Why is chatting important? Man is a social animal and feels the need to communicate with rest of the human beings. Kids and teenagers are no exception to this behavior pattern, rather, they have few zillion things to debate, discuss and learn about. Chat rooms fulfill this need by allowing the net users to interact through instant messaging. Online Chat Rooms for Teens Good chat rooms offer a centralized place where they can gain entry using the Internet and be a part of the world community. Not only can they chat with others on any topic, but, there are also chat rooms that are dedicated to a specific topic, subject, hobby or activity where the teenagers or the kids can share their hobbies or interests. Since most of these kids and teenagers are not earning a regular income, without online chatting, just imagine, how difficult it will be for them to be in communication using phone, with the like-minded contemporaries even on the local scale. Teenagers can use these virtual meeting places, in general, to learn about fashions, music, trends, sports, solve their homework problems by asking around and express their views about what is dear to them. It may be about how much their doggies love them, hair styles they like or how much they enjoy playing a certain computer game, chat rooms ensure that these youngsters have a place to air their views. It is a good place for these not yet adults individuals to learn that one gets accepted by others for the quality of thought. It is also a place where the teenagers can gain self recognition as well as learn to do a self appraisal and handle criticism in a positive way. The availability of abundant bandwidth has enabled some websites and service providers to come up with chat rooms with video. Free Chat Rooms Internet service providers, the social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and numerous other entities offer chat rooms for their visitors. Some of these can be accessed by anyone and used free of cost. There is a marketing strategy referred to as market segregation which is used to arrive at the expected number of consumers which may support a particular type of product after it is launched. Use of this technique to attract Internet users, has resulted in some entities coming up with chat rooms only for kids and teens. No registration is required to access some of these free chat rooms for teenagers. It means that anyone can use them without submitting their identification details to the website hosting it. Safety in Online Chat Rooms On one hand, chat rooms offer a teen to be a part of the virtual world; on the other, they also expose him to some dangers. The anonymity that these free chat rooms offer to their users, have encouraged some twisted personalities to lure and exploit kids as well as teenagers frequenting these websites. This has made the task of finding good options difficult. It is essential for parents to take some precautionary measures in advance, and avoid the threat posed by these individuals. The following is a list of precautions which may come useful to you:

• Computer: Position the computer in a place such as kitchen and while doing your own work, keep an eye on your nosy kid or teenager while he or she is logged in on a chat room.
• Friend: Never allow your child to meet an online friend in your absence. Don't forget to explain to your child why you are going to this length to monitor or control his or her chatting. Let him or her read about precautions to take while using the Internet which may make it easy for both of you to face the issue.
• Control: Set a time for you child to use the Internet. The best idea is to let him or her use it when you are in the house. By maintaining a password to the computer or to your Internet account you can control its use. Search and purchase a parental control software.
• Chatting: Some of these chat rooms are governed by a controller. Normally, depending on the subject, these monitors decide whether to brake the communication between two users or not. However, these controllers are very busy people and as you are responsible for your child's welfare, know whom your offspring is chatting with.

According to some reports, the incidences of online harassment involving kids and teens are comparatively low on the chat rooms offered by the prominent social networking websites. The statistics also show that more than 55 percent of these incidences involved approaches through instant messaging tools. It also reveals that the kids or teens in question, knew well in advance that the perpetrators are adults. Aren't the kids nosy? It is a good thing to make your child follow some set rules every time he or she is logged in on a chat room for the sake of safety. However, it is far better for your kid to begin using video chat rooms. Depending on what you see on the screen of your computer, you and your child can decide whether to continue the chatting or not. All you have to do to find safe sites, is to invest in a web camera, necessary hardware, software and locate the websites which offer free video chatting.