Outrage

When I kept up my MySpace blog, I used to post the occasional rant, not only to blow off the steam, but to find if any of my readers and friends shared similar sentiment. Often, it was fun for them to find others that felt the same way and we all got a laugh.

I'm hardly parent of the year. I mean, I'm not the worst in the world, but I don't foresee myself getting any "Mother of the Year" awards. More often than not, I forget when the kids have special events at school because I hate having to read PTA junk mail to find the important stuff. The kids call me the "Mean Mommy" because I make them the dishes (the deal is I shop & prepare all the meals, they do their share by doing the cleaning), clean their own rooms, bring down their dirty laundry and bring up the clean laundry to put away. I've even been scolded by school administrators over things that that, quite honestly, baffles me that it's even an issue.

If there is ONE thing, however, that I'm uberstrict on is internet use. Yes, I've been accused of being a cyber-exhibitionist, but if you look through the volumes of posts I put out there, not many are THAT personal, or nothing that you couldn't see or ask me about on the street without me answering. But what's NOT out there isn't for good reason. Rarely do I name my children. I certainly don't give my address out. And, if there are any disparaging remarks made about someone else, not only is it well-deserved, but usually a corporate entity or someone whose behavior is so outrageous, it doesn't matter and they've waived the right to privacy.

I am thoroughly intolerant, particularly, to organized, targeted cyber-bullying and posts/comments/etc of such a nature that it will ruin you. Especially when it comes from children that have no business being online. A pet peeve is when kids, especially those in schools that pride themselves on their education levels, is poor grammar, etc. That's annoying enough.

But there is one other issue that gets my blood boiling even more.

It's the stupid, irresponsible, obnoxious, overly-liberal-thinking, naive and, did I mention, stupid parents that do not monitor, police or parent their children's social media accounts and their online behavior. My son's circle of friends has been engaging in abhorrent behavior including bullying, tormenting, cursing, sexually expicit photography, etc. I rarely intervene beyond telling my son to tell his friends to quit it and warning him that the second I see him engaging in that behavior is the end of his Facebook account.

But what about the horrible parents to whom I've reported this behavior? One boy, whose name I won't post here, has been especially obnoxious, including public humiliation of my son as well as me, got so out of hand, I found his mother on Facebook and told her about it. Has the behavior stopped? No. It's escalated against dozens of children. Has she extended the minimal courtesy of a response? No.

And, because they aren't "Friends" on Facebook, I can't report it!

UGH!