Week+14+b+Reflection

1. After Watching the information videos, webcasts and documentary, I felt that the most important thing I learned is that I am really lucky that my sons have not invested much in the cyber world.

I have been over all of this often, as each of my 7 children has been through some kind of course in middle school that they had to share with me. The middle school now has an active anti-bullying program that includes cyberbullying. The lates was a very graphic assembly about Columbine High School. It took several hours for my son to digest his grief as we moved through the remainder of the day. Our discussion was fruitful and by the next day, he was getting back to normal. It came up a couple of days later and the review with me over the past two days has brought it up again.

I also think that the school teacher who was not involving technology in her class was a wise woman.There really is a place for learning from face to face communication.

I am grateful that my children have told me about things at school that concern them. In one case, it was a child who was talking about suicide a lot. His parents were so grateful that I passed the information on. They had been working with the problem for some time and thought that it was taken care of, (with narcotics). So they were grateful for the early warning of another bout coming on.

2. This week I was in a situation at our school that made me aware of some abuse of the computers in one of the computer labs. Some policy changes have taken place so that these computers will be locked up at all times, unless the teachers are there to supervise the students. It was a powerful reminder of just how careful we must be.

I will continue to share the material gathered in this lesson with both teachers and friends & family. Both groups must be aware of the powers that they are trying to balance. I especially am grateful that I have been able to grow up past the point that the mother on the Frontline program found herself in. It is critical that by the time a child is 12, they know that you are completely trusting them to be their own referees on these matters. It is during this time that other adults and peers begin to have a lot of influence and a parent must have a level of trust with their children that will weather the storm.

On the other hand, no matter how much we trust each other to choose the right path, we must never cease to instruct and ask for and listen to feedback. This is the age when they must begin to learn to speak up, to define their lives with words, just as they must learn to be able to show their work when they do a math problem.This i