Banned from the computer  

I just had to block myspace on all of our computers. our teens are just spending too much time on it and not doing homework. since it started becoming a problem i blocked it. I will also time their computer usage. I do not think that is too strict. They are your kids and you only want what is best for them.

Personally you did the correct thing. You may have been a little extreme as far as banning her from all social sites. I personally would have let her stay with My Space with the stipulation that she only talk with the people you both know. If she broke this trust again then the punishment would become more sever. Sorry to say you are unable to protect them every minute of every day no matter how hard you try. At least this person was on a social site and usually has a profile that you can check. She could have met somone outside of the home and realy may have gotten into serious trouble through no fault of her own.

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I think you better parents than the ones that let their kids go and do whatever they want online. Unfortunately the internet is a dangerour place. You have to do what you feel is best to protect your child.

No you have every right to do this. Unless she is over 18 she is under your control and subject to your rules. And it is not as if you sent her to her room, you are just protecting her. My sister in law lets her teen drink and no matter how supervised she is doing this, she will do it behind their back also because they condone it at home. Too many parents have a blind eye to what their children are doing.

When I worked for AOL I heard all kinds of horror stories. So much so that I decided my daughter WAS NOT going to go online to those kinds of sites. I did however relent after being told by her that she would only get online to talk to family adn my fiance and I talked it over and we agreed. after a couple of months however we found her engaging in chat of a sexual nature online. So NO I don't think that you are being extreme in any way whatsoever. You are right to restrict their pc use. All too often it happens that kids get caught up in all kinds of activity online. Now IF my daughter uses the pc one of us is sitting right next to her the entire time. She hates it but kids now have the mentality it won't happen to me, And it is so easy for them to get turned around.

You did the right thing as a parent we have to guard our kids. There are a lot of pervs out there. She knew she wasn't supposed to talk to him. She chose to. I do watch my kids on the computer all the time. They are not allowed to go on myspace for this reason. It is right for you to restrict her from using the computer. I hope she will listen to you from now on and not talk to strangers again.
Take care,
Trish

I am super strict with our children on the computer. We have blocked all websites that we thought would be bad for them. I check the history on the computer that they use. They are also not allowed to use the computer unless they are in the same area that we are in. We only have laptops so it makes it much easier. I'm sure that my children really hate us for it but we don't even allow an instant messenger on the computer.

My daughter is 13 & uses Bebo. Our PC is in livingroom,so i can keep an eye on her.
Her bebo consists of people that i know or have heard of,so we are lucky that way.
That waht comes from living in a small community.I know she could be added by anyone anywhere but thats not how her & her group of friends use it.
I think you totaly did the right thing with your daughter.I would have done the same,no doubt.Better safe than sorry.Kids are so vulnerable.One day your daughter wil thank you for your actions,not sulk.
My son is 18 & the same applied to him,tho he has now moved out & has deleted his account,no interest now,he has his GF

Well i think that was extremely harsh, you probably should have enforced a sort of time limit instead. Why? Because she was honest with you and might take it as a lesson in her own mind that next time she should lie. Tell her that you did this because you are worried about her and love her. Do an experiment with her. Open a chat window, have your wife or someone you know in the family to help out with this little experiment. Let them pretend to be someone else and just chat with them under that pretense. Later after a set time end the chat session and ask her. What does she know about the person (clearly you don't let her know that it's a set up lol) listen to her and say ok. Explain to her who that person really was, not some 18 year old if for example a brother or sister of yours helped out. Let her speak to the person so she gets a full grasp of the situation.

It is easy for us to lecture about not knowing who is on the other side of a screen to a child. It is another story however to get them to believe it. A cousin of mine did this and lets just say their little girl has respect for the internet.

You want her to feel that even if she repeated this action and did get uncomfortable that she wont be PUNISHED for coming to you rather rewarded for being honest when a lie would be so much easier. Lets say someone asked her for your home address or told her to meet somewhere... wouldn't you want to know this psycho? At least you can ensure her safety if she feels that mom and dad will hold her responsible for breaking a rule but will not punish her for being honest.