Facebook

[lottiejenkins]

I have done something foolish,,, i let my son say he was a year older and open a facebook account, trouble is i also told his social worker(he has special needs) she has said its not a good idea and i have blocked his account. Trouble is there are other children his age on there with accounts,.. what do i tell him when he asks why they have accounts and arent 13? My son is allowed to talk on my face book account. Help............

Well, you're in charge, so its your decision. My dd, 13 next month asked if she could have a FB account. I told her no, because some things are best left until she is older.

What were her reasons for it not being a good idea? Can you not allow him to have it and you be present while he is using it at least until he is old enough? Either that or tell him you will set the password and will be doing periodic checks on it and will decide who his friends are on it.

how about bebo or my space, they are used alot by teens.
tbh i think fb it a bit adult.

oh and a lot of groem ups are very nervous about things like fb, so it might be her bias comming through rather than any sw rule.

It is never a good thing to encourage a child to lie to get something they want. You could explain that you made a mistake in allowing it, and that the rules are there to protect him - if other people's children are on facebook before they are really allowed to, it is a shame for them that their parents don't care enough to follow the rules. It is like watching an age 18 DVD when you are only 12. Would that go down well with him, do you think?

Hes deaf and i use sign langauge so its going to be difficult to make him understand............ i wish id said no in the first place now.

bump

Just say that you can't speak for other families, but in your household, you will follow the rules.

My 8 year old cousin is on facebook. It wouldn't worry me. But then he is NT. How does his SN worry you that he's not ready for a FB account?

yeah the fact he may add people he doesnt know! He maybe 12 in age but in how he behaves etc he isnt 12 if you get my drift...........

if you have him as a friend of facebook you can monitor its use and check he isn't adding random people. could you maybe say i don't mind you having a facebook account as long as you use it responsibly ie no adding/talking to people you don't know.

how about if you compromised?

he had the FB account but you also had access to the P.W's etc - and could in effect vet his friends on there & what he does, you can restrict the privacy settings (as I have done on mine) so random people can't just add you/look at your profile.

would the SW be ok with that - and assuming you and DS are as well?

You can set his privacy rights so that random people cant add him and just limit what he is doing on there I think FB is not that bad if you just have ur friends on there I have 2 pages thou as I got over 500 people on one and then friends on another

Why can't you just wait until he is 13? What's the emergency?

All sorted thanks everyone, his social worker emailed him and explained really carefully that he shouldnt be on there till he was 13 and that his friends were only on there because they had asked their parents. He has accepted this really well thankfully!!