Being a single parent brings about an entirely new list of challenges from what a two-parent home deals with. One of those is trying to know what your teenager is doing. Today with the internet, kids have opportunities like never before and while you cannot keep a thumb down on your child at all times, it is critical that you understand that websites being visited. For instance, in recent months, we have heard some horrific stories about the “MySpace” site, which is an open forum for people of all ages to post articles, talk about life, visit with friends, download music, and so on.
Unfortunately, a number of major headlines have made the papers pertaining to this site, specifically focused on teenagers that had deep troubles, posting clues along the way. To give you an idea, two teenagers in the small town of Platte City, Missouri had a MySpace page where they talked about hurting people at school. These two boys did in fact plan to kidnap and harm the principle but the plan was discovered and reported, stopping anything before it could happen.
The MySpace website was first established in 2003. The founder, a UCLA graduate by the name of Tom Anderson simply wanted an interactive forum. The original goal was to provide kids of various ages to network, forming private communities. Today, the MySpace site is monumental, having exploded in both interest and size. While most of what you see on this website is fine, there are troubled kids looking for a way of expressing themselves with some going way too far.
If your teenager has expressed interest in starting a MySpace homepage so his or he friends can come to visit and talk or share ideas, that is perfectly fine but you need to know what type of information is being shared, along with the people visiting the page. Again, it is near impossible to know everything, which is why communication is key.
The interesting thing about this website is that you can log onto your child’s page and learn huge amounts of information as to personality, concerns, desires, goals, and so on. With the teenage years being difficult already, being able to read your child’s open forum offers you a glimpse into his or her life that you might otherwise miss. Some parents have concern that reading the information is spying but in truth, you are the parent and therefore have the responsibility of knowing what is happening in your child’s life. It would be far better to know of impending trouble than to be blindsided.