One day the children and I were talking about how they use their computers at home. The children started talking about chat rooms and how much fun they had in them. I will admit I had no idea what they were talking about. I had never been in a chat room in my life.

I asked how many had been in chat rooms, and all but one child raised his hand. I asked how many go to a chat room on a regular basis and seven said they went to chat rooms or chat sites at least once a week or more. At the same time there were several stories on the news about kids who had run away from home to met people they had met in a chat room. There was case here in Louisville that received national attention. That student went to a Catholic school, and the parent had very little knowledge of what her child had been doing on the Internet. This and other things lead me to believe that chat rooms are the most dangerous part of the web.

So what are chat rooms? Chat rooms are computers that allow people to post messages that can be read immediately by anyone else who is looking at the message board at the time. Two people must be on-line at the same time and in the same chat room to talk to each other. Many people can be on-line at the same time and all be talking at once. It can be confusing the first time you go into one.

These rooms can be oriented to different interests, games or ages. I went into a teen chat room just to see what they were talking about. I listened for awhile and finally told them I was a teacher. I asked if they would help me understand how chat rooms worked. Instead of helping me, they told me to get out.

A new twist to chat rooms is game rooms. Students can go to game rooms that run Java applets to play hearts, checker, euchre, or other games. While playing, one can talk to anyone at the table. Some people spend more time talking than playing. To see one of these go to yahoo.com and click on games.

I discovered there are private messages or whispering, which means you are talking only to one person. He or she is the only one that sees your messages. It depends on the chat room on what they are called and how they operate.

Before entering a chat room, you have to pick a handle. A handle is like the old CB radio names. For instance Trap, Guide, Tazz123, Smokey, Southern Lady, MVP, or basketball_32 are a few of the names I have seen in these rooms. I discovered that people treat you like your name. I mean if you pick a weird name, they treat you weird. My daughter picked the name Jennifer18. When I saw it, I asked her to change it. She said, "Mom, it only means I am the eighteenth Jennifer in the room." I said "Dear, How old do you think those people think you are?" She looked down and answered 18. She was 14 at the time. She promptly changed it to Jenny_girl. I suggest if your child frequents any type of chat rooms protected or not, find out his/her handle name.

Along with the handle, people are also asked to fill out a profile. A profile gives favorites, age, email address, and other personal information. This information is different depending on the chat program. If your child is in any type of chat program or site, ask to look at the profile.

I also suggest you look over their shoulder occasionally. Find out to whom they are talking and what they are talking about. They will hate it, but really you need to know. You have to have a certain amount of trust, but the safety of your child is an important consideration.

People watch and prey on children in these rooms. Even if it is secure, these rooms are still dangers. One parent found out their child gave out their telephone number in one of the chat rooms. Nothing came of it, but children do not always realize that information on the Internet is not private. I know of several circumstances where parents found themselves and their children in very uncomfortable situations because of information shared in chat rooms.

There are cyber police who patrol chat rooms looking for these types of people. Six months ago they arrested two solders at Fort Knox for this reason. They were trapped in a police Internet sting and arrested.

Another time I was talking to a kid in Texas called PyscoKiller. I know, why was I talking to a kid named that? Well, he was in the room. He asked me a question, and I asked him if he thought people on the Internet were honest and true. With a name like PyscoKiller, I figured he did not trust much of anything. His response was that people on the net were basically honest. I asked how he could be so sure. His answer was, "Well, I have checked people out." I asked what he meant by checking someone out. He told me he had a fingering program. A fingering program allows the user, if you are on-line long enough, to track you down or get pretty close to where you are. I got quickly off the machine and never went back. Since that time, I have learned there is such a program.

I will agree with the children that chat rooms are fascinating. I met teachers and professionals from all around the world. I realized how small and large the world was all in one conversation. It was June when I was talking with a lady in Australia. She was talking about her cats and dogs lining up against the fireplace. I told her my dog did the same thing and asked if it was always cool there in the mornings during the summers. That was when she told me it was evening and winter in Australia.

One interesting concept was short cuts in conversions and emotion icons to carry on conversations. Take a look at the list below. These were used a lot.

:-) happy
:-( sad
:-C very sad
:-| Indifferent
;-) winking
:-D laughing
:-\ undecided
:-o surprised
:-@ screaming
}:-( subborn
:-& tongue-tied
:-x kissing
8-) smiley with sunglasses
:-)8 formal bow tie
BBL - BE BACK LATER
BRB -BE RIGHT BACK
BTW - BY THE WAY
FYI - FOR YOU INFORMATION
*Grin* - GRIN - Write word in that express facial or actions.
IOW - IN OTHER WORDS
LOL - LAUGHING OUT LOUD
NBD - NO BIG DEAL
OTOH - ON THE OTHER HAND
ROTFL - ROLLING ON THE FLOOR, LAUGHING
THX - THANKS
TTYL - TALK TO YOU LATE