Not long ago, friends of mine confessed over dinner that they had put spyware on their 15-year-old son's computer so they could monitor all he did online. At first I was repelled at this invasion of privacy. Now, after doing a fair amount of research, I understand.

Make no mistake: If you put spyware on your computer, you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus a good portion of his or her private world. That is what spyware is - at least the parental monitoring kind. You do not have to be an expert to put it on your computer. You just download the software from a vendor and you will receive reports - weekly, daily, whatever - showing you everything your child is doing on the machine.

Scary. But a good idea. Most parents will not even consider it.