I need a little help from my friends!

Lest you think I have it all together (what a joke!?!), let me tell you what I discovered yesterday.

But first, let me give you some background insight about me.... When we brought our firstborn home from the hospital, I was petrified! I had read many books and articles while pregnant; I had baby-sat many, many hours during my youth, but nothing prepared me for what it would feel like to have my own child - utterly dependent on me to sustain his life 24/7. I remember picking up baby/child resource book and thumbing through it. I came to the chapter on potty-training and I felt the life sucked from me.... How in the world would I accomplish that feat!!! I could not even think about it. Well, at 3 years and 3 months both of my sons were potty-trained (I waited for my mom to come visit - ha)! Yes, it was a little late - especially in light of the current trends to potty-train infants (whatever!?!), BUT we had so few "accidents" I could probably count them on one hand.

Anyway, I say this to illustrate that I am not good at dealing with these types of lifespan changes. I drag my feet, worry about it, dread it - you name it! I am so thankful for my even-keeled husband and my ever-so helpful mom. Tanner and Tyler have no idea how weak their mother really is as it relates to them! SOOOO, guess what Friday brings - the 5th grade puberty movie at Tanner's school!?!?!?!?!? Hello? I remember that day at Washington Elementary like it was yesterday!!! My baby was just potty-trained and now we're expecting puberty! Once again, Steve, you are going to have to lead the way because my stomach is nervous just writing this post!

Just is case you are wondering - that is not what I discovered yesterday. Tanner is 11 and in 5th grade. He loves sports, especially football (though I am really pushing soccer, which is clearly not working at this point). He subscribes to Upper Deck Kids, a sports website, and we allow him to IM with his friends. To do these things, we have allowed him to have an email address that is connected to ours. He doesn't use email to communicate, yet. Yesterday I checked his email account just to see what was going on there.... He is receiving some awful spam - which, thankfully, he is clueless about right now.... I believe it is associated with the sports-related websites he frequents. Once I picked up my jaw from the floor, I quickly realized that we need to step up our internet precautions - BIG TIME. I don't know everything about boys, but I do know they do not need temptations dropped in front of them and puberty is at our doorstep. Oh Lord, help us (especially me)!

What do you do to protect your children from the internet? I need advice about filters and such because the intenet is a part of our home - we are focusing on protection and discernment, rather than avoidance. Our computers are in public locations, we monitor the boys' usage, but I need to be a few (big) steps ahead of them. I need your practical advice (and your prayers)!