I watched Maude when I was nine and ten, and my mom didn't like it but I guess she gave up. Not a big disciplinarian, my mom. She sort-of censored my tv viewing -- nothing "on late" -- but she never censored my reading at all. I think she just had no idea what was actually out there. Hell, she was horrified by the notion of oral sex. I was reading adult-level books in elementary school, and had no restrictions on what part of the library I could roam, so I definitely got ahold of lots of books that were both too scary and too "adult" for me. Just because I CAN read it, doesn't mean I SHOULD...

Rant about shopping websites: If there is a link to a '"shopping bag" I presume clicking on it would reveal the items in my shopping bag. If instead of that, the result is that I see a fraction of those items plus an assortment of "You may also like" items and there is in fact no way to view all the items in my shopping by clicking on the link to "shopping bag". I shall be a bit miffed. If I email the company to inquire precisely how to view the items in my shopping bag and am subsequently informed that the method for doing that is to click on the link to "Check Out", I shall flee from the illogic and cease using that website. If it happens to be for a brand which I love and whose products I use daily, I shall consider writing an actual letter to the president of the company decrying said lack of function and logic.

Colon or semicolon? I can't remember.

This means Ana has responsibility for the most important aspects of DSN operations from a mission point of view: communications with spacecraft and acquiring the tracking data used as the principal source of spacecraft navigation.

First of all, amych, I'm really sorry. That totally sucks, and when I look for IT stuff for Dan, I'll pass anything I find to you, if it looks up your alley.

Second, kids on the internet. Micah is almost 13 and had been on Instagram for about a year and a half. We have his password, and I'm friends with him on Instagram, so if I see anything hinky, I'd be on him like stink on shit.

Wattpad -- hmm. I think I've told y'all the story about how I was reading a heaving bosoms bodice ripper in 6th grade after all my work was done, and my teacher marched me to the office to call my parents about my "inappropriate reading material" and got my dad on one of his every-5-years sick days.

He listened, asked if I was done with my work, was told I was. Asked if I was causing any trouble or disturbance, was told I wasn't. Asked how my grades were, was told I had straight A's.

And then he told the teacher that he and my mom were the parents and unless there was some kind of written school policy about books, that I could read whatever the hell I wanted during free time and politely said good-bye.

When I got home, he had been looking over my mom's collection of romances and had picked out the one with the most lurid cover and told me to take that one to school tomorrow, and it I had any free time, to take it out and read it.

BUT -- I was a freaky mature reader. I was reading really adult books at about six -- I asked my parents what "rape" was when I read a historical novel about Sacajawea 1500 pages long when I was 6, and that's when my parent's understood how freaky my reading brain was. They got me a dictionary, and asked me to ask them to explain anything I didn't understand to them. They got me a 10 volume set of human sexuality books aimed at teenagers when I was about 8 (I think so they wouldn't have to explain cunnilingus or fellatio EVER.)

So...I think the advice you've gotten is pretty spot-on. I'd say have a joint account with her, and make sure you check the history (and if she ever erase the queue, he privileges are gone.) It depends on her level of mental development.

I was a socially awkward kid and teen because I lived in books so much that I was kind of alien to other kids, BUT I grew up to have a genuine love of knowledge and an empathy and tolerance for all kinds of cultures and mores. I think if I'd had the internet as a kid, I would have connected with more kids like me and not felt like such an anomaly.

But, hey, when Micah gets a phone and/or social media sites, I have great comfort in knowing my husband is a mad hacker and we'll be keeping a mad eye on his interactions. And yo, thanks to my parents, he's had a great book on human sexuality I bought him on his shelf for two years. He was totally grossed out by it when I bought, so I have no idea if he's read it...but then, that 10 volume set on human sexuality? I read it in private, too.

Colon, Allyson

Thank ye!

I was also very precocious child who devoured books: historical romances, John Jakes, Herman Wouk,V.C. Andrews, and a few other authors that escape me at the moment. Oh, and I managed to get my hands on a copy of Fanny Hill, not knowing what kind of book it was initially.

I applaud the parents raising children in the here and now. I can't imagine dealing with email, cell phones, internet access, and social media on top of the already-tough stuff.

Nicky Brendon is not having a good six months. Alcohol and hotels again. [link]

Ah, dammit, NB. I like you too much on BTVS and Criminal Minds.

hat 10 volume set on human sexuality? I read it in private, too.

We had a paperback Home Medical Guide on our bookshelves, and I don't think anybody really looked at it. Then I discovered the fairly exhaustive sexuality chapters in the middle: what are those things and how do they get used. I'd read it on the living room couch, and my mother just figured I was just channeling my "read the encyclopedia" tastes.

Once in high school (a Church-based school) I was reading a SF/F book with the requisite half-naked barbarian woman on the cover in math class after the work was done, and the teacher looked at the cover and raised his eyebrows at me. I said, "I'm not responsible for what they put on the cover," and he just shook his head and walked away. I think no one knew quite what to do with me.