by Jim Kinkade

Created on: March 27, 2009

As the Internet population grows, more grandparents than ever are getting online and enjoying the many benefits of being online. Email is just one of a number of great ways for grandparents to keep tabs on how the little ones are doing. Setting up an email account for the first time can be daunting, but if you remember these basic principles, you will become an email pro in no time.

Email is just like regular mail

At least in theory, this is the case. You have a post office box to which emails are delivered and a postmaster to whom you give your emails to be delivered. When you first open your email client, the program you use to read and compose email, it checks your post office box to see if there is any new email for you. It then presents all your email to you on screen in any order you decide. You can choose to look at the oldest first, or the most recent, your email client lets you decide. In the list of messages, you see a preview called the subject line. If the subject is not interesting or doesn't pertain to you, you can skip over it. The sender is also displayed, so you can easily see if it is your son or daughter, or somebody you don't know who is sending you email.

Sending email is like writing a letter

When you want to send an email, you click on an icon, usually found in the upper left-hand corner of your email client and a new window will open. You can select one or more people from your address book, if you select multiple addresses, each one will receive a copy of the email message, this saves you from writing the same thing over multiple times. You can make your message as long or as short as you want. When you click send, you deliver the message to your postmaster, who then forwards it to the recipients you selected, automatically copying it for everyone you addressed it to.

View pictures in your email

Of course, the most important feature email offers is the ability to see pictures of the grandkids at any time. Thanks to the ease and convenience of email, you don't have to wait for the mail or until your kids come to visit to see how the grandkids are doing. Images may not display automatically though. You may need to configure your email client to allow images to show. In most cases, simply adding the sender to your address book is enough to allow the images to show up right away.

Beware of scams and spam

Unfortunately, there is a downside to email, but if you are careful, you should not have any problems. First, do not give out your email address to anybody you don't want to have it. If you must sign up online for goods or services, you might consider opening a free web email account and keep it separate from your private account. Do not open any emails from someone you don't know, especially if it has an attachment (represented by a little paper clip in the preview). Even messages from people you know may contain dangerous viruses so be careful when opening any email with an attachment. Make sure you have a good anti-virus program and keep it updated.

Embrace email and enjoy it, don't be afraid of it. If you run into any problems, you can always ask your grandkids for help.

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