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It's Time

Yes, Mom and Dad, it is time to have that little talk with your children. I know you've been putting it off. I know you feel uncomfortable talking about it. You think, "The kids think they know more than I do. They'll think I'm lame. I'm not really comfortable with the subject matter. And besides, they probably won't listen."

I don't care what you think. It is your responsibility, and you need to face the music.

You need to talk to your kids about Twitter. Yes, Twitter.

Recent weather events have brought out high school students in droves.

@katiefromtrap: @HCPSS if I fall and break my neck lord knows yahll dead

@Smatribe: @HCPSS It's so slippery outside I could moonwalk with boots tied to concrete blocks covered in Stickum on the grass.

@easternpebble: @HCPSS my mom just fell on ice and hit her head and I'm now taking her to the ER. really??? do you want this to happen to all kids in HC?

@swagmaster_7: @HCPSS Real live I'm gonna f*** our superintendent up if we crash

@AustinMagez: Yall some b****es. I busted my a** slipping on this sh**, now my a** hurt. hope yall happy @HCPSS

@HynesFinlay: I swear if there a delay tomo, foose won't be getting any Valentine's Day gifts from me .

@HondaCybyk: believe it or not Foose gets paid $250,000 a year basically just to decide whether or not to cancel school

This piece of advice from a fellow student made me smile:

@callahan_deej97: lmao @ the people who are tweeting @HCPSS to cancel with their poor grammar. #reasonswhyschoolisntcanceled

You need to talk to your kids. Accounts on Twitter are right out in the open unless you have protected tweets. It is not set up like Facebook with a variety of privacy settings. Your Twitter stream is not like a protected backyard with a fence around it where you can play in privacy. It is deliberately set up so that it can be searched by key words, and when users include actual account names, like @hcpss, then what they say is immediately visible to that account.

While we do have free speech in this country, what that means is you won't go to jail for poor choices in your tweets. However, you certainly can be expected to bear the consequences. I'm not sure kids understand this. Actually, I'm not sure some adults understand this.

@Haughman101: @HCPSS I'm an aide. The bus was stuck for about 20 minutes for 1 f'ing kid. Quit jacking off and make the right call. Your system sucks.

@Haughman101: @HCPSS you're full of sh** for not closing early.

These tweets are from an adult who works as a bus aide in Howard County. Would you want this person helping special needs children on the bus? Would you want to hire them if you saw this kind of attitude and language?

Parents, don't postpone that little talk. You don't want your kids learning how to tweet from some other kids on the corner or in a back alley somewhere.

Wait--did you just say, "What's Twitter?"

Oh, man. We need to talk.

 

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