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I saw a post on AdFreak the other day about the Girl Scouts coming into the new millenium. I was a Brownie myself as a kid - and my daughter is in the girl scouts too.
So I thought their new WOM campaign was very interesting - they have started a Girl Scouts MySpace page (wise), yet are also releasing their old TV commercials:
I find this stuff fascinating - they’ve found a way to simultaneously bring the Girl Scouts into the social networking space, yet still find a way to be true to their roots.
Personally, I’ve done everything I can to keep my 12 year old off of MySpace - but when the traditional intersects with technology like this, it makes a compelling case to loosen the reigns a bit.
So many of you are parents - what do you let your kids do online? Where do you draw the line?
What a coincidence!!! Check out what I was doing this morning:
http://casualkeystrokes.com/the-brownie-vest/
As for online - my kids spend most of their time on Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom or Nicktopolis.
I’m not certain that Myspace deserves all of the negative press it gets. The issue doesn’t really have to do with what’s available online. Myspace (and other online content) is simply a scapegoat for parents that think that computers are a babysitter. It’s the same way with video games, television shows, etc. When these things are used to take the work out of parenting, bad things start to happen. For that matter, bad things happened before there were any of those things at a higher level when parents didn’t pay attention to their children.
What makes this neglect even worse is that the parents don’t know what they are missing out on. There’s nothing more joyful than raising kids. (But I’m sure you know that.)
What I meant to say, and somehow didn’t, was that when my daughter was in her teens and living with me, I always had software on her computer to monitor her usage. I also made sure that she knew the software was there. She tried the “what about my privacy?” thing on many occasions. I usually reminded her that whatever she did on what was essentially my computer, I was responsible for.
Likely, that drove her to doing anything elicit at one of her friends’ homes. But there’s only so much that you can do. People make mistakes. My opinion: it’s most important to be human and remember that kids are also human. Encourage them to learn from their mistakes. It would be great if my kids could learn from my mistakes, but most of the time it doesn’t seem to work that way.
You’re right, Edmund - I find it disgusting that parents are suing MySpace for neglect when it is themselves that have been neglectful.
In fact, I’ve been asking around about MySpace, not really for my kids’ sake, but for my own. It seemed like a work at home mom would be out of place there, but the more I hear, it’s grown beyond it’s adolescent roots.
Perhaps my hesitation is simply lack of awareness… hmm?
A little moderation is not bad but I don’t think you ought to restrain your daughter’s access to myspace to that extent. One thing you can do is sign up with my space and add your daughter as a friend. You will be able to see her friends and the messages they leave.
Although this is one thing you can do, I still think that a parent knows best what’s best for his/her child!
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Hope that helps,
Chris Morris