My 9 yr old girl LOVES posting on Lego message boards. I'm not too thrilled about it but monitor her posts. I was wondering how many of you allow your kids to do this and how you felt about it? Thanks!
I do not allow my kids to post on any boards. It is too easy for them, in my opinion, to post something they shouldn't, like their full name and where they live.
We allowed Garrett to get a Facebook when he was 13, hubby or I check it before he does when he logs onto it and we are right there when he uses it. My younger ones are allowed on secret bear world where there is "click and pick" chat.. just some phrases they can click on for their bear to say... club penguin has this option too. I do not allow them to connect in any other way.
All my kids have FB. One rule we have (which I picked up from a friend) is that they are not allowed any "friends" they haven't met in real time. There are some exceptions, but only with our approval. Rachael also was on the Teen Homeschool Hang when she was younger. A funny thing about that.... She went down to Union University in Tennessee for a scholarship competition her Senior year. We got our buffet breakfast and walk into a room with over 100 people in it. I found a table with three seats, and we sat down. Rachael and the girl next to her LOOKED at each other, and they realized they were FB friends!!! They had met at the Hang originally, and had never met in person, but recognized each other from their FB pictures! The kids also know that we can and will get on to monitor their FB.
My kids don't post on any boards or have FB or anything like that. They've never shown any interest, but I think I'd be uneasy about it. Probably because I met a lot of people IRL from online chats as a teen/young adult and I was a wild child so.... I really like your rule Jackie, it's a great rule for when my kids do get facebook!
Josie, I was at a Christian conference and the women were all taking about their kids and FB. These ladies would check out each others kids' pages, and would often call each other up with, "Have you been on your child's FB lately? You might want to check it out...." Us moms have to stick together, lol!!!
DGS has only gotten online at my house, on PBS Kids to play games and on Starfall. He's 8. I made it a policy that sometimes hurts my students' and young friends' feelings, not to Friend anyone younger than 18. Not to be unfriendly, but some of my younger relatives and friends in their 20s have not grown up yet and post "potty mouth" shares or hack each others' accounts and post the most horrendous things/language. It's bad enough that I see them, but I'm not going to be the vehicle for things like that to be passed on to minors, when the poster puts theirs on "public" or "friends of friends" or whatever. I actually had to unfriend a niece, because of who hacked her account and what they posted <shudder>
I hear parents I know say they monitor their children's facebook page and then I see the pictures the young teenagers have posted and it makes me crazy! If they are monitoring the pages, then somebody has a strange idea of what it okay. The language is bad but the pictures are so awful! Some of the young girls are not even properly covered and doing what I would call very sexy faces and poses. It scares me. Emily is 15 and knows her older sister, Katie, who is 36 and adores Em, checks her page all the time besides me checking it. I am glad to have the extra set of eyes keeping things safe. It is not Emily I worry about as much as it is some of her friends and who they have on their pages that can connect to Em's. She is a good kid but already made one mistake using her phone that could have been dangerous BUT she knew right away that she had messed up and came and told me. I was very proud of her and luckily the person she was talking to was not a bad guy had just accidently called Em's number. He was scared to death when he found out he had a then 14 year old on the phone. He never called back and made sure he let me know he thought Em was the girl who had the phone number before she got it. It still shook me up and we were very careful to keep a close eye on things for a long time after this happened. I guess what I am trying to say is that no matter how smart or well taught a child is on safety, it is just so easy to make a mistake and that could lead to a tragedy. Em thought she knew the name on her phone but the last name was spelled differently and this guy was not the young man she knew from school. I tell mine if I walk near you and you hide the screen or suddenly shut the laptop, then you are hiding something you are ashamed of and you know better.
As a counselor at AWANA camp, I have teens want to friend me. I don't turn down any teem that asks to be my friend; I believe I might be able to speak into that young person's life. For example, my cousin's adult daughter is recently divorced, and has a new guy in her life. She had a very nice picture of herself that he took...nothing inappropriate!...but his comment was, "My bad-assed girlfriend". I know he meant it as a compliment, BUT.... I commented that any guy that would refer to my girls in that way would be picking himself off the floor!!! (And if my son EVER spoke about a young lady like that, his dad would knock him down, I would knock him down, and at least his oldest sister would, too!!!) I will also hide posts that have inappropriate language in it, even if it's the name of a web site. And yes, I have "defriended" some who were consistently inappropriate!
Thanks for all the input! My daughter is only allowed to post on Lego.com. They have pretty strict rules and moderators but it still makes me nervous. All they talk about is the diff lego sets and ideas for new ones. I worry bc my daughter can be a tad bit too trusting. Shes always coming to me saying "you wouldnt believe all the homeschooled christians on lego.com." I cant get it through her head that it may be a 40 yr old dirt bag.
My kids aren't allowed on any forums or boards. period. Not until they can prove to us that they are mature enough to know how to handle things like an adult and act like an adult and know what red flags to look for if something just doesn't seem right. They don't have fb either and until they "need" it, they won't get it.
I think Beth made a good point, when parents say they watch their kids FB, they really have to do that, and they have to have morals. Garrett isn't allowed to post pictures of himself to his FB, there are a couple of pics his friends took at school and tagged him in, but they are plain innocent pics. His FB is also kept to only real life friends and family. We have 2 nieces who are forever posting horrible things and pictures.... they are blocked from his FB.. as is anyone I see on his posting things I don't approve of. He acutally only checks his once every 2 or 3 months anyway, he just isn't into it. He would rather play video games.
Faythe is like that. Anything important she needs to get email for (like library notices, or her volunteering) she has sent to me, because she's never on.
