Tuesday, January 20, 2009

OMG WTF!!!!!!!

So you must be saying "It is only Jan 19th and she has already given up on her New Years resolution." It in not so I have been a busy little girl. I am returning emails immediately when I open them. Yes I know this sounds weird to you email junkies but I suffer from email anxiety. I normally read an email and as my heart starts beating a little faster I return it to the inbox. I ignore it for a couple days. The box starts to fill and I realize I must confront it. With a shaking hand I hit reply. I type in my response, backspace, retype and this goes on and on until I finally hit delete and say screw it they can call me. So answering the first time is a big deal for me.
Last friday night my 11 year old and her good friend were in my kitchen making a fruit salad. I heard Mackenzie say to Austin "Can you cut the apple I am not really good at it." Wow I was thinking "They are so cute and innocent." After they were finished Austin asked to see my facebook page. He said "Maureen you need to Jaz that thing up. It is so boring" Mackenzie chimes in "Mommy do you want to see my profile." Not knowing what she was talking about I said "I would love to". I read my sweet little girls profile (on AIM) I was surprised and somewhat saddened. She had a list of her favorite quotes which were depressing and dark. These things didn't fit her personality at all. Curious I started to browse through her buddies. OMG WTF. These kids profiles were shocking to say the least. The more I looked the more stunned and overwhelmed I became. I felt like I was watching a Dateline episode but it was with all children I knew. How can this be happening? I began to feel as though I was invading the kids privacy. I had so many mixed emotions about it. I was so afraid for these kids because the have no idea of what the implications of these profiles may be. Why was I feeling like I didn't have the right to be looking at this stuff. They are posting on the internet!!!! Sure they set it to private and only invited guest can view but we all know that wont keep them safe. Since then Mackenzie an I have spent hours talking about this and many other issues we should have been talking about all along. I have always said I would never want to be 11 again but I starting to think it may be just as hard to be the mother of an 11 year old.

3 comments:

  1. OMG is right!

    What dark quotes does an 11-year-old know?

    Keep posting - you ARE good at it!

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  2. PS Really proud of you about the emails and it's great that you've got the communication open with your daughter. I'm hoping maybe the dark quotes were just copied from someone else's profile she thought was "cool."

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  3. Great post. Missed you. Don't give up.
    You do realize what WTF stands for, right?
    YOU are as naughty as those kids, now clean up your act.
    ;-)

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