I’m the mother of two – a young teen boy and a tween girl. It’s been fascinating for me to watch them literally grow up with the Internet; they were toddlers during the time of dial-up, and as broad band has made the net more robust and functional, they too have grown into more sophisticated beings.

They’ve never known a time where you couldn’t go online – and education about internet safety has been as integral to my parenting as teaching them to buckle-up and brush their teeth.

In just the past few years, my kids have graduated from Club Penguin and have transitioned into different interactive, global communities.

My son’s current favorite is Xbox, where he’s regularly playing and chatting with other kids from around the world. Just yesterday he was gaming with a group of kids from France. [Yes, there are lots of grown-ups on Xbox, too but it's amazing how the age groups seem to self-segregate.]

My daughter went first to Weworld.com – a more grown up version of Club Penguin, but still supposedly anonymous (though we’ve had some issues with real-life “friends” posting identifiable information). She’s now moved on to Facebook, but connects only with people she actually knows in the real world.

I consider myself pretty tech savvy – but my kids’ tech knowledge is starting to eclipse mine. IDK, perhaps it’s just the way it’s always been between kids and grown ups? Seems to me that kids will form their own experiences organically – grown ups can foster, encourage and even provide the platforms, but ultimately, each generation seems to claim its own unique ways to relate to the world.

(By the way, I already have Twitter and AIM and I’m not really sure what the difference would be here except that you’d censor both what I can say and what I can read.)

Ah yes.. why we un/homeschool. Check out Daniel Greenberg’s book, (founder of the Sudbury Valley School) “Free at Last” , or John Holt, or here: http://openconnections.org (where our guys go). There’s a lot of folks out there giving kids the trust and respect they deserve.

And, yeah, we like Club Penguin, too..

No doubt, putting together such a network would have many layers of challenge, balancing overlaying parental judgments and filters and keeping it safe being two big issues.

An interesting model to look at, though, is one of the largest virtual communities for kids, Club Penguin, where, I believe, millions of kids interact. In the CP world, there is a very clear code of conduct posted and each kid agrees to monitor and report violations of the code. For a wold kids culture social network, I could see a volunteer board of parents and kids establishing and reviewing the framework and potentially allowing certain permissions.

From what I understand, it actually works very well in CP. Over time, kids can even take online tests and apply to become the “hall monitors” or something like that.

Again, not saying I have anywhere near the answers, but isn’t it an amazing questions and opportunity to explore? I wonder might happen if we gave our kids more freedom and the opportunity to form their opinions not only through our input as parents, but their own direct experience.

Sometimes I wonder if we give kids too little credit and, in doing so, limit their involvement in life? It’s a tough balance, but certainly one worth grappling with.

I’m prejudiced against R-rated movies. We don’t watch them in my house, not even my wife and I. You don’t know how many times I hear “but its really not a bad movie, you should let your kids go see it.”