“Sexy Vixens.”

Those two words jumped out at me like someone had screamed them. I was scrolling through the history of viewed Web sites on my son’s computer — my 7-year-old baby — and there it was. Someone had visited a Web site called “Sexy Vixens” and had gotten two clicks in.

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And I had a sinking feeling I knew who it was.

We’ve done everything you’re supposed to do to keep Josh safe on the Internet. He’s only supposed to visit sites that are in his mom-screened favorites list. His computer sits right across the room from mine, and I have a constant view of his monitor. Every couple of days, I check to see what he’s been doing and where he’s been clicking.

Until now, it’s all been fun and games — PBS Kids and Nick Jr. with some Sports Illustrated Kids thrown in.

But he had a friend over to play, and his buddy led him to a site that had some kids’ games, mixed in among plenty of games for adults.

And at the bottom of that page was an ad that flashed the promise of “Fun Games” and showed pictures of some very happy looking women.

One click of the mouse later, the Sexy Vixens were showing my son more than he should have seen for years.

I asked him about what he’d seen. Turns out, not very much. He quickly realized there were no games for him at that site and moved on.

He wondered aloud why people would want to look at pictures of ladies without their clothes. I opened my mouth to answer, closed it again, and said we’d talk about it in a few years.

A cop out? Yes. But, really, there is such a thing as too much information, and we’d already crossed that line when he read the words “Sexy Vixens.”

What came next was a 10-minute discussion about what is appropriate — and what isn’t — for kids to do and see on the Internet.

We came up with some new rules and went over the old ones again, listing the things he shouldn’t see and what he should do if something questionable popped up on the screen.

And I made a promise to myself not to forget just how easy it is for the Internet — often an amazing tool and source of great fun — to turn into a parent’s worst nightmare.

At the end of our conversation, his face a little pink and his eyes teary, Josh said he wished there could just be one Internet for kids and another for adults. That way, he said, things would be so much less complicated.

When I think of all the things kids can stumble across and purposely find online, I have to say I couldn’t agree more.

Amy Fuhrman is editor of the Lake Norman Navigator and mother of two boys. E-mail her at .

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