The Dilemma versus the Teenager's Blog

So my teenage daughter also has a blog. Not on Xomba but on blogspot. She is a great writer and wants to study journalism in college. She's just like me in that she'll sacrifice math assignments to update her blog or write fiction pieces in her notebook.

Now, she's been ok so far when it comes to me or her dad reading her blog. We don't do it often. We just like to check from time to time. I know that some people would argue that she should have privacy but I'm sorry, I have a lot to contend with in this world. I don't think I am over-protective and sheltering, but I just want to keep a small lifeline to her world. I honestly couldn't imagine growing up again in these times. It's difficult for me to hear some of the stories of what's going on in high school. I cringe on the inside but just nod my head and say, "oh, really?" and the sort. Trust me, teens really don't want you to weigh in on every subject. I consider myself lucky just to get the information I do!

I've been lucky so far with what I've read on her blog. Normal teen stuff. I did discover that she plans to marry Orlando Bloom or Zac Efron (that surprised me!) and that she likes the new songs by Vanessa Hudgens or Miley Cyrus which seem to be controversial over here.

I never post comments on her blog, I just scan it and I may give her feedback in person on a story she's written.

My dilemma is the comments that are posted on her blog by some of her friends. They seem to try to outdo eachother on shock factor or "experience" if you now what I mean. She has a solid group of friends, who seem to be more grounded than some of the others. But I really can't stand some of these comments and want to tell my kid to remove them from her blog. But I can't.

She doesn't have a myspace.com or a facebook.com (as far as I know!) so she really encourages her friends to visit her at this site to read her work. But no matter what she writes, they always seem to find a way to turn the subject in to inappropriate material.

AAAAA! What to do? We talk about some of the comments but not all of them and not all of the time. Do I ask her to remove the comments? Do I ignore them? I have a headache.

I write this blog to see if there are parents out there who have found a way to walk the line and still come out sane, who have found a way to communicate without pushing away, who have raised their teens and can look back and say what they would have done differently given the chance.

She's my first teen and I got one more to go. My boy is almost 13 and I'm wondering if boy blogs will be different than girl blogs! In any case, I plan to default to my husband to help more with him.