Habbo login for an 8yo DD, and Shag bands?

[peanutbutterkid]

Shag bands are the rage among Yr4-5s at DS school, too, apparently. He DOES know what the codes are supposed to be -- the other boys told him. DS was just complaining on phone to his best friend about how parents are woefully ignorant about what they mean. I can't make up my mind about them. Most of the ("nothing to worry about") discussion on MN seems 2 b about teenagers having them, not primary age.

Am I hiding my head in sand about natural sexual curiousity at age 8-10yo, or rightfully wanting my DS to have the space to not succomb to the peer pressure to become interested in girls already?

-----
Habbo: NOT for 8yo DD, right?
Even Habbo rules say you have to be 12.
DD's best friend (also just barely 8yo) has an account on there, apparently.

DD is sulking that I won't pay for her to have a Moshi monster, either. (Sigh).

[cornsilkwearscorsets]

How old is he - 8? I would say no to my ds(8) if he knew codes and would explain why. Never heard of Habbo.

[famishedass]

never heard of habbo and wouldn't actually buy shag bands for my kids but wouldn't stop them either.

If my kids wore a shag band, I'd wear one too, just to annoy them.

[BertieBotts]

Habbo Hotel used to be popular when I was about 13 No idea what it is like now. But you did get random people asking for cybersex and it was quite boring/frustrating unless you knew people on there so I wouldn't let an 8yo go on it. It's basically a chat room where you have a little animated character and you can go into different rooms and talk to people. You can buy credits and furnish little rooms, but you have to spend real money to do that. An 8yo would be better with Club Penguin or Neopets is good if they want games to play.

Shag bands have been around for decades and are kids thinking they are being very "risque" but none of them would actually do the "acts" designated by the bands anyway. Just curiosity I would say. Make sure you are available to answer any questions though and correct myths etc because there is a lot of rubbish flying around the playground at that age.

[peanutbutterkid]

Ta for replies, DS is 10yo.
He does like girls, really, but he's very embarrassed about it (he is very embarassed about Everything, lately, poor chap). He also doesn't like swearing, vulgar talk or similar.

SRE Lady advised raising expectations of sex so that they don't settle for anything less than the best possible experiences. Maybe that's partly why DS doesn't like the all the saucy insinuations to do with 'shag' bands; he's taken on board the message that sexual experiences shouldn't be cheap, casual or insignificant.

Oh well, all good practise for resisting peer pressure, I'm sure this is only a tiny warm up to the teen years!

[PixiNanny]

Shag bands were around when I was 13ish, I don't like the idea of younger kids understanding their meaning though even though I know it happens! And do not let your DD on Habbo. Full of people wanting to cyber and whatnot.

My old host fam let their 8yo on some sites but I don't think they understood them exactly! On one occasion I caught her on a 'girls games' website trawling through the 'dating games' and many of them had dodgy content. If you let your child sign up to a site, please go onto their accounts first for a play to determine whether you think that it's suitable, too many parents don't imo (though I do understand that many parents don't understand how to use these sites!).