In less than a year...

...my kids have gone from computer savants to internet gurus. Grooveshark, webkins, gmail, youtube, wikipedia, and google. They come home from school and check their email (which I set up for them) and video chat (with people I think I know) and work on school projects (at least, that is what they tell me), and surf. That's right, my 11 and 9 year olds are surfing the internet...and it scares me.

Look, I spend all day long in cyberspace. Between the 75-100 emails per day, countless blogs, LinkedIn, and wiki-searches, I, like most of us out there, have plenty of experience filtering through all the crap. All the nonsense that distracts me from my goals each day. I have a System Administrator at work who keeps my Inbox mostly free from spam. We have a firewall that blocks words in emails, .exe files, and certain websites. And, I have my conscience, which leverages the years of experience and advice to guide me through the myriad of internet and email garbage.

And then there are my daughters.

Young. Clueless. Naive. Savy. Vulnerable. And growing up way too fast. Not just because the clock is spinning like a fan. No, growing up too fast because information is flying at them at uncontrollable speeds.

Yeah yeah yeah. I know what you are thinking. Come out of the dark ages already, Jeff! Well, I have a word for you - No. No, I will not concede just yet. I think there is a time and a place for everything under heaven. And I don't think an 11 year old is mature enough to be trusted on-line. And yet, as far as I can tell, few parents are paying attention enough to garner an opinion on that. Few parents know how much time their kids are online. Heck, I have to force myself to pay attention; and I think I am intentional with my kids.

But I hear about it. I see the chat strings. I hear the comments in the carpools. These kids are getting exposed to things way too early. And, meanwhile, it's like a little secret that we don't want to ask our kids about. We hardly talk about it with other parents.

So, this blog is simply a running dialogue. I expect criticism. I expect some support too. But, in the end, I just want my kids to be safe and to experience life at an appropriate pace.