facebook and young children

Angie - posted on 06/25/2010

What a great teaching moment. Let her know that there is an age restriction on when she can get a Facebook page and tell her that you're not willing to lie to get one for her.

Alison - posted on 06/25/2010

If you think she is too young, stand your ground. It is beneficial for a child to learn they cannot have everything their friends have.

Personally, I am not sure I am opposed to it. With a 9 year old, you may still be able to monitor and train her in how to be wise when using the internet. At 13, she may have no interest in what you have to say.

Andrea - posted on 06/25/2010

Agree far to young I'm an adult and it still way to much drama for me. Plus some how my privacy setting keep get change to public so I have to change my password same thing happened to my boyfriends. My son is nine and keeps asking me and I just dont feel he's old enough. I also dont feel he's old enough for a cell phone and all his friends have those.

Lashonda - posted on 06/25/2010

I totally agree with all....I was just checking others view on this one. Its seems like in todays age the parents are allowing their children to do as they please!!!

Josie - posted on 06/23/2010

I wouldn't let her get one. She's too young. And you would be breaking the rules on Facebook anyway, definitely not something I would want to be teaching my child.

Teresa - posted on 06/23/2010

Since you have to lie for your child to have an account before they are 13... that is the minimum age my kids will be getting one. Not the example I want to set for them.

Sherri - posted on 06/23/2010

Because parents set up there accounts and just change there birth date. We did it when my kids were 11 & 12. However, I think 9 is way to young.

Amy - posted on 06/23/2010

You have to be 13 to have a facebook account so her friends maybe lieing about their age, unless there is a stipulation that parents must agree! I know my cousins didn't have one before they were 13, I agree with everyone else she is too young even if you are monitoring the account!

Rebecca - posted on 06/23/2010

I think she is far too young. I'm worried about my privacy as an adult, and am still contemplating closing my account all together. Facebook has changed it's privacy at least 4 times since I have had my account, and EVERY time they changed it, I had to go and manually change my settings back to "friends only." That means there was time during that transition that my settings weren't as private as I had thought they were. Most of them were set on "everyone." It's difficult for me to stay on top of it, and I'm sure a 9 year old won't be able to, much less a parent who can't see everything the kid does (for example, I wouldn't have known that FB had changed the privacy settings if it weren't for a post one of my friends wrote, and I just HAPPENED to scroll down far enough in my feed to read it, which I don't always do). I am constantly checking myself, wondering if what I'm putting online would put me at any risk, and IMHO, a 9 year old doesn't have the capacity to think about all of those things. Not to put her down....just think of it as childhood innocence not knowing the way of the world, and being naive to the dangers that could be lurking.

I say wait a few more years and let it be an earned privilege, because you will have to eventually teach her how to be safe online. Also, the responsibility and maturity of the child will have to be taken into account.

Sherri - posted on 06/23/2010

I think she is much to young yet.

Julia - posted on 06/23/2010

You set up the account for her, get into Privacy and do what YOU want, give her her own email then you set the passwords and you keep them . . . . do everything you can for her privacy, like no chatting and don't post any personal info then be with her while she is online . . . . the games are very fun and most are appropriate for youngsters . . . my niece is the same age and my sister just monitors everything she does . . . waiting for my 8 year old to ask . . . lol