Parents trust their children's use of the Internet; however, they do have some concerns. Their top three concerns are the possibilities that their children will encounter pornography (46 percent), undesirable adults (29 percent) and violent or hate content (20 percent) online.

Despite these concerns, parents generally believe that the Internet is a safe place for their children. Sixty-seven percent of all parents believe that their main role in their children's use of the Internet is as a guide to good content rather than as a watchdog (24 percent). Overall, though, parents generally are satisfied with the content available for their children on the Internet – and they seem to trust their children to explore. Indeed, they want their children to have access to the Internet.

Sixty percent of parents whose children use the Internet at home say they restrict their children's use in some way. (However, parents are more restrictive of their children's television and videocassette watching than they are of Internet use.) Among those who restrict Internet use, the main restriction is to the types of sites children visit (37 percent), followed by limitations on the time children can spend online (25 percent). Only 12 percent of these parents restrict chat room use or instant messaging.

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