Wonder Woman the Cyberspace Chaperone

As an individual mother of two teenage girls, you can only imagine some to the worries I could muster on any given trip to any random moment. Being a communications major, helps make my job a little easier. I stand firm in the fact that parents need to open the lines of communication with their children.

My daughters understand my stance on teenage sex and pregnancy, since i have myself was a product of the and shared my experiences using them. My girls both know the ages I was when I had them both and how difficult being a teenage mom was, and continues to be. Now, as luck would have it, not merely are both my darlings honors students, but I strongly encourage them to talk with me about anything and everything. Stored feelings and stereotypical taboos of my generation's past, are to me, the leading cause of miscommunication between parents and children. Nothing should be off limits in a parent-child relationship. Whenever we shut out our children, we force them to show elsewhere, festering insecurities, resulting in drug use, gang affiliations, early pregnancies, STDs, and in worst cases, child trafficking.

With the internet ranking number one as the "must-do" activity of this generation, meaning our preteens and teens alike, it is our duties as parents to monitor their online interactions and relationships. This also eliminates from precious family face-to -face time. Keeping conversations and interactions accessible is a superb start. I consider this being truly a "cyberspace chaperone". If you wouldn't let your children have company over in your house when you aren't home, then why can you allow them to roam the web alone?

In this cyber age, there is nothing sacred anymore, not even harmless, fun family photos. We as parents have to encourage our children the significance of privacy and restrict their friends/buddies to "who you know" only.

With all of the creepy crawlers lurking in the shadows of cyberspace, one has to be extra cautious who our children consider friends!

After reading articles essentially magazine called "Black Girls on the market", by Jeannine Amber, my guards are on constant patrol. WHEN I go through the pages, tears filled my eyes, limiting my view before initial blink which released the cluster of hot fluid, careening down my cheek onto the pages; blurring the words I was reading. The feature gave graphic accounts of how our precious babies are forcefully taken and then gang raped for days, instilling fear into them. Our daughters are beaten and tossed out to work the streets by their pimps - who make up to $500,000 annually if he has 3 girls with a daily quota of $500 each.

Let's not forget the hand that sites like Craigslist's Personal Service section have in this atrocity. These predators can enter our daughter's bedrooms through the open window of the internet. And these young victims are as tender as 11 years old.

I guess the true blow of reality is that this doesn't just happen in third world countries. It is as close as our nearby neighbors - or even closer; to close for comfort in the event that you ask me!

Whatever happened to the good ole days when worrying about girls getting their periods was normal? Growing up, I was forbidden to say the word "sex" as well as discuss it for that matter, in my predominantly Catholic household. Actually, I had to marry my daughter's father in order to avoid family disgrace and shame. But I believe my experiences enable me to equip and educate my girls into not following in my footsteps. I empower them to create a better path. This is usually a serious issue and my daughters each know how much I value honest communications. We've girl's nights where we share stories and pay attention to one another without judgment or punishment. Shouting is frowned upon when feelings are shared.

I am watching my daughters blossom into positive female members of this American society - without much input or influence from their father, but in general, I must proudly proclaim, I'm performing a damn good job.