07/30/99

Monitored Chat Rooms

Ask any kid what they like most on the Internet and the resounding answer (and one that sends waves of anxiety through parents and teachers) is "Chat!"

But don't throw out the computer with the bath water. Although our grownup concerns about stranger danger are real, they are not insurmountable.

First, we must teach our kids the rules of the road (see Larry Magid's Family Contract for Online Safety), and then guide them to safe situations. Each of these chat rooms is monitored by an adult (not just an automated swearword filter) and has posted chat rules. So play by the rules, stay safe — and have fun!

About.com: Creative Writing for Kids Chat

"The rules for playing a chat room story game are simple. The idea is to prolong the game for as long as possible, adding a gazillion twists and turns. Anyone in the chat room can add to the story at any time," explains sixteen-year-old Victoria Dobbs. Victoria's mom, Diane Dobbs, runs the About.com forum focusing on Creative Writing for Kids, and her daily chats often include story games to fuel the imagination of young chatters.

Disney Chat

Disney's celebrity chats cover lots of territory with guests such as Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, award-winning authors, famous pop musicians and animated characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit. Special activities include video-based drawing lessons given by Disney animators, and an announced but-not-yet available chat-based quiz show. Transcripts are available for many previous chats.

Freezone Chat

Continuously monitored by adult Chat Jockeys (CJ's), FreeZone has five kids-only chat rooms. In addition to the open topic chats, speciality chats (such as Pet Chat, Writers and Readers, Comedy Club and Music Chat) are scheduled throughout the week. Registration is required for both kids and parents. Kids can become Jr. CJ's by attending a one-hour training session held every other month. Jr. CJ's volunteer in the chat rooms one a hour a week and help out by welcoming new chatters

Headbone Zone Chat

Headbone Zone has nearly ten hours of chat daily, all of them monitored by Headbone-trained parents. In addition to the Kids Room, and several Teen Rooms, Headbone has a word game that includes chatting (what fun!) The day I dropped in with my son, their monitor did a great job keeping the conversation on the straight-and-narrow, and helping us when we didn't know what was going on. Headbone has an ignore option, so you can tune out the occasional obnoxious jerk. And to report someone breaking the rules, simply click the Chat Zap button.

NASA Quest Chat

This is not your run-of-the-mill chat, but rather something quite out of this world — an opportunity to chat with NASA experts. The schedule varies from week to week, but here's a sampling of what's happening this summer: a weekly course on Robotics led by the JPL Mars Rover team; Sustainable Seas Expedition from the Florida Keys; Mars geology and photography; a chat with crew members from the Shuttle Columbia. Wow! If you're new to chatting, you can get your fingers wet at the weekly Practice Chats.

Please send questions or comments to feldman@surfnetkids.com.