South Boston Online has some questions for the parents in our neighborhoods.

Have you noticed how well the young people in your home respond to a challenge?  For example, even though there has been significant adult opposition to MCAS testing, young people know better.  They responded to this particular challenge with a 90% pass rate.  No matter what anyone claims to the contrary, that’s excellent!

     We don’t need to remind South Boston parents of another accomplishment of many of our young people.  That’s their devotion to athletics – on the playing fields, rinks, and gyms, not gazing at the tube on the couch at home.

     So here at Online, we know the glass is at least half full.  However, there is a disturbing trend occurring – a lack of parental involvement. 

     Recently, there has been a lot of press devoted to the epidemic of obesity, which affects an increasing number of young people.  Well-meaning politicians and educators are trying to eliminate junk foods from schools, but that’s not the answer.  It is up to parents to provide a nourishing diet to their children, free from excessive fats, carbs, and sweets.

     Here at Online we are concerned with the “hanging out” that goes on at all hours.  Many street corners are thronged with young people late on weeknights.  A lot of these kids look like they’re under 12.  Children often claim “there’s nothing to do”.  Have their parents provided a home atmosphere with books, games, and a welcome to their kids’ friends?

     How about parents insisting that their children be home at an early, fixed hour (at least on weeknights).  If nothing else, this would mean the kids would get a good night’s sleep, an important consideration with schools starting so absurdly early these days.  But here again, it’s up to the parents to set limits – and then to enforce them.

     Our children are inundated by media, some of it so raunchy that it’s absolutely toxic.  For instance, are you, as parents, aware of an Internet service called MYSPACE.com?  This is a free Internet service that allows an individual to network with anyone, essentially from anywhere in the world.  MYSPACE.com states that you have to be 18 to use it, but there’s no enforcement.  A quick browse through MYSPACE. com showed us that many South Boston under-18 youth are in fact using it.  One of them might be yours.

     Here’s the problem.  Youngsters logging onto MYSPACE.com can receive pictures and dialogue that are “inappropriate”, to say the least.  Some of these are explicit and suggestive; they deal with sex, drinking, and profane language.  In return, impressionable young people are asked to send personal information – to “promote” themselves – to a vast, unknown worldwide audience.  That can be dangerous. 

     Only you parents can control this.  Ask your children about how they spend their time on the computer.  Or take a quick look at MYSPACE.com to see for yourself – you’ll be surprised.  And not pleasantly.

     We aren’t child psychologists, but everything we have come across states that young people need challenges, high standards, and limits.  They will complain about them at first, but secretly, they welcome rules.  You parents are responsible to your children to set these rules; you (and no one else) are accountable to society for your kids’ behavior.  The excuse, “I just can’t do anything with him or her”, is not acceptable.  It never was.

     And remember, living up to your responsibilities as a parent – the parental side of the equation - is concrete evidence of the great love you have for your children.