Oye. What a way to find out...

[february2003bride]

That your children are doing something dangerous or at the very least, nothing you ever thought they would do!

Actress Marie Osmond, who has 9 children, 5 of which are adopted, recently revealed that she was shocked to learn that the National Enquirer had discovered sexually explicit material on two of her daughter''s MySpace''s. Her oldest daughter, Jessica, posted on her file that she is a bi-sexual and is planning on having sex "as many time as possible." Her other daughter, Rachael, 16, posted that she considers herself a "slut", as well as a "whore" and frequently fantasizes about David Bowie.

As a result, Osmond released a statment to the National Enquirer revealing that she is "saddened by some of the choices that two of our children have made. The insidious potential for harm from adolescent Internet sites like MySpace.com only exacerbates these kinds of problems. If my being a celebrity figure is good for anything, let it be as a voice of warning to other parents that no matter how protective we think we may have been with our children in the past, we need to become more knowledgeable and even more vigilant now in order to protect them."

I''m not sure how I would react to finding out something like this about my daughter, especially in such a public way.

 

[FireGoddess]

Maybe this makes me an old fogey at 31, but this myspace.com stuff is really freaking me out and saddening me at the same time. Some friends'' children were showing me their myspace pages and clicked on another friend''s page - and there were pictures she posted of herself in her UNDERWEAR in lewd poses, etc. She said on her page that she was 18 but the girl was 14 in reality. What is UP with kids today? I couldn''t believe it. I went to the kid and told her that I saw her page and could NOT believe the way she was acting, how terribly inappropriate and downright dangerous it was. She was embarassed enough to remove those things, but who knows if she started up a new page I don''t know about? If I found out a kid of mine was doing that, there''d be hell to pay.

Did anyone see the special last night on NBC or something where they were catching child predators off the internet? I mean, sick stuff. And I feel like some of these kids are just ASKING for stuff like this to happen to them. WTF??

 

[VegasAngel]

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to find out that way. Kids are secretive, parents need to step up & pay more attention to their childrens activities. Computers should be in the family room where parents can keep on eye on what their kids are doing/looking at online. I want my baby girl to be a baby forever

.

 

[Kaleigh]

I found out my godson is gay from my daughter reading his profile on myspace.com. I had to tell his mom about it. I wasn''t surprised something I had always known about him, but reading what he put in his profile well, was shocking to say the least. Anyone can find out about a kid on there. It''s scary to say the least. My daughter is on facebook.com and is a much more protected site. I tried cracking it and couldn''t whereas myspace.com anyone can type in a name and find out all they want to.

 

[tawn]

My son''s school had a meeting about myspace, and they talked about the girl that was stalked and killed...and gave information about internet predators and then asked the kids to voluntarily close their accounts. They also showed them how to keep themselves safe if they wanted to keep their accounts open....

Scary stuff! 12 yr-old girls with shots of their "downstairs" etc...

 

[perry]

Kids are always seeking a way to have their independance and "experiment" with things outside of their parents knowledge... I let my own experience guide me into not over-reacting to somethings. Part of it is the kids want to see your reaction - and if you don''t over-react then they back off on a lot of things. Over-react and you feed the fire...

The internet and personal cellphones just means that their are more avenues. I doubt that people can really ever keep track of all their kids do: It is best to have a really good realtionship where they know that they can talk to you about anything if they want - without fear of reprisals or over-reacting. I know it is difficult to achieve that. Perhaps that is why I''ve endid up playing "Uncle" for a few folks - just as a way to talk to the kids. Sometimes it works well; othertimes it dosn''t.

Perry

 

[hlmr]

Date: 5/25/2006 9:02:54 PM
Author: tawn
My son's school had a meeting about myspace, and they talked about the girl that was stalked and killed...and gave information about internet predators and then asked the kids to voluntarily close their accounts. They also showed them how to keep themselves safe if they wanted to keep their accounts open....

Scary stuff! 12 yr-old girls with shots of their 'downstairs' etc...

Girls have been calling my son (who has a newfound love for MSN) and I mistakenly overheard (okay I purposely listened)

in on one conversation to see what they are saying and she was telling my son she was going skinny-dipping later!

He was like ooookay......They are 11 & 12 year olds - Am I just blissfully ignorant???? Also, the girls display themselves on the webcam's very provocatively!

 

[sarita]

I missed part 2 of the Dateline special but I saw the first one. It''s so scary. I don''t have any young girls in my life to worry about specifically but my best friend found her 14 year old cousin on there. She is a typical boy-crazy teen and posts flirtacious pics of herself as well as uses lewd & suggestive dialogue on her page. On her profile she lists her age as 17 or 18, too, I forget. My friend called her out on it and posted in the comments for everyone to see but it''s very hard to control. It really is a shame.

 

[diamondfan]

My niece is also on there. She is barely 14 and also says she is 18 and from Paris, France!!!! So insane. She posts pictures of herself looking "sexy" though she is clearly a pudgy 13 year old. She idolizes Paris Hilton and says "That bitch has nothing on me". The worst thing is her parents know she is on and feel there is nothing they can do about it...they have thrown their hands up in the air, and figure she will do what she wants and there is nothing they can do! Is that awful or what?

 

[Mara]

all of this is so scary and i definitely agree that places like myspace make it easy for kids to be rebellious while passively acting out, and it just sets it up for perverts in all types of ways, and these kids are making it too easy. it''s really sad and depressing. it''s times like this when i think about having kids and i think no way.

 

[hlmr]

It certainly is a whole new world than when we were kids! Hey, I mean getting a phone call was a big deal!

Mara, don''t let this stuff scare you off from parenthood! We all have to adapt as a parent to these new situations (in which we have no frame of reference to measure against). Some people do it better than others. It is always a balancing act but it is always worth it.

 

[Kaleigh]

Mara,
I know all this stuff is very scary. I have a very open relationship with my kids. They tell me everything, sometimes more than what I need or want to hear but I am glad they feel that they can come to me. My daughter shows me her profile on Facebook and I see it''s just her talking with her friends here and many of them are her summer friends from Nantucket, etc... Bottom line is if you have kids let them know they can come to you and talk, no matter what the subject is. I never had that growing up, and wanted to make sure that when I had kids, things would be different. Yeah some of the stuff they tell me is hard to swallow, but am so glad they feel comfortable coming to me with almost anything. It''s been a lot of fun for the most part. I''m happy to say they have very good heads on their shoulder''s and are very level headed.

 

[tawn]

Date: 5/25/2006 11:41:35 PM
Author: hlmr
It certainly is a whole new world than when we were kids! Hey, I mean getting a phone call was a big deal!

Mara, don''t let this stuff scare you off from parenthood! We all have to adapt as a parent to these new situations (in which we have no frame of reference to measure against). Some people do it better than others. It is always a balancing act but it is always worth it.

I totally agree...and they don''t just pop out as teenagers (thank goodness!), so you sort of have some time to adjust to them and the current smut that''s out there! When I was in school, I remember all the kids in Gr.5-6 going to check out the Playboy someone had hidden in the bushes by the bus stop! Of course, now the kids that age are making their own **** and posting it on the internet...but, it''s basically still the same old story about surging hormones! What scares me, is that little girls are expected to look, dress, and act like the Paris Hiltons, and have the moves of stripper when they''re 11-12 yrs old! I see them at the school dances and then look at the boys...and the guys are so far behind at that age!

Mara....there is nothing like snuggling your new baby! The best feeling you''ll ever have, or at least that I''ve ever had! Totally amazing!

 

[Mara]

Oh I'm sure it's fabulous Tawn, I feel so happy when I snuggle PORTIA and she's not even blood. But she does look kind of like Greg..

Anyway, I see how hard it is on my parents to raise my last sister....being a teenager nowadays is the same yet different as when I was in school. It wasn't SO long ago that I have forgotten. There's so much more to worry about now and it does seem like the age for things are totally getting younger and younger. The stories she tells me about her classmates.

I am actually really involved in her life and their lives being the oldest, and I was also around to help raise her when she was born. So we are very close, but I know that there is alot of her life she doesn't even fill me in on. It's interesting because I can see how differently my parents and I think about things relating to her, aka what is appropriate, acceptable, etc. I am more mentally lenient than they are. The reason is that I can still remember what it was like to be her age and can relate and feel sympathy and camraderie with her for things she is going through; whereas with them, they were kids so long ago and things were SO different then. We're talking like 35 years ago! Another lifetime basically. So they can't 'relate' as well IMO. Greg and I were talking about it today and I was like 'just an FYI buddy, if we have kids we are going to be like my parents, all old and out of date!' aka by the time our kids are in high school, that will be such a floating distant memory for us.

So I'm rambling, but sometimes I really just HATE the world the way it is now for children. Sure it's never been SAFE but it's so different now in big ways. And yet the same in others. Sometimes I feel those maternal urges but we are so practical about things which is good and bad....lots of thought and too much too.

 

[tawn]

Date: 5/26/2006 12:36:58 AM
Author: Mara
Oh I''m sure it''s fabulous Tawn, I feel so happy when I snuggle PORTIA and she''s not even blood. But she does look kind of like Greg..

Hahaha...puppies are generally cuter than boys anyway! But, puppies don''t buy you diamonds...then again, neither do babies, but your husband might when you have one!

My niece is 17 and she goes to Gramma (my Mom) for her "talks" rather than her Mom. My mom does happen to be exceptionally cool and had 8 sisters, with the youngest sister being 6 months younger than I am...so she''s had a lot of girly experience over the years! My SIL has never been very consistent with my niece, and tends to freak out in a big way about things...which is why she talks to my Mom, because she''s always there for her, always listens, and doesn''t rush to judge!

So, the generation gap thing might not matter that much! You just can''t be blind or naive about what kids are up to these days...cuz even the good ones are rotten little buggers! You still love them just as much though!

My husband and I are very immature for our age, so we fit right in with the kids!