ARE THINGS REALLY WORSE OR DO WE HAVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

Raising kids in this world today is very frightening. It seems that it gets worse and worse or we as the parents have so many more options to monitor our kids that we know more and therefore worry more. We live in a world where every bleep on the radar could become a national crisis. I know there are true crises in this world and I am grateful that we have a way to be apprised of these world events. It was difficult when I was raising my teenagers and that was before Facebook et al. However, it was not before being able to talk to strangers on the internet.

I remember telling parents it was not alright to read their daughter’s diary or journal unless she had done something to loose that trust. When I was a teenager we would hand out at a local soda shop and all our communication was there and of course talking on the telephone. Sometimes we were just being kids, flirting, telling secrets and embellishing things. I grew up in a small town and I remember hiding out behind the fire station to practice cursing so we could get good at it if we ever had to use it. Today between Facebook and texting parents can read all of their teenagers’ conversations. We know things that in years gone by we did not have access to.

I have decided I want to blog about this for awhile. So watch for the next few blogs if this is your interest. I will cover: “Are you worrying about the right stuff”, “Should ignorance be bliss or when ignorance should be bliss”, “Trusting teenagers to experiment in order to define who they are”, and “Making the walls of the sandbox age appropriate”.

I will look forward to exploring this. Please add your comments if you agree or disagree. Sherri