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FEATHERING OUR NESTS: O-MAMA’s Perspective on SPRING CLEANING

Spring is in the air.  The birds and the bees are flitting around doing their thing…nature abounds.  The birds are feathering their nests and laying their eggs, while the bees are busy pollinating every flower in the garden.  The air is crisp and clean.  Chirping and buzzing fills the air.

Everything seems fresh and new.  So, let’s take a new look at Spring, shall we? The first thing that comes to mind is cleaning. Ugggh.  But, let's talk about the birds and the bees instead...the part of the story that happens...

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"LIKE" IT: Facebook Goes Public
Photo Martin Schoeller for Time

UPDATED May 18, 2012 - Today is the day, Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell on the NYSE!  

UPDATED February 2, 2012- Facebook goes public!  The most influencial social media network, with almost a billion users, has filed papers to become a publically traded company, and is hoping to raise $5 billion in its initial public offering.  Founder, Mark Zuckerberg will stay on as Facebook chairman and largest stock holder. 

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Originally posted December 2010

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is Time Magazine’s person of the year for 2010.  While a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, he began Thefacebook.com from his dorm room.  His simple mission was to connect college kids through social networking.  Today, Facebook has 550 million members, who speak 75 languages and log 700 billion minutes a month on the network. 

Mark’s father, Ed, says that he was “strong-willed and relentless,” as a child.  He goes on to say that, ”for some kids, their questions could be answered with a simple yes or no…for Mark, if he asked for something, 'yes' by itself would work, but 'no' required much more.  If you were going to say 'no' to him, you had better be prepared with a strong arguments backed by facts, experience, logic, reasons.”  Or, what?  How about "no" just cuz I said so?  We digress...

We tell our kids that “you can’t have too many friends.”  Because of Zuckerberg, now our kids can have a twelfth of the people on the planet to “friend.”  Hmmmm….so, how do we make sure our kids know the difference between a true blue friend and a faux friend.  There are plenty of examples not to "friend" the world, from hurtful gossip to kids being cyber bullied with their “private” information being passed around the world.  A big job MAMAs…make sure your kids know the difference between friend and faux - and if your KID-Os aren't secure and mature enough to deal with the cyber world, where everything you post lives forever, just say "no."  The reason?  Cuz you said so! 

We need to teach our kids to stay connected, really connected, to the people they care about.  Facebook is fun for promoting superficial relationships.  But, our KID-Os need deeper, long-lasting relationships, so encourage them to spend time face-to-face, not on Facebook.

Time-Person of the Year

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  • rtfgirl

    ocmama - That is sooooo true! I've talked quite a bit with my daughters online friends, and they say it's nice because they can tell their true self without "showing" their true self. True and lasting relationships... they are so important! Debomama - Facebook... that site really scares me! But I have to keep in touch with what my kids and grandkids are into. OMGosh what I've read... grrrrrrrrr!!! lol I know there's bad and good with everything but the bad stuff here can really hurt someone. The FBI is catching perverts all the time from Facebook, and the online spying... and now just recently I read about how someone found out how to use other peoples cameras to spy on them. Sick... just really sick. But I guess for hackers n crackers that's their idea of having relationships!
    on 12/19/11
    Reply

  • rtfgirl

    "We need to teach our kids to stay connected, really connected, to the people they care about. Facebook is fun for promoting superficial relationships. But, our KID-Os need deeper, long-lasting relationships, so encourage them to spend time face-to-face, not on Facebook." So true! What is happening to us when we want to "Relate" to our friends on Facebook instead of being with them? I think Facebook doesn't have the mistakes and pains that real true friendships and relationships have. So sad!!!
    on 12/19/11
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    • ocmama

      Absolutely AGREE! One the hardest things about parenting right now is staying connected to our kids and making sure they are REALLY connected to us. Friends are so important to our kids, so we have to help them forge true and lasting relationships by disconnecting their stuff!
      on 12/19/11
      Reply

  • Debomama

    So, I'm commenting here on this article because my "tech" rant has to do with Facebook. For your information, MAMAs...it's super easy for kids to make up a fake name, get an email account and make a Facebook page that you'll probably never know about. That is... UNLESS you have total access/passwords to their computers, phones and iTouch-es. Don't ask me how I know this...just believe me when I tell you .... I JUST KNOW! If it's okay with you that your kid has a Facebook page...awesome..then they won't have to "hide", but for those of us with young kids or who have decided that Facebook is a bad idea...be warned- you gotta be ALL OVER IT because your kids have cyberland WIRED! Have any of you discovered cyber deceit on your kid's technology?
    on 08/15/11
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