I recently set up an email account for my daughter, who is 9, so she could use it to email friends and family (we have family that lives several thousand miles

I recently set up an email account for my daughter, who is 9, so she could use it to email friends and family (we have family that lives several thousand miles away). When she wants to check it, the rule is we check it first. She doesn't even know the password at the moment. I don't read her private emails from her friends - I think even a 9yr old deserves some privacy and she's a responsible kid, but I do go through and delete spam (which she only gets very rarely since she's not allowed to sign up for things without permission and can only give it to friends at school). That way I can also make sure she's not getting email from MrCreepy47 or something. The main thing, though, is that when we go through it, we talk about it. "This is spam. They're probably just trying to sell you junk and a lot of it isn't appropriate for kids. If you get email from someone you don't know, right now you should just delete it and not even look at it. If something doesn't seem right, tell us so we can look into it." The Internet is a big place that can be dangerous for kids and I think they need some measure of protection, but I also think they need controlled exposure to it so they can be taught how to deal with it - even, and perhaps especially, the bad stuff. Her email is (her nickname)@(her name.com) which she thinks is awesome, so I'm hopeful that by setting it up early and keeping an open dialog about its usage,it will prevent the sneaking around to do things behind our back in the teen years - or at least keep her safer when she does. She's a great kid and generally very responsible, but I'm under no delusions that she's perfect or that she won't make a bad judgement call at some point. I'm just trying to give her the tools and skills to minimize that.