With all the concerns out there regarding cyber bullies and sexual predators on social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, it's easy for parents to overlook an important aspect of computer monitoring, namely monitoring email and attachments.

After all, any means by which these people can approach your child needs to be monitored.

Sexual predators commonly send children inappropriate materials attached to emails, and kids can even stumble upon pornographic images on accident via spam email.

And in terms of older children, email is an avenue that kids often use, and most know how to conceal what they're sending and receiving when they know that mom and dad wouldn't approve.

So, how should parents monitor email?
Sadly, it's a bit more complicated that it might seem.

This is particularly the case with those older kids who are often better with computers than their parents. These kids know how to cover their tracks, so checking in the "deleted" file just won't cut it.

And it's also important to steer clear of free downloadable software that promises to monitor email for you. Most of it is cumbersome, easy to detect, and not very helpful at all.

Parental control software can be the best solution, so long as you choose a good program that offers email monitoring features.

You'll want to have access to all emails, including those webmail accounts and the ones attached to social networking sites, and you'll want to record attachments too.

Invisibility is a must as well, since older kids who know that their emails are being monitored are simply going to use someone else's computer if they find out.

Strangely, many parental control programs don't offer email monitoring, which is odd considering the attention to website monitoring and chat recording that seems to be standard these days.

If you're interested in this feature - and if you have kids we think you should be - double check that any program you purchase will record those emails for you too.

If you're interested in learning how to monitor email, or want to purchase a program that does so, we suggest you check out our reviews for Spector Pro, eBlaster, and our top choice WebWatcher.