I agree that parents should be aware of what their teens are doing online, and I agree that the best way to do this is to join them and "friend" them on MySpace, etc.

As parents get more accustomed to the online world being part of today's "normal" life for teens, I think we find that a lot of the practices that apply in the other areas also apply online. If that's the case, then different teens will require different levels of monitoring. If you have to be concerned every time your teen is out of sight down the street, then you probably will also have to be concerned when they are online. If you feel pretty comfortable about how your teen appears to handle "real-life" situations on their own, then probably there's not much to worry about with respect to their online behavior -- as long as they know about online safety rules. To know if they know the rules, you'll have to visit their sites.

I think establishing online communication is important for parents in any case, because it's a mode of communication that is highly favored by today's teens and young adults. If you want to stay in contact with them as they grow into adulthood, it may be important to have established an online relationship with them, especially if they live far away as adults. Besides, you talk to your teen in person every day about the day's events, right? So why not also hop over to their MySpace site now and then and say hi there too?

The issue of privacy with respect to sites like MySpace should never be a concern to the parent, because the moment something's posted to a public profile, it's scanned and copied by Google and many others, and is immediately out of the author's control. I've written lots about this at MySpaceSafetyTips.com -- I think it's going to become a huge issue when today's teens start looking for jobs. What's posted on MySpace is broadcast to the global community. Whether or not the teen looks at it that way, it's true. Parents should have no qualms about visiting their teen's sites frequently if they feel doing so will help them do a better job of parenting.

I don't completely agree. I think parents should only monitor their kids if they think there is a problem. For example, if your kids are staying up late at night or are very secretive about their use of the Internet than it might be justified. Otherwise, I say give kids their privacy.

- A parent of two

These tools should be used only when necessary. If you trust your kids, you don't need them.

There are tools available to enable parents to monitor what their kids are posting on social networks. Some call this spying, others call it parenting. Or perhaps it depends on the situation. What, if any, situations demand or justify it?

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-- Edited by BlogSafety at 07/06/2006 11:37 AM -- Edited by Larry at 07/17/2006 12:14 AM -- Edited by Larry at 07/17/2006 12:14 AM -- Edited by Larry at 07/17/2006 12:17 AM