Kids and their Online Behavior

It?s time for mom and dad to do a little checking up on there online kid.

We are constantly hearing about the dangers of MySpace and other sites like it. What we are not hearing about is how many of these kids are behaving in a way that would Shock most parents. When kids create their ?online presence? and put on their ?online mask? so many of them turn into someone else. Their screen names are crude and their language is offensive. Many are posting provocative photos of them selves and discuss their relationships with the opposite sex, and some with the same sex. Their online presence would have you believe they where vile, crude and offensive kids, however if you met them elsewhere you would never know they were the same person.

One reason kids are acting out online is because they believe that they are some what anonymous and that it?s a safe place to act out. What they are not realizing is that they are not so anonymous and thousands if not millions of people can and are reading there conversations and posts. These kids need to be taught that what they post on line can quite literally be out their for ever. Kids need to be taught that behaving badly online has the same consequences as behaving badly elsewhere with the added bonus that the bad deed is possibly sitting on millions of computers. What goes on the Internet technically never leaves the Internet and kids are to immature to get that so it?s the parents job to teach that lesson to them.

So much of this could be stopped if parents would check up on their kids? sites. Now understandably, many parents don?t even know that their child has a personal web space, for them it?s time to ask, while others don?t think anything about it. So much can be learned about your child and their friends by taking the time to read their blogs and just look around.

Many parents today have set up their own accounts on MySpace, Teenspot, Bebo or one of the other teen sites just for the purpose of checking up on their kids. It?s a good idea and one that every parent should do.

By: Richard French