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1. No 11 year old should be spending 9 hour stretches on the internet in any form. Where's the parental supervision? Where's the structure? Doesn't she have other things she should be doing? I get that she may very well be in a poor home situation. But that's part of the problem. Everything you've described about her screams chaotic home life. That's something most people should just walk away from (or run away from). Which brings me to number...
As chaotic as it sounds, it is the norm. I didn't grow up any differently, and neither has anyone I've ever heard of. One would think that if talking to her parents was a valid option for her she wouldn't be talking to me about all of these things to begin with.
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2. You're not helping her. If you want to help her, that's great, but you need to do so via normal above board means. Hanging out on the net with her for 9 hour stretches is just enabling her. Getting involved via the net isn't providing structure, or fixing her home situation at all. She's using the net as a "fix" for her problems (or possibly using it to add to them). You're basically filling the roll of drug dealer here, which isn't helping.
No. It doesn't actually fix anything, but as she has told me, it helps to reduce her stress, as simply talking about things will do. As for the 9 hour calls-- they usually occur while we are all (Bloss, Erica the stepdaughter, Shany the wife, and myself) playing a game together where communication tends to be fairly important. In what way does that make me even remotely akin to a drug dealer exactly?
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If you really want to help, then get involved in actual programs that help kids in this sort of situation and...
AHAHA! Yeah ******* right! And subject myself to all the same exact kinds of criticisms I'm facing here some more, by people I know even less, with a much greater risk of actual consequences? You know, when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and become a teacher. The older I became, the more I realized how bad of an idea that was, and this thread is proof of that. --and NO, it wouldn't make a flick of difference whether or not I talked to them for 5 minutes or 9 hours, or what the subject matter was, or for what reason. Is it not completely obvious?
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Has it occurred to you that some kids, especially those who have suffered abuse, tend to continue to seek out the very sort of abuse they suffered earlier? You may not have any harmful intentions towards her, but she may be seeking harm from you (consciously or not).
I'm perfectly aware of this possibility. Having talked to her as much as I have, I don't believe it to be an issue here. Should that ever turn out to actually be the case, it will be then that I decide to block communications with her. But again, I really don't think it is likely.