News of the dumb

Here's a shocker - teens talk about stuff like sex and drinking.

You've got to be joking me. I thought the worst thing our teens were doing was chewing gum in school. Not so, says the linked story. A majority of them talk about dangerous behavior and post pictures of drinking, drug use or other unsavory activities.

Well, what can we do? The answer provided by some shrink wannabe:

"In some cases, parents should even have their children's passwords for these social networking sites, especially when the children are around age 13 or 14 ..."

BWAAHAHAHHHAHAH

Yeah, and they should also know where their precious snowflake keeps the 1970s Playboys his friend's dad once kept in the attic. Do professionals actually think a 13-year-old kid isn't wise enough to get around a snooping parent? They may not be that smart, but young teens have a scary level of cunning.

I think these shrinks are missing the point. Parents need to be involved in their child's upbringing, teaching them the lessons and values that should be instilled. They don't need to be spies.

There are always going to be bad apples, but that doesn't mean we need helicopter parents peeking into every kid's MySpace page. That's the equivalent of looking at their diary, though admittedly it is a diary the kid's opened up for everyone on the net.

How about talking to your kid, helping them with homework, taking them to ball games, reading to them, joining them in a hobby, walking the dog together - activities that build bonds between parent and child.

Or is it just easier to use their password to find out who your kid really is?