Being Virtually Grounded

Back into those times when the “internet” became huge with teenagers, my son Jared began spending lots of time in online chat rooms, and I got worried that his grades would suffer. I made him promise to do homework until I returned home at 5 pm. One day at 4:30 pm, I decided to check up on him. Using my chat room. To my dismay I saw Jason’s name among the list of current participants and so decided to teach him a lesson in front of his cyber friends.

“Jared,” I typed, “this is your mother, and you’re grounded for two weeks!”

“Hi, Mrs. Bordem,” came a reply. “This is Max. Jared’s doing homework right now, and he said I could use his computer. but I’ll be sure to let him know that he’s been grounded.”

(photo courtesy of Robert Byron/Dreamstime.com)