By Sharon Cindrich

A while back I had the opportunitie to present a workshop on Internet safety to a small town in Vermont whose parents were concerned, like many, about allowing their children to participate in social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook. So, instead of just talking about these sites, the nuances and pitfalls and safety features, we learned about social networking in the best possible way. We created our own.

Arrangements to use the computer lab were made so that approximately a dozen parents could venture online, and together I walked these digital immigrants through the Facebook sign up process, pointing out security features, answering questions about privacy and demonstrating how this easy it was to connect with others in town...and out. One parent even discovered her daughter’s profile - one she did not know was on the site.

We visited other sites too, and I was able to show parents how to search for their child’s MySpace, point out the Parent Care center and use some of the amazing, family-friendly resources and tools available online to teach kids solid tech skills and connect with their interests and activities.

Hours later, back at my bead and breakfast, it was long past midnight before I finally stopping fiddling around with my own Facebook profile and messaging a friend that I ended up on a video chat with. I should have gotten to bed earlier, but I’m chalking it up to research.

It is easy to understand why kids can’t get enough. Especially easy when you’re there yourself - when you see it, and touch it, and fiddle around with your own privacy settings. It’s easy to understand why kids want to post photos when you try to decide which picture you would post on your own profile and end up spending way too long in front of the screen mesmerized and addicted to a conversation.

It’s easier to understand - and then monitor and manage and have a conversation about - when you’ve tried it out for yourself. Understand?

Sharon Miller Cindrich is an author, columnist and mother of two tech-savvy kids. Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country including The Chicago Tribune, Parents Magazine and FamilyFun Magazine, where she is a contributing editor. Her self-syndicated column Plugged In Parent is published in parenting magazines around the country, and her book E-parenting: Keeping Up With Your Tech-Savvy Kids (Random House 2007) is available on Amazon.com.

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