Yes, you are correct that if someone doesn't want something known to their parents, they shouldn't put them on Facebook, which is an open social networking site if its public option is chosen. I feel embarrassed that I didn't clarify what I meant better. What I meant was that parents are invading privacy if they insist their kids add them or some other "authorized" adult as friends for the express purpose of monitoring their activity there.

Parents do need to have an idea of what is going on in their kids' lives to help them, true, but the problem is, if parents are routinely not very understanding about what they know, and very invasive, then their kids will try to keep everything secret from them. Ironically, kids will usually only open up to their parents willingly if they trust them, and too many parents do not believe that they should have to earn that trust.

As for parents not freaking out over the discovery of an older friend...many will do that very thing, no matter what the nature of the friendship is, and will never accept that such a friendship could be anything other than "bad news" for their kid. Otherwise, yes, it's correct that they are foolish to add such a friend to their list if they don't want their parents knowing about them.

And the term "creeper" wasn't so much unknown as a new term that has become very popular among younger women online over the past two years, so I was not surprised you used it, but no one else on the board has yet :-) I am also wondering if you may know how it became popularized over the more commonly used "creep." And I thought you would get a kick out of Jack Ryder's alter-ego; I don't even know if you clicked on the link I left you or not LOL!