Parenting in 2008.

ME: How’s your daughter?

HE: Well, she’s undergoing a tough transition right now since she’s away from home for the first time.

ME: Really?

HE: Sure, she’s at college. So she’s undergoing a pretty dramatic separation from us. She feels upset a lot of the time, and although she’s making new friends, she often misses home and feels isolated in her new environment.

ME: Wow. She told you all of this?

HE: No, I read about it on her MySpace.

At the last job, while we were discussing how to help a youth, it wasn’t out of the ordinary to have a social worker or PO share their assessments with us. In the last couple of years, I noticed that the assessments included a review of the kid’s Facebook or MySpace profiles as well as psych and medical records. It also wasn’t unusual to have the conversation go something like, “Yeah, she’s running again.” - “Has anyone heard from her at all?” - “No, but she signed into her MySpace account yesterday so she’s still alive.”

Ooph. Different times for sure.

Posted by Patricia  on  03/02  at  07:21 PM

Aww thats sad

Posted by Dataceptionist  on  03/02  at  08:01 PM

THAT is classic.
heh.

Posted by romy  on  03/02  at  09:37 PM

hi greg,
that’s a good one....!!

Posted by Ashi  on  03/02  at  09:51 PM

Heh, well at least she communicates through some form.  Sometimes it’s easier to tell your parents what’s going on in a more oblique way.  I remember when I was a teenager, when I was mad at my parents I’d leave my diary lying on the coffee table for them to accidentally “see.” Somehow it was easier than telling them directly.

Posted by teahouseblossom  on  03/02  at  10:05 PM

I do not know whether to laugh or cry with this entry.It just proves one point:the internet has its upsides too. At least the father knows what her daughter is going through.

Posted by JJ  on  03/03  at  06:24 AM

This might not be your style, but this sounds like a shoe in for Reader’s Digest “Life in These United States.” Come on, you know you want the $200.

Posted by Afton  on  03/05  at  09:19 AM

Name:

Email (required):

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: