Handling Teen and Preteen Posts

Wondir Teens and Preteens:
Handling Questions From Kids Online

If you have spent anytime at all on Wondir, then you have seen many posts made by some of our most regular users. Wondir has a large following with the teen and even preteen sect. And answering questions from them can be most challenging!

Most of the time handling these questions is simple and straight-forward, you simply do their homework for them ;)

But seriously, the teens and preteens that frequent Wondir are usually looking for a few things: homework help, relationship advice with their boyfriend/girlfriend, advice about problems at home, or, and worst of all, issues involving abuse or violence, either in the home or at school.

The homework issue is easily solved by either ignoring it, telling them to google it, or answering it straight out. A simple answer is all that is needed in most cases. Some homework questions take a little time to research and in the upcoming posts I hope to cover a few of the many sites available to us to help the kids get that A+ they deserve for having the brains to come to us, mostly ADULTS, first! (Easy there, just kidding, I hope they have tried to find it on their own, but that’s another blog altogether…)

The second issue gets a little fuzzy at times because you only have one side of the story and that is the only side you will most likely get. My advice, and it is only that: advice. Is take it at face value, states that “if what you say is true I would………” and leave it at that if there is no follow-up posts. If there are follow-up posts then run with it as the lead on the question, especially if they WIM you. Be clear and concise, use common sense (the thing we all wish our parents had used when we made that awful mistake of asking them dating questions when we were kids….*shudder*). Don’t lie, or sugar-coat it and say “It will all work out in the end…….”

Kids and teens don’t want to hear that line of *cough*BS*cough* anymore then we would if we asked a question. They want real advice, like how you felt when this happened to you, what you did, how it worked, what you would have done different if you knew than what you know now…

Face it, kids today are a lot more advanced than we were at that age, this ain’t the 70’s no more Toto (reference to the DOG and NOT the group!!, I’m MUCH too young to know that there was a group called Toto….) *sigh*

Kids today are smarter than we were back then, smarter then most of us are today. They’re hipper to the cool things, more technologically advanced than 99.5% of us are today, they cut through the bull like it’s not even there, they have no respect for you just because you are older….today you EARN that respect, and that’s a long hard row to hoe!

For now my best advice is…

Treat the kids as equals, talk to them like they are adults. They like that and respect you for it. And to tell you the truth, in today’s world, they deserve it MOST of the time. I’m not saying you have to take abuse from ANYONE on Wondir…that’s what the moderators are there for! Call one of us (yes, I’m a moderator if you didn’t know by now).

A simple post to “Attention Any Moderators: So and So is getting out of hand at post (give category and time if possible, post topic always helps us). We’ll be glad to help and “handle the problem” if we see it as a problem. Some mods are more liberal than others with kids, God knows I am, so forgive me ahead of time if I don’t think a kid is getting out of line, but just exerting his First Amendment Rights to call you a butt-head if you’re being one. ;)

In closing this epistle, “Whosoever takes care of these little ones, so shall My Father take care unto you….” (I know I’ve heard that somewhere before….)