As online shopping becomes more and more commonplace, you'll probably purchase something online with a credit card if you haven't already. More likely though, is that your children, without a credit card of their own, will want you to buy them some clothes, music, books or other items over the Internet. While you may want to just give them your credit card to save the time and trouble of having to do it yourself, we encourage you to keep your credit card and credit card numbers private. Giving your children credit card information gives them access to shopping sites as well as adults sites with pornography or gambling. Since credit cards are not issued to people under 18, many adult sites require a credit card to verify that users are old enough to view mature content. If you provide your child with your credit card information, your child could easily gain access to inappropriate sites. Adult sites and online stores have no way of knowing that your child is using your credit card -they simply assume it is you. Regardless, you are still responsible for any purchases or transactions your child places, whether you were aware of it or not. In short, don't allow your children to use your credit card freely online unless you want them to have unlimited access to both shopping and adult content sites. If you decide to let your children use your credit card to make online purchases, carefully monitor their transactions and establish guidelines beforehand for what they can buy and how much they can spend. Be sure to check your credit card statements afterward to see if the merchants have correctly billed you and your children have not made other purchases in your name. Adult sites often disguise their names on billing charges so contact your credit card company for clarification on any unknown charges on your bill.