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Step 1
Start with a website like Pixie Hollow and click "Parents" for more information. Created by Disney, the acknowledged leader in kids' entertainment, the site lets your child create her own fairy avatar to chat, play games and collect special curiosities for earning badges.
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Step 2
Exercise your parental prerogative by setting and changing the your kids' chat levels, which is a feature common to many child-friendly sites. The safest choice is SpeedChat which confines text to preset words and phrases. This is especially useful for kids who cannot type yet, since to talk, they simply make choices from a menu. For more advanced users, SpeedChat Plus allows use of a keyboard but eliminates any words that are not on the approved word list. In addition, live moderators continuously monitor all chat activity.
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Step 3
Advance to a more sophisticated site like Teen Second Life, which, as the name implies, is for older kids. The child can literally create any avatar she desires from cool rappers to funny bunnies, with control over such minute details as body width and eye size. She can also make objects like moving cars, flying houses and musical furniture by combining three-dimensional primitives, and scripting them with animations and behaviors.
Though the site places no restrictions on chat, only teens and authorized adults are allowed in this virtual world, which is constantly monitored by staff liaisons. If anyone violates the terms of service, both the teen and her parent receive notice via email. Parents can also request an account activity report at any time to keep tabs on what the child is doing.
As with Pixie Hollow, Teen Second Life is initially free though a monthly subscription opens up more options such as ownership of virtual land where she can set up a club, store or private house.
