens use the Internet for schoolwork, communication and social networking, finding and downloading music, playing games, and shopping for everything from clothing to electronics products. But although they know their way around the Internet, they may lack the judgment and emotional maturity to steer clear of trouble. Teens are, after all, children. And children are vulnerable.

The results of a recent survey have brought scary facts to the limelight: Many teens are unconcerned about the dangers of sharing personal info online. A majority of teens (58%) do not think posting photos or other personal info on social networking sites is unsafe. Nearly half of teens (47%) are not worried about others using their personal info in ways they do not want (although that represents a 10-percentage-point improvement over 2006). About half (49%) are unconcerned posting personal info online might negatively affect their future. A large majority of teens (71%) have established online profiles (including those on social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Xanga), up from 61% in 2006. 69% of teens regularly receive personal messages online from people they do not know and most of them do not tell a trusted adult about it. Teens readily post personal information online. 64% post photos or videos of themselves, while more than half (58%) post info about where they live. Females are far more likely than male teens to post personal photos or videos of themselves (70% vs. 58%). Nearly one in 10 teens (8%) has posted his or her cell phone number online. Overall, 19% of teens report they have been harassed or bullied online, and the incidence of online harassment is higher (23%) among 16 and 17 year-olds. Girls are more likely to be harassed or bullied than boys (21% vs. 17%).

The only solution to this frightening problem seems to be proper vigilance, and controlled monitoring of teenager’s online activity. Professor Tanya Byron sums up best by saying “In the end, it’s down to the parents to protect their children, whether it’s online or on the street“.

But in case of Wii games, these are highly evolved and dense materials which also come with learning systems. When choosing these games your child is encouraged to do more activities on leaving the game. There are always fun ideas and experiments coming to play with these games and a child’s mind is always ready to embark on these new projects. The visual ideals are some of the great ways to bring fun learning of scientific, historical and literary materials.

A child speeds up its cognitive qualities and learns of new things through this way. Understanding these games can be real openings for the young mind and the child is consistently urged to bring new fun and incredible ways to bring to his or her daily activities. There are new activities that are encouraged every day through these new games, forms and activities. Such great materials don’t require supervisions to match what the child is really learning. Great study items and experimental games are always brought every now and then through Wii games. These bring advanced modes of learning and your child would be cut above from the usual rigors that the school teaches. Educational items are always presented in unique ways that bring out some of the best of qualities from the child. These are small changes that you would notice when your child shifts to Wii methods of learning.

Learning has no scope of being boring and even complicated maths or science becomes plain simple to your child. There are many options available when a child is exposed to the Wii patterns of games. If learning literature or history is something your child is having no joy with, there are always new series to experiment with when your child needs solid encouragement. Contrary to many other forms of video games these ones really open up new ideas and consciousness within your child. Since a child is always learning through the educational video games it is always better to choose these ones for your child’s further development than any other ordinary video games.

One can totally turn around the not-so positive effects of video games through the choices made through Wii games and see new and bright changes coming to the child’s day.

Anyway, there are some reasons why programs can’t replace parents. We are to define the most common of them.

1. Many parents are sure their son or daughter can learn new words better from the programs than from an everyday life. But researches have shown the opposite results. As children who learn new words with their parents are more likely to start talking earlier than those who acquire language skills from certain programs.
2. Parents are more likely to motivate their kids. This is something programs will never be able to perform.
3. When a child watches TV he has to understand everything by himself. Certain notions, activities, deeds could be unfamiliar for him. Parents can explain all the new things kids may be unaware of.
4. In this meaning the children’s upbringing could be controlled. You as a parent can follow your child’s thoughts and help him get acquainted with a new world.
5. Moreover, children are not able to talk with the heroes of TV programs. They have to think and then ask about something. There is no alive discussion as when dealing with programs. Heroes from TV and people your kids may admire lead monologues with the kids. But dialogues are particularly important for children of any age.
6. In case your son or daughter does not have many friends he or she has to watch certain games or play with computer. Anyway, nothing could be compared with playing with their mother or father without involving sitting in front of a computer or TV.
7. In most cases kids just waste their time. They do not get something useful, do not think and do not perform. This time they could spend with their parents.
8. Nowadays, there is a great number of films that popularize violence and sexual scenes. This will definitely influence a child’s understanding of the world and may lie heavily on their mind. Parents would be able to explain the same but in proper words.
9. Watching programs or films for a long time may lead to worsening of the eyesight.
10. And finally, there is no program that can give children love and care parents do. Remember that kids need parental care and attention even if they seem to be self-confident and independent. No matter what age your son or daughter is, he or she has to feel your love all the time.

It would be nice to find out your opinion regarding TV programs and how much time do you allow your child to watch them. What are the reasons why you child is spending more time watching TV than spending time with you and are you going to do something in this matter?

Pre Schoolers:

1. Nick.com: This is the site where all your child’s favorite Nickelodeon characters come alive. This site is absolutely safe and offers some of the best and the funniest online games. There are all kinds, from strategy games to action games to simple puzzles and there is something for everybody to enjoy. And the best part is that all these games come with the most popular Nick characters in tow.

2. Colorwithleo.com: This site is perfect if you are looking for a way to keep your small child occupied. It is safe and fun and also educational. The site offers free games for children, all related to learning more about art and drawing. These games are entertaining and enjoyable and help your child get interested in the principles of art.

3. Crazybone.com: this site offers children the opportunity to play loads of free games online and the site is also safe for the benefit of your peace of mind. These games are meant for children of all age groups and your kid is sure to find a few that would quickly become their favorite. There are also other fun activities such as coloring sheets that you could perhaps interest your child in.

4. Funschool.kaboose.com: This is a great site for the whole family to enjoy together and you can also feel safe about leaving your child alone to play on the site. The site is filled with lots of fun arcade style games that are also educational. There are games for pre-school going kids and also older kids, so really it is a site that can be visited by children of all age groups. You could even avail of the coloring pages that are available for print outs for kids.

5. Bubblegum.com: This is an adorable site for kids to play games on. A completely safe site it has cute and fun games for kids of a younger age group . The site is completely interactive and functions as a Bubblegum world where you get to earn Hubba token when you play the games and then you can spend the hubba tokens that you earn in the hubba world of Wrigley’s on the site.

6. Crayola.com/games: yes, you’ve heard the name before, it’s the crayon company and they offer games on their site meant for small kids while they make sure that the site is completely safe for your kids to play on. These are games that are meant for kids between the age groups of three to ten and they can have some great coloring fun.

Kindergarten- Middle school:

7. Agameaday.com: This site is enjoyable for all age groups of children above the age of nine. This website is great for educational purposes as all the games involved are to do with puzzles of various kinds and also many kinds of word games. There are trivia games and crossword puzzles for the little older kids and also games that involve some critical thinking. There is a lot of variety as there is a new game to play on every weekday.

8. Activitytv.com: This is another safe website for children for all ages and would be best suited for your child if they are interested in crafts and arts. There are fun interactive games for teaching origami and even magic and all kinds of other activities. These are educational activities that interest the kids through fun to play games through videos that are broadcast.

9. Chesskids.com: This is the site to go to if you want your child to pick up a great game that works wonders for sharpening the mind. This safe site lets you download a whole series of chess lesson for free and that would not only include fun lessons and tips but also a lot of puzzles and games that would greatly interest your kids. This is great for kids of all age groups above nine.

10. Squiglysplayhouse.com: This site offers numerous games on all kinds of different categories for your children to enjoy. A safe site that offers adventure games, puzzles, arcade games, action games, racing games and more. These games are cute, interesting and fun. There are also cartoon character based games such as those on Scooby Doo and batman and Nancy Drew as well.

11. Cartoonnetwork.com/games: This site is also one of the best protected sites for your child to play on so you do not have to worry about your child’s safety online. There are all categories available for your child’s enjoyment. These are all fun with superb animations and there is a wide choice range for your child. In fact kids of all age groups can play games on this sit. There are cartoon network character based games mostly.

12. Prongo.com: This is again one of those sites that offer games for children along with being educational and a great learning experience at the same time. Children from age three to the age of twelve will enjoy the different kinds of games that are offered on this site. These games are all interactive and educational games that your children will also enjoy playing. You do not have to worry about the safety of this online site.

13. Barbie.com: This is the best site for your daughter to play online. This site offers some great fun games for your daughter to enjoy. The site being perfectly safe it allows your little princess to enjoy herself in the virtual world in these games where she can dress up her doll or design her own home and play all kinds of other games.

14. Disney.com: Disney also offers some great games for children to play. This is also one of the safest sites online to allow your children to frequent and they will enjoy doing so as well. Most of the games that this site offers is for kids under the age of ten and they are all colorful and cute. There are also many educational games that your children will enjoy playing.

Middle school-High school

15. stephen.com/enigma: This game is an absolutely addictive game and is another great option to get your children interested into. A perfectly safe site online, this is an old game where you have to slide the blocks around to form the complete image. From many kinds of picture options to choose, this is a simple game great to sharpen your child’s brain.

16. Funbrain.com: If your kid hates math, this is the site to open up for the sake of your child’s education. Your child is surely going to enjoy all the fun games that are used by the site to help your child understand and cope with math better. There is even a game on car racing based on math. This site is safe and is a great educational site that you should try out immediately for your child.

17. Mazeworks.com: To operate this site you will need to have Java software installed on your computer but it is worth the load. These Java based games and puzzles that are offered by the site are meant for a little older kids but has some amazing games on offer with great graphics and they have made it fun to play. Such games as chess and solitaire and the Tower of Hanoi are perfect for tweens to enjoy.

18. Professorgarfield.org: This site is another fun educational site that was actually designed by teachers to help children educate themselves. They use Garfield as the professor who guides kids around games and educational quizzes and puzzles. But the site is greatly enjoyable all the time also being a learning experience. Your children will surely love the great graphics that are used by this site and you can relax about a good hour spent for your child.

19. Scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/java/battleship.html: This site offers a very interesting game to engage your child in. It works a lot like battleship but is called Armada. This would of course require children older than ten to play the game but the site is safe and is a great strategy game to involve your kids in. The image might take some time to load but it is surely worth the wait.

20. Gamescene.com/asteroid_command.com: If your child is bored of playing all those educational games you might be making him play, here is a safe online site that you can visit to play an interesting action game called Asteroid command. A simple game of shooting asteroids in the air before they crush the earth, it is a fun and harmless game for your child to enjoy for sometime, before you shift back to those educational games again.

21. 2020tech.com/fruit: This site offers the Fruit Game for kids that belong to a more mature age group. The game that you can play on this site is rather tricky but great fun and hugely addictive. There are in fact people from all over the world and belonging to all age groups, from young adults to grown ups who play this game and still can’t get enough of it. Your child will need some getting used to with this game but it is a safe site to play online.

22. Puzzability.com: This is the best site to come to if you want your child to learn from some good word games. The games that this site offers to children are all fun word puzzles based games that are all updated and changed and added with new features regularly. This way your kid will be interested to visit the site more often than most others which offer the same games every week.

23. Gamehouse.com: This is also a safe site that offers numerous games for free for kids to play online. There are educational games and puzzles to solve as well as adventure games that your children can enjoy. You will find here games for kids of all age groups.

24. Habbohotel.com: This game is more to do with the workings of the virtual world where you get to design your own rooms and lead a virtual life with pets and neighbors and the whole nine yards. The game is great for young adults and you may allow a fixed time of the week on the game as it is not greatly educational. However the site is safe and your kids will enjoy.

25. Learningplanet.com: this site is also mainly educational more than anything else, but they employ fun games that your children will want to play to help them learn a lot of fun stuff. To things on Science and also math, your child will have an enjoyable time learning while also playing some of the funniest online games. This is also among the safest sites online.

26. Yahooligans games: These games are actually sponsored by Yahoo and meant especially for children. So you do not have to worry about the safety of your children while they play online as yahoo takes care of that; in fact the interactive chat is also disabled from these games so you do not have to worry about your children bumping into complete strangers online.

27. Scholastic.com/kids/stacks/games: this site is also one of the safest sites to allow your children to play games on. There are some interesting educational games for your children such as writing games etc. that are interesting as well as safe to play online. There are also many arcade games to attract the adventure seeking kids as well.

28. Cyberkids.com: these games sell as casual games and are light and enjoyable games that an entire family can enjoy together. Even if you wish to leave your child alone, the site is perfectly safe so you do not have to worry. There are lots of fun games, some are creative others are plain and pure entertainment.

29. Sodaplay.com: this is one of the best online gaming sites to get your kids involved into if you wish your child’s creative talents to shine. The site uses fun to get your kid to design and build and in fact is as attractive to adults as it is to children. The site other than being greatly helpful is also safe so you do not have to worry when your child is deeply engrossed in the site’s games.

30. Mysterynet.com: what this site attracts children with are their mystery games. These games are for older children but are very interesting. Children get to solve mysteries and take part in similar games that they would not get enough of. The site is safe and also very addictive!

Suggestion from our readers:

Meet Me At The Corner – Virtual Field Trips for Kids takes you to meet fascinating people from all over the world.
Kids Club – complete with educational games, kid safe email account, patended rewards system, bank account and more!
My Bambino the new game about baby and bambino from Blouzar

However, you need not panic, there are actually laws that are meant only for the internet and for the safety of your children. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act for instance is one such internet law that allows your children maintain a legal distance from everybody online. This means that nobody is legally allowed to obtain any kind of information from a child online without the consent of the child’s parent or legal guardian. All websites have to adhere to this law regarding the kind of information they might ask from your child for a game or a contest or else they can be sued.

However, as a parent you should keep a strict eye on your child whenever they are online. Worse can be done than just disclosing phone numbers on a website.

1. They tend to believe that any social networking site is like an online dating service and someone so “young” should not be exposed to that.
2. They would much rather you spend your time reading rather than posting on walls.
3. Most people tend to dislike whatever they don’t understand.
4. They probably think that Facebook is a dangerous place where strangers could intrude on your privacy.
5. If your parents are religious, they probably think Facebook is evil and it takes you farther away from God.
6. Parents might dread that you would get addicted to Facebook and be online all the time, at the cost of your normal life and family-time.
7. They might also feel that you are shutting them from your personal life, which also means that you have a personal life which you don’t want to talk to them about.
8. They may also feel that your personal life and pictures should not be on display publicly.
9. They might think that you would start neglecting your studies because of all the time that you spend on Facebook.
10. Also, chances are that somebody is feeding them negative information and all the cons about Facebook which makes them dread it more.

If you are a parent, tell me, what is your impression regarding Facebook?

According to the data available, minimum five million people are getting their higher education online. And this number is constantly growing. A wide majority of colleges and universities provide online courses for people who want to learn but can not attend the classes for some reason. There are also programs that assist in getting doctorate or associate degrees. Nowadays many businesses go for online training dealing with customer servicing in order to become successful. Online accreditation is now widely accepted.

Virtual learning is very beneficial. First of all, all classes take place in a virtual environment. Thus, you have your own pace and schedule. You study when you have time and computer access. All you need is to connect to the web and log in to the class. It is very convenient for teenagers, who spend most of their time at school and do not have much time.

What is also important is that the quality of online education is the same as in standard educational institutions. But the difference is that you are able to streamline the lessons and all the necessary information in a less stressful environment.

There are several options teenagers can benefit from.

• First they can go for learning with a real instructor. In this case, they choose a course and have to stick to the rules and requirements of curriculum that depends on the instructor’s ideas. He also hands out the tasks and grades and defines the start and end of the course.

• There is also a possibility to enroll in a course led by a course guide. He will give out learning materials and feedback to the students. The start and end points of the course are designated according to prearranged course guidelines.

• Another option is independent learning. It means that a student selects a course and learns at his or her own pace and following self-made schedule. There is no pre-set start or end.

As you can see this is just another productive way how your children can use computer and Internet for educative purpose.

However, there are still many different safety concerns you must consider when allowing your child to have access to the internet. Most browsers and internet-based programs have parental controls that allow you to directly monitor and control your child’s activities. With these controls, you can guide your child to only have access to specific content.

The absolute best way to ensure that your child uses the internet in a safe and educational manner is through direct supervision. By physically monitoring your child’s activities, you can guide them to kid-friendly websites that are appropriate for their age level. Most children will be able to use the internet responsibly after being directly guided by a parent.

As your child learns how to use the internet for educational purposes, you may eventually be able to allow them to browse on their own. With the proper type of parental control software, you will be aware of all of your child’s internet activities. As they grow older, it may even be beneficial for you to purchase them a small, kid-friendly laptop to help them to develop independence.

For example if your child loves drawing then find specific tools for him and learn him how to use it. There are many free applications of this type with tutorials and demos for everyone. You can also search for tutorials that explain how your child can draw a house, or an animal. I am very sure your child will be enthusiast of this opportunity.

If your child is passionate by music, then you can provide him online resources for composing music and playing with musical performance.

If he likes to build buildings and cities then you can get a 3D design application that will give him the opportunity to explore this world and to create his imaginary home. It doesn’t matter if is not a game and if it is a serious application. Your child will be even more involved in this activity because he will take it very seriously.

As long as you have enough imagination and patience to search specific applications and resources proper to your child’s interest then the results will be soon visible. And both you and your child will be excited.