I allow them only with my supervision. Chat rooms are the cyber equivalent of CB radio. Private chat rooms are also available. Do not respond to offensive email. Parents routinely lock up household chemicals to protect their toddlers and the Internet can also be selectively locked.
Today there are several software products to keep kids out of adult Internet sites.
In addition to active parental supervision, there is a new class of software to monitor children's computer activities. When properly used, parental control software makes it more difficult, but not impossible, for your kids to find inappropriate material on the Web. Cyber Patrol provides a 7-day demo period of the full software product so parents can try it out and see if it is the right software for them. Cyber Patrol also restricts access to any computer application by the time of day or duration of use. MAC not available.