Meeting online ppl

[Anon]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372224,00.html

Can anyone tell my WHY girls are still falling for this? I cannot believe kids these days....

[Guest Guest]

I don't understand it either... but I noticed from the article that this girl is from a broken home. I'm sure a lot of things go on in her life that we don't understand... and she probably used Myspace as an escape from her problems. Then... she meets this mysterious person online... and she wants to make this myspace fantasy become a reality, so she meets him/her in person.

That's why it's so important for parents to know who their kids are talking to.

[Annie]

That's why it's so important for parents to know who their kids are talking to.

Yes! I don't think it's so much a question of "why do people still fall for this?" Apparently, this was this seventh grader's first time to fall into this trap. The answer to the question, "Why do people fall for this" is either that they either have not been warned, or else they choose not to listen to warnings they have been given. It is the same with porn, drugs, premarital sex, adultery, or whatever other traps people fall into.

I don't think it's as much the girl's fault (although she perhaps should have known better) as it is the parents' fault--either for not establishing that relationship of trust that would be a sufficient basis for their daughter to listen to whatever warnings they gave...or for not warning her at all...or just simply neglecting to monitor her computer activities. I certainly don't want to judge anyone...especially b/c I'm not at all familiar with this particular situation. Perhaps it was a case of rebellion by the child, or of incredible naivete on both child and parents' part. For whatever reason, this girl was vulnerable. Ugh. This family needs our prayers.

[Anon]

It just seems like kids who are online would also notice that other kids are getting killed through this kind of stuff.

However I guess it is a common mode of thinking for teens: "It won't happen to ME...."

[John81]

Most youth do indeed believe these things won't happen to them. And, in truth, for most of them it doesn't. However, that's no reason or excuse to toss caution to the wind!

One of the main problems in these things in the lack of parental supervision of their children. Why do parents give their children computers with internet access in their rooms where they are not monitored? Why do so many parents allow their children to basically come and go as they please with little idea of where they are actually going or what they are really doing?

I'm a "mean, strict and stern" parent (all things I've been called) because I don't allow my kids to run the streets at will; I don't allow them to have TVs or computers in their rooms; I don't let them go places with "friends" I've never met and/or that I don't know who they and their parents are; etc.

[Anon]

We are always shaking our heads at all the teens that run rampant at the mall...wondering how there can be so many parents that don't care.... "Just don't get pregnant" is all most of them worry about...or "don't get drunk".

[John81]

I hear ya Suzy. Sadly, that sort of thing is common in these parts as well. :sad

It's amazing how many parents put their young daughters (sometimes VERY young) on birth control and then let them date and run around all they want with the admonition "be careful and don't get pregnant".

Even many professing Christian parents do this with the excuse they are "just being careful". :roll Well, NO! If you were really being "careful" you would raise your daughter to know the importance of remaining pure; you would raise your daughter not to run around, not to 'date' boy after boy, and your daughter would be spending more time with you than out on the town.

Some parents let their young sons run the streets at all hours and then act shocked when their son is arrested for drinking alcohol, stealing or vandalizing stuff.

[Kayla]

MySpace is as dangerous as anything else. If a computer nut anything really about you he can search you out. Although I am very against children with Televisions and computers in their own room. That is why I filter, I don't trust my flesh either so why would I trust my children. Anyway her uncle should be charged with something..dropping her off at a convenience store and not the house of her friend.

[Anon]

MySpace is as dangerous as anything else. If a computer nut anything really about you he can search you out. Although I am very against children with Televisions and computers in their own room. That is why I filter' date=' I don't trust my flesh either so why would I trust my children. Anyway her uncle should be charged with something..dropping her off at a convenience store and not the house of her friend.[/quote']

No her uncle shouldn't be charged...we can't go around charging everyone for making mistakes, that's what liberals do! Everyone else lets their 12 yr olds go wherever they please...you can't just throw people in jail when something bad happens. I'm not saying its right, I'm just saying its not his fault in our current society.

I agree though, no tvs or phones or computers in bedrooms. No way. My kids will NOT have a cell phone either. They can borrow mine if they have to have one for the day, but never will they have their own, maybe until college.

[Kayla]

I was merely exaggerating about the uncle I know they can't charge him, but as for the aunt of many nieces. Like I told me niece, when I am in charge you don't get dropped off anywhere unless I meet the parents and it is oked by your mom.

[Anon]

Oh ok...well yeah, WE know better, but the average "Joe" in the country nowadays does whatever the teen wants.

[Guest Guest]

My MIL was just telling me tonight about the way the mother's were dressed at their teens high school graduation. The "short shorts"... "hot pants"..."low-cut tops"...looking much like street walkers. Many parents today are living their lives vicariously through their kids/teens. They treat their teens like they are BFF and not the parent in charge. It is called "emotional incest". It sounds vey sick, but it is a term that is used to describe teens whose parents are on the same social level as them. The teens actually raise the parent in a way. These parents have no morals or values. They want their teens to be popular and sometimes will go to any lengths to do that. They will pick out their boyfriend/girlfriends for them at age 14...they will dress them up to look like they have just stepped out of Vogue Magazine...they will take them to nightclubs...encourage birth control, etc. It is very sad. :sad I am not saying this is the case here...but, obviously something had gone wrong a long time ago for this to happen. Kids are to be kids...not adults, too early in life. What a shame. :sad

[Kayla]

This is exactly why I refuse to put my children in public school.

[Guest Guest]

This is exactly why I refuse to put my children in public school.

Kayla...That is a very wise choice. ITA! :thumb My MIL was saying, last night, that if she had it to do all over again she would have sent all 9 of her children to Heritage Baptist Institute-Cleveland Baptist Church. I told her that I wish I would have been saved when my son was a lil' boy, and I would have done the same thing. Sometimes, I wish that I could live my life over again as a saved person from childhood...married a saved man (my hubby) from the start...and, life would be very different. I would have the 8 children that I wanted to have as a lil' girl growing up...maybe? The public school system is a crying shame b/c it has to answer to the government. :thumbdown

candlelight

[Kayla]

I don't know that I will put my children in Christian school, but if not I will definitely Home School them. :smile