Making It In America

It’s amazing to me!  Parents continue to trust the judgment of their children.  This is done in spite of all the examples we have of kids making the wrong decision based on their age-constrained abilities.  And yes, I know, your kids are the exception to the rule.  I may have taught them.  And you might be surprised!

Students as young as eleven (and possibilally younger)  have myspace accounts.  They are easily impressed, lied to and misled.  Yet they are on there, most without their parent’s knowledge.  On the same note, they just removed 90,000 know sex offenders from the same site.  Offenders hoping to hook up with teens and children.  Your teens and your children.

And still, parents put the computer in the children’s bedrooms.  Sometimes they even equip them with webcams.  (Don’t get me started on that!)  With the door shut, you do not know what your angel is doing, and yes, they will lie to you about it.

If you truly want to make your kids as safe as possible, get smart as parents.  Trust them, but not implicitly.  But while your are trusting them, check up on them.  Get the technology that doesn’t belong in any child’s room back out.  Love them unconditionally as you walk past them in the family while they surf the web.  Oh, and when you go to the store or to bed, learn how to lock out the bad sites.  It won’t stop them completely.  I had one student with a myspace account but no computer.  But it will help keep them a little safer.

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