How to Monitor a Child's Email

With the ready access to almost anything online, parents need to monitor their children's Internet activities. You can't always be sure who may be trying to reach them through websites and chat rooms. Emails are particularly vulnerable.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Ask your children to reveal their email passwords. If your child is a preteen, set up the email account for him and keep the password recorded. Log on the email with him to read through his inbox.
2. Set the parental controls on the email account. Many email providers give parents the option of monitoring their children's email. You can choose to get a summary of their emails or filter the emails that they receive.
3. Purchase email monitoring software. Email monitoring software copies each email from the account and saves it to your computer. You can review the emails in the program to monitor the child's activities online. Spector and eBlaster both make programs of this type.
4. Talk to your child about monitoring their email. To keep your relationship healthy, you should discuss that you are tracking their emails. It will seem like less of an invasion of privacy.

Tips & Warnings

• You'll have to decide on how to handle the situation if your children send or receive questionable emails. You may have to suspend email privileges if they are misusing their email account.
• Don't monitor the email of adults in the household without their permission. Set up the monitoring program to only track your children's emails.