Protecting kids from their own mistakes... government job or parents'?

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/technology/bill-provides-reset-button-for-youngsters-online-posts.html?_r=0

2. Legal

3. State

4. This article discusses measures taken in California to allow kids to retract posts made on the Internet that could be damaging to their futures.

5. It is important because kids may not understand the consequences of their online actions.

6.  I think this measure is a good one, and it is important for kids to have the opportunity to fix the mistakes they will make in their lives so that they don't come back to haunt them in the future. As far as my opinions directly related to this article, I think these sort of things need to go further than just on the state level. The Internet does not have the same limits that state laws have, but at least it is a good start that could get people talking. Hopefully safeguards like this will expand to a national level at the very least. That having been said, I feel that so much focus is put on adding features to the Internet and computers to keep kids from making stupid mistakes, and there is not enough focus on simply educating/counseling parents and kids on how to be safe. Perhaps ten years ago, parents were caught off guard and did not realize how much information their kids could access and how much of their own personal information could be made public online. These days, it is pretty much common knowledge and yet too many parents fail to simply discuss the dangers of some of their actions to their children. More has to be done beyond telling kids to just not say or do something stupid. Explain what actions are dangerous and why it could come back to haunt them later on. So many kids think their parents are just trying to take away their fun when they tell them stuff like, "Sex is bad and you should wait," or "Don't do drugs because they're bad for you," or "I don't like you hanging out with certain people." What are the consequences to unsafe sex (STD's, teen pregnancy, bullying in school, etc.)? How will those drugs really effect you (impaired judgement, specific adverse effects, etc.)? What specifically is it about those people that you don't want influencing your children? Perhaps if parents did not shy away from uncomfortable topics and spoke to their children in a more adult fashion, they could see some more adult actions from their children. Teenagers want so badly to be adults and act grown up, and it's up to the parents to show them what it means to be and act like an adult. If they continuously treat their teens like little kids, it will just push them away and make them attempt their own approach of what they view as adulthood.