When my son Jared began spending lots of time in the Internet chat
rooms, I worried that his grades would suffer. I made him promise to
do schoolwork until I returned home at 5p.m. One day at 4:30 I decided
to check up on him. Using my office computer, I went on-line and entered
his favorite chat room. To my dismay I saw Jared's name among the list
of current participants and immediately decided to teach him a lesson
in front of his cyber friends. "Jared," I typed, "this is your mother,
and you are grounded for two weeks!" "Hi, Mrs. Beyeler," came a reply.
"This is David. 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."