This week, my daughter had the good fortune of participating in a program being developed by the Pennsylvania attorney general called Operation Safe Surf. Meant to help middle school and high school students understand the dangers of and precautions needed when using the Internet, the program was distributed by satellite to only seven schools, where the students watched on in-class TV monitors.

		David Radin is a freelance writer for the Post-Gazette and business consultant. You can contact him at www.megabyteminute.com.

My daughter, Jacqueline, was glad to have participated in the program, but thought that most of the information was old information. Maybe that comes from living with a man who has given presentations to dozens of groups about safety on the Internet. In our house, each child is required to read an age-appropriate book about online safety before being allowed online -- and another book on online etiquette and safety before getting an e-mail address or Instant Messenger screen name.

So the simple advice she heard in the presentation, such as not sharing your phone number, address or personal information online, was no great shakes. But while she didn't get excited about learning those facts, the examples of predators hit home for her. That night, she told me about how predators worked and the examples the presenters showed -- complete with video of predators being whisked away.

Perhaps it is information that we'd like to ignore because it can be gruesome. But it's information that is absolutely necessary for any child who goes online.

It bothers me every time a child comes to our home and co-navigates our computer with one of my children, if that child hasn't been taught to recognize the danger signs or the simple steps needed to stay safe online.

My kids tend to go in the other direction, where they are overly cautious. But that's good. Last week, one of my daughters came to me concerned that one of her friends used our address in an e-mail. It was a private communication between two people who knew each other -- and so wasn't a problem. But she might have done the same thing in a chat room -- or on MySpace. That would not have made me happy.

My hat is off to Attorney General Tom Corbett for launching Operation Safe Surf, and to Jefferson Middle School's principal, Joan Zacharias, for conducting the program. Others in the Mt. Lebanon community are putting together a program to delve more deeply into the topic.

But it's not up to them to keep your children safe online. It's up to you, the parents.

Do you know if your child has a MySpace page? Does he or his friends have appropriate "away messages" in their Instant Messenger profiles? Where do they go online to get their information? If you don't know the answer to these questions, find out.

All children are going to test their limits. That's what adolescence, in particular, is about. But you still have to make sure that they know what you think their limits are. And they need accurate information -- which unfortunately doesn't always match what they hear from their friends. Inaccurate information breeds on the Internet -- and your child can be swept away by it, leading him or her to do things that are unsafe -- even though they might seem harmless. And inaccurate information doesn't die, unless you slay it by providing accurate information to take its place. That means keeping up to date on what your offspring are doing online, and keeping them up to date on what can harm them and how to avoid it.

The good news is that keeping your children safe also contributes to a more rewarding personal relationship between you and your children.