HW#7 "My So Called Blog"

I actually have opinions for both sides to the question if parents should be allowed to monitor everything that their middle-school child writes on the internet. Yes it is good for the children to begin to get some privacy in their lives. It is a part of growing up, a way of expressing themselves. In Kline's "My So-Called Blog" Nussbaum states "peer into an online journal, and you find the operatic texture of a teenage life with its fits of romantic misery, quick-change moods and sardonic inside jokes." "And everything that parents fear comes true." "But the linked journals also form as a community, and intriguing unchecked experiment in silent group therapy." (Kline 351) Basically saying that kids can and will express their feelings and their friends are there to give them advice, and read and respond to the issues at that time. Although parents may not like the idea of having everyone look at their child’s personal issues, it is a way to communicate with others. I do believe that the children should be monitored while online, not saying you should stand over them and watch every move, but keep them in a place where if you needed to check on them you could. Like in the living room, not their bedroom. And if you feel that your child is having serious issues, and they're not confronting you about them, then you should pursue going online to check these journals. That is because its then for the safety of your child. So monitor your kids, but don’t watch their every move. Some privacy is good; it teaches the teenager that you have trust for them. And just be aware of how they are acting and feeling, so that if something is wrong you can check in on them.