As I was scanning articles today, I came across a case where a 13-year-old lied about her age in order to access MySpace. The story unfolds with predictable outcome: girl meets older boy, boy thinks girl is 18, they hook up irl, girl and mom sue MySpace for sexual assault.

My parents were pretty strict, but the rules in our house were based on trust. If they said be home at 8 and I got home as scheduled, then next time it might be 8:30 that I could return. I remember one evening pedalling home on my bicycle as fast as my legs could fly, in order to beat the street lights, which were popping on one by one behind me … I had to be home by dark, and the street lights coming on were the deadline at my house. (I made it in the nick of time, btw.)

I got my first telephone in my bedroom when I was in the 5th grade. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was a bday present — my dad manually installed and ran a phone cord up the side of the house to my 2nd floor room and surprised me with my very own telephone. Even with the phone in my room, however, my talk time was limited, and I was still not allowed to call boys unless it was homework-related.

All this is to say that my parents knew where I was, when I’d be home, with whom I was and what I was doing. Kids today seem to parent themselves in so many regards. It amazes me that parents let their kids have unmonitored Internet access in their rooms — on their own computers — or have cell phones with unlimited text messaging with no restrictions on when and to whom they can talk. There are kids in my son’s class (2nd grade!!) who have their own cell phones. I just can’t wrap my head around it.

I know it’s going to be difficult to monitor my sons’ behavior, considering the seemingly omnipresent access to technology these days, but hopefully we can use these early years to instill a level of trust and expectation so that they are not surprised by the boundaries that we place around them when they are older.

Do kids need personal space? Sure they do — I pick my battles and try to loosen the apron strings, when appropriate. Do my boys have “rights” to read, view, listen or play whatever they want whenever they want while they live under my roof? Heck, no!