MySpace to Offer Parental-Notification Software

[Tyreal]

Originally Posted by polobunny

As long as the kids know they're being monitored, I think it's good.

The kids should not know they are being monitored. Who cares about their privacy, as long as they are living under their parent's roof they should follow the rules and do what they are told. They can go to stranger's houses once they leave home.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

The kids should not know they are being monitored. Who cares about their privacy, as long as they are living under their parent's roof they should follow the rules and do what they are told. They can go to stranger's houses once they leave home.

Haha right Tyreal, kids got no rights for privacy or intimacy, their parents got to know everything until the age of 18. You'll listen to doors when you have kids? :P

[Tyreal]

No I won't listen to doors. I'll give them space. But I'm going to know what they are doing on the internet.

[gvblake22]

I think in a situation like this, education is probably one of the best things you can do. Even more so than some elaborate security or monitoring system. Once you make it clear that there are crazy dangers involved with certain activities, it's just a matter of getting them to listen to that little voice of reason inside of them (which I guess is a task in and of its self). I don't have kids, so I can't really speak from experience. But it seems to me that education would help a lot. And with the "educating" of your kids, you subsequently spend more time with them, which is the other half of it all as Joker mentioned.

[Tyreal]

Then Blake comes down and saves the day. He has a point though.

[DeanOlicious]

Heh, I'm with Tyreal on this one, and I won't be needing any help from myspace to monitor the behavior of my children if I ever have any. Your children are your own resposibility and they don't have a right to privacy until they are 18 and paying their own way.
Blake has a good point on education too. I'd like to think that teens are capable of acting resposibly all the time, but unfortunately they are young and that means they are still ignorant of how the world works. While I think that teens should be rewarded for earning your trust by being given a degree of privacy with their friends, I don't think that it should extend so far that you become oblivious to who your child is talking to, or what strangers they are meeting. Call me overprotective if you must, I'd rather be overbearing than careless.
And if that little punk ever slams a door on me I'll show him how easy it is to kick in a locked door when your job requires you to do it

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by DeanOlicious

Heh, I'm with Tyreal on this one, and I won't be needing any help from myspace to monitor the behavior of my children if I ever have any. Your children are your own resposibility and they don't have a right to privacy until they are 18 and paying their own way.

Personally, I know I would have been mad pissed off if my parents were checking on me 24/7.
Not that I was a bad kid or anything, i've always been relatively calm overall, but I think what frustrates alot of kids is the fact their parents either don't tell them the exact truth about some things or they're always in their back. Kid finds out he grew in rather childish lies and feels more or less betrayed. That with the hormones kicking in their teenage years and wham you're the worst ennemy all of a sudden.
It's all a matter of how your kid is though, some you can let them loose and you know they won't do something foolish, and to others you need to remind them it's not proper clothing to go to school...or church @_@

Blake has it right though. They need to learn how to behave in the society and on the internet. It's always better to be their ally than a foe too.

[Jafah5150]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I think in a situation like this, education is probably one of the best things you can do. Even more so than some elaborate security or monitoring system. Once you make it clear that there are crazy dangers involved with certain activities, it's just a matter of getting them to listen to that little voice of reason inside of them (which I guess is a task in and of its self). I don't have kids, so I can't really speak from experience. But it seems to me that education would help a lot. And with the "educating" of your kids, you subsequently spend more time with them, which is the other half of it all as Joker mentioned.

Agreed. If you can't trust your children to some degree then the parents have bigger problems.

[Capper]

Well, in the end....its the parents responsibility to teach their children right and wrong.....but how can you take that for granted when you can't even trust most parents? Look, in a perfect world, there would be no worries, but just watching Survivor, The Apprentice, and other reality show....our culture is all about getting ahead, at any cost....what kind of example does that set for kids......everywhere they turn, people are screwing over anyone if it will benefit them at all. There no honor or integrity in our society anymore.

Having said that, kids are always going to try to get away with whatever they can.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Capper

Ever watch "To catch a predator", or heard of pervertedjustice.com? man, the world is full of sickos, and kids don't have the experience or common sense to know better.

This is the bottom line right here. We can preach about education and parent's responsibilities all day long, and while I certainly agree with that, kids are incredibly naive. One of the greatest balancing acts, at least as a parent, is giving your children enough freedom to learn responsibility and develop as an individual, yet not cross that line where they're allowed to make life changing mistakes. In this age of the internet, that balancing act gets even tougher, and as most of us can probably attest, there's certain things you just end up learning the 'hard way' no matter how many people tried to warn you.

As far as good parents are concerned (which I consider myself to be), you do the best you can in raising your kids, teaching them the 'ropes,' instilling values and morals, and then hope that it was enough, since you can't stand over their shoulders 24/7. Still though, if MySpace or any other online service installs a hack to help the monitoring process, then I'm all for it. I trust my son and Tammy's two daughters, but I know they'll make mistakes too, just as I did.