Parents of migrant students get a lesson on social networking

Internet-savvy kids can be more of a challenge to raise.

By JAMIE OPPENHEIM

A handful of parents got wired for the first time Wednesday as high school students explained to them in Spanish how to e-mail, use Facebook and find their home using Google maps.

About 14 parents of students enrolled in the Central Valley Opportunity Center Migrant Education Summer Program participated in the first-ever Parents Institute. The daylong event addressed issues affecting the migrant farmworker community, such as access to health care, job training, nutrition, diabetes and Internet proficiency.

The program was a joint effort between the Merced County Office of Education, the Central Valley Opportunity Center and the Merced Union High School District.

The Migrant Education Summer Program serves about 140 students from cities throughout Merced County. Students attend three classes a day starting in early June and ending in late July at Independence High School in Merced.

Jose Duran, principal of Independence High, said the parents attending the event have teenagers who know how to use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, but their parents are in the dark.

Only two of the 14 parents who came actually had computers at home, Duran added. Sometimes, he said, 14- or 15-year-old girls post photos of themselves dressed inappropriately or engaging in questionable behavior on the websites.

"Some kids want to keep their parents the way they are because that's what makes the people (the kids) in charge," Duran said. "We want to empower the parents."

For some of these parents who don't speak English well, raising a teenager in the 21st century can be a challenge, Duran added.

Independence High School student Christian Canchola, 17, showed one mother how to use Facebook and MySpace so she can follow her child online.

Understanding how to use the Internet is important because many of these kids live separate lives, Canchola said.

Now, thanks to the outreach program, parents can learn to look through a digital window into the lives their children are leading.