Anyone close to a teenager is probably seeing what we are: there's an important online component to the teen social scene - blogs. A Net Family News subscriber and mother in the northwestern US (who wished to remain nameless) recently emailed me: "I read my kid's Xanga, and kept track of it. She was writing dark poetry and disclosing stuff, so I cut her off, initiated passwords and monitored computer usage, and things started to change for the better to stay off of the junk online. [Socializing online] does not let them learn interpersonal skills. Xanga is bad news, parents! Be aware!" (Click here for more from this mom.) On the other hand, another parent, Craig in Pennsylvania, emailed me last December that blogs can be "a powerful tool of insight for parents." That's if the parent doesn't have qualms about kids' privacy issues, as this mom did. What do you think? I'd love to hear from other parents who have experience with this.
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It's interesting what our kids choose do with the lessons we try and teach them. When it all comes down to it, they will tend to make decisions based on what their peers are doing.
ReplyDeleteXanga, to my ignorance, is a site for kids 13 years or older. I just realized this. When you set up your site, there is a box to check if you are of age. Unfortunately, my child checked it and, when I realized that they had failed the honesty test, my heart dropped to my ankles.
We talked about it and their site was deleted, by their choice. There were tears, theirs and mine (I knew that they enjoyed being a blogger on the site and hated being the "mean mom"), but the lessons we teach about honesty apply even when nobody's around. How seriously we take it will affect them the rest of their lives.
Guess being honest to and with yourself is important if you're going to be honest with others.
You sound like a wonderful parent, anonymous. I certainly hear you about having to be the "mean mom" - they just have no idea how hard it is for us to say no! Excellent point about honesty. Thanks for posting.
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