My kids use the computer as much or more than any other electronic device in our house - including their Nintendos and Game Boys. They play games online, they do research for school projects, and it won't be long before they'll want to start blogging or visiting social networking sites that their friends have told them about.

As a parent, I want to be know and understand the dangers that are lurking on the Internet so that I can protect my kids. I want to pro-actively educate and train my kids to make wise decisions when they're on the web, and I also want software tools in place that will protect them when they make poor choices.

Internet security vendors like Symantec (makers of Norton Antivirus), McAfee, and Panda Software have already started gearing up for the challenges our kids will face on the Internet. Each of them has an entire section on their web sites dedicated to online family safety and protection.

Panda Software - Children and the Internet
Symantec (Norton) - Family Resource Center
McAfee - How to Protect Children Online

Here are some chilling statistics from Panda Software's child security web site:

1. 25 percent of five-year olds use the Internet.
2. In 2004 more children used the Internet than adults.
3. 44 percent of children have felt sexually harassed on the Internet.
4. 28 percent of minors visit pornographic web pages.

Children accessing pages with violent content: 38%
Children accessing pages with racist/xenophobic content: 16%
Children entering chat sessions about sex: 26%

5. 50% of children use the Internet alone.

Wow, this list really got my attention! It prompted me to start an all-out strategic battle to protect my kids from these dangers, while still letting them safely enjoy the games and resources that are available on the Internet.

Here are three important battle fronts that I am focusing on to meet this challenge, and the tools I'll be armed with along the way:

1. Education - helping my kids to understand the dangers they face online, and teaching them how to handle themselves safely online.

   The websites I listed above provide some great information about how to safeguard your system to protect your kids from online threats. In particular, I liked the article titled Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Kids Online. It helps parents discuss topics like making sure kids understand basic rules for using social networking sites such as MySpace and blogs, and that it's imperative that your kids let you know if they arrange in-person meetings with people they meet online.

   My two youngest kids are a little too young to discuss some of the dangers of Internet usage, but these tips will come in handy when talking about it with my oldest daughter. I think it will grow more and more important for my wife and I to teach our kids how to handle themselves safely online, and show them how to avoid the dangers and pitfalls found on the web.



2. Protection - making sure my kids are not exposed to inappropriate web sites, and are protected from hackers who might try to gain access to my system.

   Last night I installed Panda Internet Security 2007 on both my home computers (the work station upstairs, and my wife's laptop that the kids play on downstairs). I chose it because it comes with a powerful Parental Control module that filters web site content and also protects against viruses, spyware, adware, malware, and even system hijack attempts.

   In fact, while I was writing this article, my neighbor tried to hijack my high-speed wireless connection and Panda notified me of the attempt and blocked access to my network. It also showed me his IP address in case I wanted to take further action. That's the kind of realtime intruder protection that I want in place.

   I compared Panda against Norton and McAfee with a crazy malware detection test (where I actually intentionally installed a malware program to see which of them would recognize and protect against it). The results of this test left me with a clear winner in Panda Internet Security 2007. Here's the article: Norton and McAfee Failed to Protect My System from Malware and Viruses

   Here's a link for a Panda Internet Security 2007 $15 Discount Coupon and they offer a free trial download as well.

3. Monitoring - keeping an eye on the web sites my kids are visiting, the IM chats they're participating in, and the programs they're running.

   Even with web site content filtering in place, I want the ability to monitor other types of Internet usage such as IM chats and email.

   I started using a program called PC TattleTale Parental Control that takes screenshots of my system every few seconds, and then lets me view it in a video-like display whenever I want to check up on my kids online activities. It's a slick tool that also traps keyboard usage and lists all programs that were used on my system.

   Here's a link to PC TattleTale's free trial download.

   

I feel a lot better now that I have a solid strategy in place for protecting my kids online, and some good tools to make the job easier.

What tools are you using for web site filtering or system activity monitoring?

For almost the last two years I've had coffee every Tuesday morning with a couple good friends of mine - other dads who each have 2 or 3 kids about the same age as mine. These guys really have it together in my opinion, and I've learn a lot from each of them about what it takes to be a "real man".

We've talked about raising kids, being better husbands, holding it together on the career front, and about every other topic you could imagine. Meeting with these guys is one of the highlights of my week!

We go through books together too. We've read Heaven by Randy Alcorn (who I went to church with through high school and college), A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey by Brian McLaren (a very controversial book, which was the reason we chose it), and now it's my turn to pick our next book.

I heard Tim Kimmel speak at a marriage conference that my wife and I attended a few years ago through Family Matters, and I really liked his down-to-earth perspective on raising kids. His book titled "Grace Based Parenting" really challenged many of the guilt-based legalistic parenting habits I had picked up from my own childhood, and helped me get away from the "Helicopter Parent" mentality. You can read more about his book in my Recommended Reading section.

Tim recently published a book titled Raising Kids for True Greatness: Redefine Success for You and Your Child and it's going to be my recommendation for our next men's group book study. Here's the editorial review:

Sometimes greatness is measured by possessions or power and parents become preoccupied with raising "resume" and "pedigree" children. Yet true greatness is an internal evidence of attitudes and a heart known for humility, compassion, graciousness, and enthusiasm.

Raising Kids for True Greatness will give parents a road map to guide their children toward rich lives of eternal value and significance.

What do you think guys? Would you be willing to make this the next book we read through together?

Five For Fighting sang about it in their track titled "It's a Nice Day, When you Wake Up in Disneyland", and it truly is a dreamy vacation spot. Kids love the rides and characters, and parents get to be kids all over again. In fact, I think I even had more fun on rides like Space Mountain and Tower of Terror (California Adventure) than my kids did.

Going to Disneyland was a childhood dream that I was never able to experience until I was in my late teens, so I wanted to make sure my kids were able to visit as soon as possible. We took them two years ago when my youngest son was only 3, and again last year when he had just turned 5.

One of our closest friends took their kids to Disneyland just last week with their 5-year old and 9-year old kids, and had a complete blast as well. It was really fun to chat with them afterwards about their vacation, and I started jotting down a list of tips and tricks that made both our trips as enjoyable as possible.

Chances are good that your wife may already have thought of these tips, but at least they'll give you some ideas to bring to the table, to make it look like you put some effort into the planning process yourself.

• Get Good Shoes

  You will walk and walk and walk all over Disneyland, and the last thing you want is a painful blister. Invest in a good pair of walking or running shoes, and far enough in advance of your trip to break them in. I chose running shoes for their lightness and high cushion factor.

• Pack your wallet with $20 bills

  I found myself peeling $20 bills out of my wallet left and right to pay for meals, snacks, drinks, and souveniers. You can plan on about $6 per kid per meal, and about twice that for adults with a beverage.

  Don't bother trying to save money by eating outside the park. The outlying restaurants have their prices jacked up just as high, and by the time you walk across the huge parking lot, find transportation (or walk to your restaurant), you'll have wasted close to an hour - and then you'll have some very tired and cranky kids in tow. Not fun in a restaurant.

  Besides, I wanted my kids to remember the times we had together on the rides; not the time we spent wandering around trying to save a few dollars on meals.

• Bring a backpack

  Each day we crammed the camera, bottled water, granola bars, and other snacks into the pack that I carried around the park. It gave us a single place to store sun glasses, character signature books, and every other imagineable miscellaneous item we could think of. All of the rides have places to store backpacks, or will allow you to set it to the side behind the public waiting lines where the attendants can keep an eye on them.

  Be sure to get a pack with outside pockets like the one shown from Luggage.com, which make it easier for your kids to grab water bottles. Otherwise you'll be taking the pack off every few minutes to keep them hydrated.

• Invest in a dual-screen portable DVD player

  We drove to Disneyland on our last visit, and brought plenty of books, games, and Highlights magazines for the kids. But those only last so long. Our dual screen DVD player really helped fill in the boring stretches of highway, with one screen behind the front seat and one behind the middle row of seats in of our Toyota Sequoia SUV.

  There was one time in particular where the electronic babysitting these screens provided was priceless - when we were driving around Redmond, CA looking for a hotel and discovered there was a conference that weekend. All the hotels were booked, and we tried several before deciding to press through and keep driving that night.

  Imagine 3 tired and hungry kids arguing with each other in the back seat while mom and dad try to find there way around an unfamiliar city. Switch on the DVD player, and presto - it's quiet! Definitely priceless. I found a dual screen DVD player complete with carrying case and car power accessories for only $179 at Shop.com.

  If you decide to fly instead of drive, then hopefully you'll be able to save some money on a package deal. The first time we went we found a "Kids fly free" package from Alaskan Airlines that cut the travel bill in half. If you're planning a trip to DisneyWorld, Wyndham Vacation Resorts has a deal that'll save you a lot of money: Orlando 3 Nights for $189 includes Hotel Stay + Park Tickets

• Pick the off-season times

  There's nothing worse than standing in a line for a half hour or more, especially when your 5-year-old has an attention span of about 30 seconds. Add the heat factor of the hot California summer sun, and we're talking complete meltdown!

  I'd much rather travel to Disneyland after the first week of school or the week before/after Spring Break. Line times were no more than about 15 minutes each time we went in the off season, and there were many times where we just walked right up to the entrance and hopped on with no waiting.

  The weather was still in the mid-70s to mid-80s, which was just right for us. There was one day that it rained, but nobody seemed to mind. After all, many of the rides are indoors - like Space Mountain and Souring Over California (part of California Adventure).

  Your kids won't mind missing a week of school either, and their teachers considered it an educational experience (especially since we combined Sea World and the San Diego Zoo in our plans).

• Choose a hotel with a pool and continental breakfast

  There's no point paying $30 to $40 every morning for breakfast if you can find a hotel that includes breakfast, and it's also one less restaurant experience you'll have to deal with each day. You can stroll over to the breakfast buffet line in your slippers with your kids, while your wife takes her time blow-drying her hair and putting on make up. You can even score points with your wife by bringing her breakfast back to your room, along with hot coffee and a bagel.

  Your kids will love the pool too, and it'll make a great way to kill a couple hours on travel days (e.g. when you arrive to the hotel but it's a little too late to go to Disneyland that day). If it's a hot day in California, then it might be smart to take a break after lunch and cool off in the pool, or to take a dip in the evening to relax before bedtime.

• Give yourself time to rest afterwards

  Even though Disneyland is a complete blast, you're going to be dead tired when you get back home. You'll have walked many more miles than you ever thought possible, let alone any time zone changes you may have to pass through on your way there and back. Try to plan your trip so that you arrive back home on Friday and have the weekend to rest up before heading back to the daily office grind.

I hope these tips give you some good ideas for making your Disneyland trip a memorable and enjoyable time. Please feel free to post any tips that you've found helpful as well.

With the school year coming to an end, our kids are scrambling to finish up their homework assignments. They may be hesitant to ask you for help, or may have questions that you aren't able to answer - especially since new teaching styles may be different from what you learned in school. My daughter's 4th grade math is being taught quite differently than when I learned it, even for simple things like fractional division.

We hired a tutor last year to help her get over some humps with math assignments, and felt that it was money very well spent. There were some drawbacks though, such as having to make an extra trip to the school to pick her up after tutoring, and it wasn't cheap either (about $35 an hour). The main drawback though was that we had to wait until the scheduled tutoring sessions to get the answers she needed to complete her assignments.

It would have been nice to have an on-demand tutor available whenever we needed answers, and kids love the computer and the Internet... so I poked around a little to see what's out there for online tutoring software and services.

I found an online tutoring resource - Tutor.com - that provides on-demand online tutoring from over 1,200 professional tutors. Founded in 1998, they've helped over 2 million students with their educational studies, through over 1,600 public libraries and schools in 42 states.

Their expert tutors cover math, science, English and social studies for 4th - 12th grades. Every night, thousands of students connect to a Tutor.com tutor for help with homework, studying for tests, working on research papers and essays, or just to ask a question about their schoolwork.

What's unique about Tutor.com is that their service is completely on demand, 7 days a week. Tutors are standing by, ready to help, so students never need to schedule an appointment in advance. Rather than getting frustrated or giving up, a student who is stuck can connect to a professional tutor to get the help he or she needs within minutes.

Here's how it works:

1. Your child works with a professional tutor in a secure web environment, using your existing computer, web browser and broadband Internet connection - no special equipment or software is needed.
   

2. Tutors work with each student to provide help, not answers, and to bring every session to an educationally sound conclusion. They chat using instant messaging, draw problems on an interactive whiteboard, share files to review essays and papers, and browse educational resources on the web together.
   

3. Your child connects to a tutor as often as he or she needs help. With each session, time spent working with a tutor is simply deducted from your account, and the first five minutes of every session are free. You can choose to Pay As You Go, and add minutes to your account whenever you need, or select a more cost-effective Monthly Plan to automatically add minutes each month.
   

4. There are no minimums and no time limits. You only pay for the actual tutoring time your child uses, and all of your unused minutes roll over each month for up to one full year. Every session is guaranteed. If you or your child are ever dissatisfied with a session, for any reason, you can request a credit online.
   

Here's a link to a free Tutor.com online video demo, and a 60 minute trial of on demand tutoring session.

If you've used Tutor.com's online tutoring services, I'd like to hear about it. Please add a comment to this article with your experiences.

Designed as a game your kids can't wait to play, ClickN' READ Phonics is the first ever reading program to teach just like a live tutor. Meeting federal requirements, it teaches the entire phonics curriculum required for K-3rd grade reading students.

Over 60 countries use the ClickN' Read Phonics program in 1,000’s of schools. The program is used online just like viewing standard web pages. Your child can use it at home, at Grandma's, at the office or while on vacation (well, assuming you aren't going to Disneyland).

The onscreen instructor, ClickN' KID, gently guides your child through interactive letter sound exercises where the letter sounds and their corresponding letter shapes are learned and practiced. Each lesson introduces a new letter sound which is then practiced along with five other previously introduced letter sounds.

The user testimonials on their website have some pretty impressive comments from happy parents, like this one from Debra Bond in Duarte, CA:

"Well, my just turned 4 1/2 daughter is reading at a high 3rd grade level due all to your program. She is reading chapter books and is so proud that today she got to her 100th lesson. The program is short enough to keep young ones attention. We started her only 7 months ago and because of the program she spells, writes fluently and loves it. Learning has just been fun. Easy, fun, quick and packed with everything that she needed to get to a 3rd grade level and is not even starting Kindergarten for 6 more months. The head start she has gotten is unbelievable all with only 15-20 minutes of fun a day. Thank you."

Here's a link to the ClickN' Read Phonics information page where you can learn more about their program and services.

All of these programs will help your child improve in math or reading, and can help get them excited about their homework. Sometimes just spending a little extra time with your child is the biggest boost they need, but other times some professional help is worth a visit to an online tutor or phonics software program.

Almost every day when I come home from work, one or all of my kids will ask me "Dad, will you play a game with me?" I think kids love the undivided attention they get when playing games with their dads (and moms too).

I took my 5-year-old son, Regan, to the Bullwinkles Family Center a couple nights ago and we had a complete blast. We played miniature golf (yes, 5 year olds can putt too... although they have more fun "sweeping" the ball into the hole ), and then blew about $40 on video arcade games.... lol, man was that fun!

My daughters were out that same night with my wife seeing the broadway production Annie, so this was just pure "guy time" for my son and me.

Looking for some fun activities to do at home with your younger kids? Here are some downloadable games and activities that you can print on your home computer:

Games are also a great chance for kids to learn how to deal with conflict. Inevitably there will be a disagreement about the rules, which can be especially frustrating between competitive siblings (and even for married adults too)!

Helping your kids learn how to work through their frustrations without spazzing out at each other is priceless.