Facebook has brought more people in than anyone has before. Their popularity and fame has grown more than any other website before them. With so many people, and participants their privacy rules are notoriously lax. The privacy policies are difficult for many to understand and even for those that do make sense of it, the constant changes are giving many a harder time than most would expect.

With all of these changes and ‘updates’ some are raising concern about the younger generation’s use of the website. With so many pieces of information readily available, what assurances do parents have that their children’s privacy is being watched out for? While not many will argue that the parents are in charge of what their kids view online, others do argue that a website should still watch out for it’s users.

While younger kids aren’t supposed to be able to log in to the website, they do and have. While many are finding afterwards that any problems that arise from that sharing (and often, over sharing) won’t be dealt with due to what seems like a brick wall from the website.

Making sure your children understand what is, and isn’t appropriate to post (publically or not) and who they should and shouldn’t add can make a difference in the risks they face online. Look up information about the dangers, and what your children can do to avoid them.

The internet is a big part of life for young people today. In fact, if kids could have access to only one medium, more would choose the internet than the television, or telephone. No doubt, the new technology has plenty of benefits. But the information from the Internet is wide open, leaving it up to parents to provide kids with a road map and firm limits.

The following is an assessment of the potential hazards and how to guard against them:

1. Internet overload – Without restrictions, kids could spend endless hours in front of the computer, and that’s clearly not good for them. Children this age need regular physical activity to keep them healthy, as well as a lot of social interaction to help them develop their interpersonal skills. If your child is in front of the screen at the expense of playing outside or socializing, it’s critical that you limit his use. Start by setting limits on your child’s computer time. You can actually make a schedule for using the computer, and give him 2 hours for “screen time”. Computer in a shared living space rather than in your child’s room, allows you to monitor how much time he’s spending online and what he’s doing there.

 2. Indecent exposure: Anyone who has unrestricted email, instant messaging or internet access is likely to get ads linking them to adult sites. To prevent your child from seeing these indecent ads, you can buy software that will block and filter these sites. Ask your child what he uses the computer for, and set firm rules about what you feel is appropriate and what is completely off-limits. Tell your child he will lose privileges if you find him visiting those sites.

 3. Stranger danger: Kids need to understand the hazards of chatting with strangers online or arranging to meet someone they’ve encountered there. But it’s enough to warn them about the rare, worst-case scenario. You also need to make sure that your child realizes that Internet is a public space, even though it may feel private. Children should also be instructed not to give out personal information to anyone.

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Nick Jonas has Type 1 Diabetes

Doctors really don’t know what causes Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. Research is being done to explore both genetics and environmental triggers, but many kids who are diagnosed with diabetes have no family history of it at all.

Diabetes is manageable; kids who have this condition can live normal, active lives if they pay close attention to treating their condition. Diabetes can’t be cured, but its effects can be minimized. If your child doesn’t do this conscientiously, he or she might develop several undesirable complications. These can include:

• Neuropathy. This is nerve damage. It commonly causes problems in the legs, but it can also affect other systems in the body as well.

• Retinopathy. Diabetes can cause damage to the eyes, including causing blindness.

• Nephropathy. Nephropathy is kidney disease. Weak kidneys allow toxins to build up in the body and make a child sick.

• Heart Disease. Heart disease is more common to diabetics than non-diabetics. It can lead to other complications such as stroke, embolism, or heart attack.

So how do you know if your child has diabetes? There are some symptoms that all parents should be on the lookout for:

• Excessive thirst. Is your child constantly asking for something to drink?

• Frequent urination. If you find yourself saying, “Are you in the bathroom again?”…pay attention!

• Drowsiness or lethargy. They fall asleep over their homework, or they just can’t get the energy to do things they used to enjoy. If you’ve tried adjusting your child’s bedtime and it isn’t helping, bring this to your doctor’s attention.

• Sugar in urine. Obviously your doctor will have to test this, but it’s a pretty significant indicator.

• Sudden vision changes. The cells in the eyes are being attacked by the immune system, so vision decreases fairly quickly.

• Increased appetite. Are they suddenly hungry all the time, and can’t seem to get enough? They could be going through a growth spurt, as all kids do…but it could be diabetes.

• Sudden weight loss. None of that food is being processed like it should be. Instead of gaining weight, they might lose weight very quickly.

• Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath. The imbalance of sugar and insulin in the blood can come out in strange ways, including very sweet breath.

• Heavy, labored breathing. Your child might find it hard to catch his or her breath, even if they aren’t doing anything strenuous.

• Stupor, unconsciousness. If diabetes goes too long without being diagnosed, it can cause kids to faint or, in extreme cases, fall into a coma.

Taken alone, most of these symptoms seem harmless, but together, they could indicate the presence of Type 1 diabetes. Don’t be afraid to bring them up to your doctor; he or she can judge whether there’s anything to be concerned about. The sooner you start treatment, the more likely your child is to live a normal, active life.

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We recently bought the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard for our family.  It’s as cornball as I remember—jokes as thick as if they’d been poured straight from the butter churn, and every episode has a car chase that causes our six-year-old boy to hoot and holler and hold his breath.  I don’t have the heart to tell him that Bo & Luke will always get away, and Roscoe will always crash.  He’ll figure it out eventually.  Telling him now would be like telling him there’s no tooth fairy.

I was struck in watching the first episode that it was a little racier than I remembered.  Bo & Luke are obviously “sexually active” (to use the modern parlance); so is Cooter.  At one point, Enos the deputy is specifically referred to as “the oldest virgin in Hazzard County.”  And yet, it was mostly wholesome fun and there was certainly nothing that made me blush because the kids were in the room or jump up to turn the video off.

That’s unusual anymore.  I imagine it was nice to raise children in a time when you could leave them in the den and not worry about what they were watching, but those days are gone.  Most of us have to be more vigilant than our parents because the influences are more varied and harmful.  Conscientious parents usually filter what their children see by checking the MPAA rating, parenting websites, parenting magazines, and listening to word of mouth.

Just as important as filtering movies and television, however, is filtering the Internet.  Most families are connected to varying degrees, and parents are beginning to see that they have to take a more active role in monitoring their child’s on-line activities.

Toward that end, Top Ten Reviews has released its Internet Filter Software Review for 2009.  It provides a list of the best filters on the market, based on some pretty extensive criteria (ease of use, effectiveness, reporting capabilities, whether or not it filters foreign language sites, pop-up blocking, and about two dozen more).  Prices are given and the site provides links to the product homepages.

Net Nanny comes out on top, with Safe Eyes and CYBERsitter close behind.  It was especially nice to see that Net Nanny is the least expensive of the ten, coming in at under $30.

Check out the results here.