Posted On: January 22, 2007, 1:22 pm CST

Posted By: A Parent

I consider myself mostly blessed but with some parenting abilities. I have been able to successfully navigate a son to the age of 21 with little-to-no "damage". He never had a tv or computer in his room, and never asked for them. He grew up thinking that it was normal for me to talk with him about his day, his homework, his friends, etc. Parents can't wait until their kids reach the age where they are going to start getting into trouble before they take an active interest in more than carpooling them to karate and soccer. I know it's tough sometimes after a long day, but taking the time to be a real parent is the best investment I ever made.

That being said, I think that MySpace, as well as schools, churches, scout troops, etc. have a societal obligation to put into place any safeguards available in order to protect kids, as well. Everybody is so busy laying blame with somebody else and the kids are the ones who end up hurting. While I agree that the litigious state in this country is out of control, I don't think that any one of us, if we were in a situation like this, would sit back and take full blame for it. We all need to work together to raise safer, smarter kids.