How would you feel about your son or daughter being friends on MySpace with a 22 year old man who brags on his profile of being a loving caring father? In reality this man has not had contact with his son in over 6 years and owes the mother of that same son over $20,000 in child support. He also has another child who he treats in the same loving caring manner.

This same father is on the Michigan sex offender's list and at the same time had several minor girls on his 'friends' list on MySpace. Several were according to their profiles 14 and 15 years old. Is one of them YOUR daughter?

The open discussion, almost bragging about drug usage, alcohol and tobacco, and sexual connotations and innuendoes is a horrid influence on kids. But also leads them to believing they are more mature than they truly are which opens them up for the dangers of pornographers and pedophiles. True there is such a thing as freedom of speech and this 'information' is posted on personal web pages but the MySpace experience goes beyond this. The safety of kids is at risk on MySpace.

So, what should be done about all of this? MySpace should not be closed or any such thing. MySpace has added a feature to ban members who are on sex offender lists but the truth is once they are banned there is nothing at all to stop them from signing up with another id and continuing to roam the pages of MySpace looking for their next victim.

One 12 year old said, It's really great, all my friends are on there. And all his friends were. But when asked about the age limit of 14 his response was simply, I just said I was 14. It doesn't stop there either. 9 and 10 year olds are doing the same thing.

With the enormous membership at MySpace there is no way on earth that they, the administration, can monitor, verify, or police the truth behind the ages of its members. I'm also positive that those pedophiles and rapists aren't about to report when they find a member under the age of 14. But even if they did is it right for 14 year old children to be meeting people from around the world that parents don't know from Adam?

The language, violence, and sexually explicit photos on adult profiles are not appropriate for 14 year olds much less younger children. So what can be done? Ban or monitor very closely the activity on MySpace of any and all children. Most public and private schools block MySpace from being accessed on school computers, there is a reason for that. Some 'kids' will say it's just because the school wants them to work and not play but that's not so, the schools considered MySpace an unsafe and bad influence on the students.

For the safety of kids in your home you should block MySpace.com from your home computers. You can do that on Internet Explorer by simply clicking on 'Tools' and 'Internet Options' and adding myspace.com to the blocked site list. If you don't want to do that then please monitor closely those children's activities on the computer. You may be surprised what they are really doing when you are out of the room. MySpace is not a safe place for kids of any age please do something about it before it's too late.

It's true there are thousands and thousands of people who love MySpace and there are some great features concerning the site. Many families from around the world can get together and keep in touch. Old friends can communicate back and forth. And, it's a great place to make new friends as well as promote business. But this is not a safe playground for kids unsupervised.

Learn more about this author, Faith Draper.
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