Family Friendly Blogging?

In my travels I’ve met a lot of families and the parents almost always ask me about blogging, myspace, facebook, and their kids. I tell them what it is and how they can get involved in their kids “virtual” lives. I am currently compiling sources to create an e-guidebook to help parents learn more and get involved.

I was looking through two popular blogging platforms recently and came across some disturbing and encouraging information. The companies are Blogger and Xanga. Both have written help pages about parents and blogs.

Xanga’s is very family friendly and provides the parent with safety information, suggestions for talking to your kids and a method to delete your child’s blog if you really want to. Click here to visit

And, finally… repeat after me – “I’m still the parent!” If they don’t listen or follow your rules, then unplug the computer… the walk to the library will do them good

The Blogger site however has a guide on what to do if your mom finds your blog. How to disguise it so your parents can’t find it, how to deceive them using code words. Click here to visit

You can go that same route with your blog by searching for potentially incriminating keywords and editing for a softer, more Mom-friendly vocabulary.

For example: “I got really drunk last night” becomes, “I got really marshmallow last night.”

I was impressed with Xanga’s pro family stance on blogging and shocked to find that Blogger has no parent section at all. So if you kids want to start a blog Xanga is a better place to start than Blogger.

Do your kids blog? How are you involved?