More on myspace...what's a mom to do?
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| Wed, 02-08-2006 - 7:26pm |
Like many others I went to my space to see what was going on with my daughter and her friends. I was shocked to see that not only did she have a page, but she had posted her picture, what school she attends and said that she is 18 (she is 14). I have never had a problem with her. She follows rules, etc....but was shocked to see on her profile that she said that she has drank alcohol. I am in shock and am torn on what I should do. I know I can't let her keep the page with her picture and school, but, I would like to be able to read and monitor what is going on. She has a Sadie Hawkins dance on Saturday, and I would like to tell she is not going and let her know why. I am just stunned and need someone to give me a little shove to get me moving.
Do I confront her? Do I keep her from attending the dance, keep her away from friends who say they have been drinking too? This just has to end. God, I am not ready for this.

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Myspace is one of the premier garbage dumps of the internet. This site has certainly received a lot of attention lately. Sadly, this is only one of many. For a good scare, check out www.darkstarlings.com, which makes myspace look G rated.
I tend to look for more pragmatic solutions to these types of problems - like don’t make it available. My DD had a myspace site briefly last year. She was not abusing it. The content was mildly offensive, but not overly objectionable. Nevertheless, I blocked it.
The reason being the overall intent and use of the site is offensive to me.
She put up a mild fuss, but quickly got over it.
Was I unfair? Depends on how you look at it…
I would never allow my DD to go sit in a seedy bar, sip diet coke and rebuff slime ball advances. What is the difference if it’s done electronically? It’s actually worse. At least in the seedy bar, you can SEE that the guy is not 14, but actually 45 with a beer gut and bad breath.
Why participate in a web forum that has unknown men and boys “comment” on your body parts and “hotness.”?
Sure, they can set their site to “private” to communicate only with their friends. Good!
If that’s the objective, they can e-mail and use the telephone. There is no need for “myspace.” There is also less likely exaggerated bravado that parents have to sort out about drinking, etc. when there may have been none
They’ll just have to learn to interact with the world using another method.
jt
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