Google Me In Cabrini

Oh, the joys of motherhood.  I truly believe being a parent in these trying times has to be more difficult than it was in the days of old.  I also fully accept that being a parent coupled with the presence of modern day computer technology is noting short of chaotic.  Back in the day when I was a kid growing up in Cabrini Green I remember having to go to Rubik's Gameroom with my brother Marsay in order to play Pac Man.  I remember our mom would by him hand held games he could play football on.  Then I remember when Atari came out.  Our apartment became popular.  Or someone else's apartment became popular because my brother would always detach the game from the television and go to a friends apartment.   But those were innocent days where you played games without anyone popping up and tryng to talk to you and video games didn't curse at ya.

These days it is very difficult to keep abreast of what your child is doing or is capable of doing on the world wide web or the information superhighway, or the 'net as the youngsters call it.  If you are computer savvy enough you can track their whereabouts.  For instance, if a parent or guardian wanted to know what sites their childhas visited they can go to their browser and scroll down and check the history.

Back in the day, if a child wandered off the block a parent would back track and ask their child's friends to find out the whereabouts of their child.  Same thing, just a different day.  Some children enjoy hanging around the local corner store or restaraunt on the weekends and some children like going to www.tagged.com or www.myspace.com. Web sites like tagged.com and myspace.com are basically virtual sites for children and adults to socialize.  Tagged.com allows participants to download and watch homemade videos and photos much like www.youtube.com.  Tagged also allows participants to create slideshows, chat, play games and create widgets. At one time myspace.com was the topic of nightly news shows across the country because many adults have posed as children while on line to attract children.    A visitor to myspace.comcan load popular music and photos chat, create slideshows, banners, blogs and play games.

Another popular site is imvu.com (Instant Messenger Dress Up Game.) It is an interactive site with various rooms like water parks, pool parties romance rooms, school rooms, etc.  Participants can choose what they want to wear.  Participants can greet, hug, taunt, flirt, fight, stomp, attack, etc.

As a parent, I am discovering that whether they are at the local park or on a virtual/interactive site they need to be monitored.  I'd prefer to have my children stay in the house with me safe from harm and working on education web sites.  such as www.letsgolearn.com or www.studyisland.com where they can work on their math, reading, social studies, etc. These are sites where there is no interaction with strangers however, children can log on and send notes to their teachers.

I consider myself to be an old school parent.  I cook, clean, and see my children off to school.  I enroll them in after school programs and provide the with recreation.  Because I want my children to be safe whether they are surfing the wave of Oak St. Beach or  surfing the 'net.