I watch my kids like a hawk. I monitor everything they do. I've had kidnapping attempts on both of them, and it just makes me all the more paranoid. The one and ONLY site that I allow my kids on is BYC, and you can bet your bippy that I go through their posts, especially with my younger daughter! But they are not allowed to have a Facebook or MySpace page, or a Twitter page. None of those networking sites. I have a Facebook page, and I told them that if they want to talk to a friend or a family member, they can do it through mine. They haven't tried to rebel yet, but I have all but beaten the importance of internet safety into both of them. What drives me nuts is that I have friends whose children are friends with my children, but their children are not supervised. I have one friend that drives me almost insane, his daughter is so spoiled. Anything she wants, she gets. She is 13 and has a cell phone, her own lap top, and anything else that she wants. She can get online through more than just the cell and the computer. I don't know how well her mother monitors her (I'm friends with her father), but I know that her father doesn't monitor her at all. She has a Facebook page, a MySpace, a Twitter, and a host of other networking website profile pages. It scares me to think about the people that could be out there looking at his daughter. The kid does what she wants, though I will give her parents credit, they still supervise her more often than not when she's out, and she is not often left home alone. She was NEVER left alone until last year when she hit 13. I have another friend that has 3 daughters. Only the oldest who is almost 17, and the youngest, who is nearly 10, live with her though. This friend doesn't monitor her children at all. As a result her older daughter was molested when she was only about 12. Fast forward to now and both these girls have cell phones and complete internet access. Her 9 yr old texts me all the time because I won't allow my kids to have cell phones, so I let my 10 yr old text her back from my phone. Of course, my younger daughter is upset because her friend gets to have a Facebook page and other networking profiles, but she's not allowed to. She doesn't press it much right now though. She and her sister have already lost internet access completely until I feel they are responsible enough to earn the privilege again (They were turning the computer on and going online without my permission, yeah, I'm THAT strict. I changed their password so they can't access their user on the computer.) Am I worrying unnecessarily? I don't think so. The number of cyber pedophiles grows higher every year, and without my vigilance, the chances of one of these monsters reaching my children gets higher and higher. It will be several years before children are allowed to have social network pages, and when I do allow it, there will be rules enforced. I just want my kids to be safe, and I feel that my protecting them shows the depth of my love for them. I don't do it to control them, I just do it to protect them. Besides, I don't feel that little girls need cell phones or computers. If my kids are going somewhere, I give them my cell phone. Course I get it back with almost all my minutes wasted, but I know who they are texting! Lol!
