One mom lays down the law!

Sugar Mama: Joe and I made a pact when our kids were born: "Our house, our rules; Your house, your rules." So if you allow your kids to stay up all night and play Wii and have my kids over, so be it. When your kids are at my house, however, they're beholden to our "no-Wii" rules.

Anyway, I just had my girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter visit from Texas for a week, and realized that Joe's and my credo needed amending. If your friend says "No MySpace," you should respect that -- regardless of whether or not her daughter has perfect grades, manners and hygiene.

By day three, my friend's MySpace rule had been broken - all her daughter's recent MySpace history stared me in the face one morning, as I searched for my sons' swim teacher's contact info. I was so crushed when I saw the updated profile (to say she was in Laguna Beach -- true, and 17 -- not true). I personalized her actions as if they were an offense to me. What, did she think I was a pushover? But I didn't want her to hate me, either. If I busted her, she wouldn't think I was her "coolest aunt" anymore.

We haven't reached the MySpace-or-not-to-MySpace phase of parenting yet, as our oldest is only five. But as I read the news that same morning of yet another young girl who had gone missing after a MySpace date gone wrong, I knew that my house needed to uphold my friend's rules, too.

She lost computer privileges for the remainder of her stay and was forced to sweat out the details of her pending punishment upon her return home. (The worst kind of punishment, in my opinion.)

But I hope that if my sons are ever allowed in your houses (but I totally understand if not, especially of you possess anything valuable), you'll do the same.

Your house, our (collective) rules, OK? And the same now goes at my house.

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