Well I am not one for silly add-ons, especially for my instant messenger, but if you have kids they will certainly like this, SweetIM. I currently use Yahoo Instant Messenger, and so does my nine year old daughter. No worries, she only chats with myself, mom, and a few other approved family members. So why on earth would we want her to have IM at nine? She can’t hear us.

Hello, Can You Hear Me?

We have a “bedroom door open” while on the computer policy for her, but sometimes the computer games she plays just completely blocks us out. Even when she can hear us, she keeps playing. She knows we don’t want to hike up the stairs, and she also knows that it might mean time to do homework. That is where IM, and SweetIm can kick in. YIM is always on on her PC, another rule, and when you send a shout using the SweetIM add-on, she will hear it. Yahoo’s IM has a default little buzz, fine for an adult sitting at their computer, but kids are online too, and sometimes they just need a louder voice. An in your face interruption always helps too, and SweetIM does both. Animated, loud popup, now taking over her PC.

For Fun and It’s Free

It’s all about fun though, and it doesn’t have to be a rude interruption for your kids. My daughter is actually the one that told me about the software. It was advertising a while back in Yahoo’s instant messenger. She clicked, we downloaded, and the rest his history. She loves sending different animations to Grandma fifty miles away, and being able to chat a well. Fun, safe little add-on, and free to use.