A father is removing scamware from his 13-year-old son’s computer when he finds porn…..lots of it….in the browser history.  So instead of confronting him or saying nothing…the father in question writes his son a note…which in essence says this:  Listen, I was 13 once too and it wasn’t so long ago that I don’t remember.  I’m not mad or anything.  It’s life and I did it too.”

 He goes on to tell his son that there are sites which are much safer and you can go there without your computer being turned into a piece of junk.  The father even goes so far as to list the sites for his 13 year old son and says he won’t tell the boys mother and it’s not going to be made into a big deal.  Apparently the boy decided to talk to his dad and the father says it was proactive.  He told his son those sites objectify women and porn is not like real life. 

So the question I posed on-air was did “Cool Dad” handle this appropriately?  The phone lines blew up with a lot of opinions…most of them saying “yes….Cool Dad handled it well.”  I couldn’t disagree more.  I have 3 young sons…and if I caught one of my boys looking at porn….they would be up the “you know what” without a paddle!!!!!  I realize at some point they are going to look at it….but I can’t comprehend how a father can condone it and then actually give him sites to browse!!!!!!  I would talk to my boys…make them understand why I was reacting the way I was…and then tell them if I catch them again they will have major problems with sitting down (yes I believe a good smack in the rear goes a long way).  I believe parents trying to be their kids best friend is a major problem in society today…and a major cause of a lot of issues.  I don’t care if my kids like me as a friend….I have enough friends.  I want my kids to respect my authority and grow up with accountability.  That can’t happen…in my opinion….if a parent is worried about being a buddy.