we have all seen the horrible stories in the news of just how cruel kids can be and now with the social networking sites they are making it easier to reach a mass amount of people. now although cell phones and social networking sites can be used in many useful ways, I am noticing that the teens don't seem to be using them in such ways, which leads me to this post.
As a parent it will be my duty along with my husbands to raise our daughter to know right from wrong and to be able to not just know but to act on what is right and always be able to look at herself in the mirror and be proud of who she is and the choices she makes. HOW-EVA, I am her momma, and I also believe it is my duty to set her up for success, which to me means not giving her free reign on these things.
for instance, this is just some of my thinking with a cell phone, will my child have a cell phone?, yes she will, with my job I have often had many convos with mom's and dad's asking me what the appropriate age is for a child to have a cell phone and I always answered well, when you believe the time is right and you have instilled in them what it means to have the phone and they are aware of what the rules are because lets be honest every family is going to be different.
for me, having a cell phone will come in handy when I will be away from Jada weather she be at a practice of some sort to staying the night at a friends house, I want to be able to get ahold of my little girl when I want to get ahold of her, however with such privilege comes rules :
1) no going to bed with the cell phone - you got it, bed time is bed time, not txt time or check FB status ( although your mother does this, hey right now I am breast feeding in the middle of the night and I need something to do) but you as a young girl/ teenager you need no reason for a phone at night time.
2) momma has the right to say hand -it-over at any time, meaning if I am driving in the car and you are sitting in the passenger seat just texting away and I am talking to you and you are like ya ya ya and paying more attention to the cell thingy HAND-IT-Over... thats right, it is a privilege not a right girlfriend.
onto social networking sites - Now I am a BIG OL fan of FaceBook, love, love , love wasting my time on there while Jada is sleeping... but lets be honest, when it first came out it was meant strickly for college students, trust me I remember visiting a friend In Oregon and him telling me all about what facebook was and I never heard of the thing before and when I came back I was talking to a lot of my friends about it and BAM next thing you know our college was added to the list of schools, it was great to catch up with old friends you went to school with in the 2nd grade and what not, but then it was used as a dating tool, and girls posting not so momma friendly pictures of themselves, and teens using it as a bullying tool, and the list goes on and on...
and there are a baJillian social sites, facebook, myspace, twitter, and honestly when Jada is older and wanting to get into this stuff who the heck knows what it will be all I know is that I am going to be an informed momma. Yes I have facebook and Yes I have a twitter account and Obviously a Blog, I often ask myself, will I have these things as Jada gets older? or will there be a time in my life when all of a sudden face book no longer matters, Kinda like AOL was my life blood when in middle school and now although I remember my SN and Password ( HA..) I have no interest for it...
so those are just a few of my thoughts and I just wondered have you thought about these things? What do you think your rules will be?
