As responsible parents or guardians you would never leave a child alone in a strange area, let them visit a city unsupervised, let them enter adult-only shops or clubs or meet a total stranger.

Unfortunately, every time the child in your care logs on to the web without supervision they face the same potential dangers that they do in all the situations above.

The opportunities offered by the web can be exploited. It can allow those who target children to enter your home and interact with your children.

The Internet continues to grow in its importance to our society and possibly has even more significance in our children's lives. Parents and carers of all kinds need to be familiar with both the opportunities and the dangers of the web.

The Chat Safe video shows how easy it can be for chatroom users to be exploited by certain adults, who use tricks and subterfuge to hide their true identities and intentions.

By following a few simple steps it is possible to use the internet to its full potential without encountering any of the pitfalls. As well as following the advice in these pages, you may also want to contact your local computer retailer.

How you can reduce the risk

• Try to site computers in an area where it is easy to monitor what your child is doing. If possible have it in a family room like the living room.
• Establish reasonable guidelines for their use of the internet or chatline. Talk about the six tips for chat room use with them, print them off and place them in a visible place near the computer.
• Become familiar with the internet and the services or sites your child uses.
• Get to know the language your child uses, there are a lot of short cuts for instance, h8 for hate, u for you, RU for are you etc.
• Get to know their on-line friends in the same way you would their other friends
• If your child arranges to meet an on-line friend ensure it is in public place with a responsible adult present
• Encourage them to come to you if they see or read anything on the internet which upsets them
• If in doubt, contact the police.

If you think your teenager is too savvy or streetwise to get themselves into danger, it is worth noting that a survey found around one in 20 of children aged between seven and 16 admitted seeing something on the web that upset or embarrassed them.