To think that children should not have facebook?

[CrayolaCocaColaRocknRolla]

Facebook has an age range. its 13+
So why, for the love of God, do children age 5-13 have facebook? And why do parents make facebook profiles for their 1mo DCs? And.. Why do young mother tend to put "mummyofDC" in their facebook name? It's not needed, we don't care, and your profile is NOT private, so your weirdo friend that liked the picture of said DC? shows up on his pervert friends newsfeed. Well done.
Jesus tapdancing christ, keep your kids off facebook until they have a choice.

I made FB accounts for my kids as soon as they left Primary school (aged 11yrs) so they could keep in touch with their mates.

I'm not sure why a 5yr old would have one though.

Perhaps you should campaign for a lower age limit for use of all websites you don't approve of to be enshrined in law then

Thats acceptable, but I think it has an age thing that people should stick to. I don't talk to any of my primary school friends except one I went to high school with, now only speak to her and no one from high school. I still don't even know why I have it. the viral videos aren't good for children to see.
And I've seen 5yo with facebook. It's not great. it's basically their mothers facebook, but with different pictures and game requests from the mother.

But in my household we follows actual laws and rules, not arbitrary diktats cooked up by Zuckerburg et al to keep the advertisers happy

i don't not approve of facebook!

I regularly reported my niece's facebook page that she had before she reached 13. Right through from when she was 6.

It was always closed and then my sister promptly reopened it for her. Every time. It wouldn't have been so bad had she bothered to set up the privacy settings but it was open to anyone to view so I felt that someone had to try and protect a minor!

It does surprise me that many parents who won't let their dc walk to the corner shop alone for fear of predators will set them up on social media with little understanding of privacy settings and no intention of monitoring what they do and who they speak to because 'they deserve their privacy'.

But I am well aware I'm in a minority when it comes to this.

They only have the 13 rule because it's illegal to store info in America for kids under that age.

It doesn't bother me. I have the email address, the password and I'm on their friend list...as are their aunts, uncles and cousins.

They know they're not allowed to add anyone they don't know in RL and that I'll be randomly checking the account.

Yet you have an account on it Crayola

Some people are idiots that do really stupid things.
They existed before FB too but maybe you didn't notice them so much before you added them all as FB friends

My 11 year old niece has an account and seems to use it to gain attention.

I largely ignore and have stopped being tagged in pointless posts about how wonderful her family are.
She's just like her mother!

Mine just play candy crush and moan about lack of pocket money

My boys have had one for years...can't remember how long?

They are 15 and 10 now.

I'm a very bad Mother.

Girlfrom ipanema

Assume a lot, do we?

FYI I regularly offered to show my sister the settings but she told me it was none of my fucking concern as it was her daughter and nothing to do with me.

Niece was interested but her mother refused to let her listen to me.

Talk about fucked up pomposity, yourself!!

YADNBU... Its pathetic.. All of what you said

I agree with what you've said apart from the crap about young mums. That's bullshit, mums of any age can write that stuff, it's not just young mums.

because people are idiots. I know someone who complains that her 7 year old keeps seeing inappropriate things on FB. Don't let them have fb then you stupid twat.

Yanbu

Ds , 8 wants FB but I'm saying no ATM

The thing is...because there's a 13+ rule, people they 'meet' on FB may assume (or pretend) that your kids really are that age.

We didn't let our DD have FB till she was 13, fortunately the school had an internal chat service which sufficed till then. But secondary school kids do want it for social reasons yet are a bit young for too much...

Wouldn't it be better if there were 3 age-band memberships - say up to 10, 11-15, adult? with automatic high privacy settings for the first group at least.

YANBU

I can't see the need for it. I have FB myself and rarely use it though, so might be missing a trick or two.

i have fb and i use it to play games through my phone. never added people I don't know and never met someone off facebook. I add them after I've met them irl.
Errol very good idea, I like it!
I think its just because of that one rule I don't see why children that young need it when everything revolves around their school life?

Errol, how would that protect youngsters? Seriously? You think the bad uns who lurk on the net would stay away from a lower age banded facebook account And any strength of security/privacy settings are not automatically going to prevent anyone from less than innocent encounters on the net.

Facebook is a commercial website is all. People are responsible for parenting, not website owners.

Revenge if I had genuine concerns about "protecting a minor" I wouldn't be reporting those concerns to FB.

I wonder if your sister had a point?

a) banding ought to allow for better protection (contacts, privacy and content filtering). Seriously shouldn't be beyond the wit of developers and surely would be popular with parents.
b) would deprive would-be groomers of even the pretence that they genuinely believed their contact was more than a little kid.

Yes absolutely parents are ultimately responsible for their kids' safety. But websites and internet providers can make it harder or easier.

My DH has put a fair bit of time into configuring a netgear router which allows for reasonably sophisticated controls of what DD can access and when. Progressively relaxed. It's not totally trivial but not rocket science.

I set up an account for DS when he was born which I use to share photos and what he's upto with family. We live abroad and this is the easiest way to share our lives with them.

Forgot to say, his grandparents treasure every morsel of info that gets added.