This is my blog. It is my opinion, if you disagree, too bad.

We Need Better Parenting

From a slashdot article on Myspace Age Verification.

So here it is. I'm 20. I've been away at college for almost 2 years. I have both a myspace and a facebook. I also know how available things are on the internet, that's why I only post when I really want to say something. I also try to keep my personal information off the internet as much as possible. Even though, being the owner of a domain somewhat violates that, because my info is available to anyone through a simple WHOIS search. I try to reduce the number of instances that my information is avaiable. I know that for me, if someone took a couple hours, they could find out everything they needed to know.

So back to the topic. I write this post because of all the crap I've seen lately about "sex offenders" and "pedophiles" and 14 year olds dressed as "hos." So obviously there's the "thinkofthechildren" root password to everything, but I really think this problem really lies at the foot of the parents and it is their responsibility to teach their kids in the way they should go.

If your kid is dressing like a ho. You have failed as a parent. It is that simple. Your kid should know better. Watch tv with them, listen to their music, know what's going into their heads. If you can get your kid to grow upright, then you don't have to worry about a "sex offender" finding your kid on myspace. They won't be taking those slutty pictures you see everywhere.

When we first got the internet at my house. My Dad and I explored it together. It was an unknown world, something that my dad had no experience with (it was 1998, when the net was truly widespread yet.) We explored it together, running into all sorts of things. When we ran into stuff we really shouldn't, he taught me why it was wrong. When he found me doing stuff I shouldn't, he told me it was wrong. I learned. If you can't do something in public, you probably shouldn't be doing it. I'll admit, even when im reading a news article, I don't enjoy people hovering over me, but it isn't something that I am really ashamed of. When I was a kid, before I ever got a computer, my parents were teaching me right from wrong. They were instilling the principles that guide me everday. They keep me from going off and getting drunk and high and screwing up my life that way.

Now these days, it seems the parents that are just a few years younger, and I mean a few, like 1, don't know what the hell they are doing. They let their kids dress like hos, and take pictures, and then put them online for anyone in the world to see. They let their kids go to school dressed the same way, like Paris Hilton, except Paris isn't even hot, she's just a ho. It really bothers me that there's this disconnect. I mean, obviously there's no way you can ever know what a kid is going to be getting into all the time. That's why it is so necessary, not only to teach them how to handle specific situations, but also how to apply moral principles into their lives.

So in short, Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

people need to be better parents..

©2007 Ed Lennon