to think it's ridiculous that children have Facebook accounts

[WhatNotHot]

Whats the point of having an age limit?
I noticed on my DB profile that a child he has connections with, had been asked the question 'would you have sex with ....? The child is 8 ffs

And before anyone comes on spouting about how their 5 yo DD needs a FB account because of them having family that don't live in the same room, then don't bother, people managed to keep in touch before social networking sites were introduced Surely there are sits more appropriate for children, like this one

A valid reason for using any site is because one wants to...because it has value to you and makes your life better.

I'm sure there are lots of things my daughter wants to do that I feel are not appropriate for her.
As her parent, her wanting to do something is not a valid reason for me to allow it.

And once again I believe that limits are necessary and should be in place. It's up to individual parents to set those limits.

For instance I don't think that little girls should wear heels and other 'grown-up' styled clothing. They do. Other parents feel that this is ok. Will my daughter be wearing heels at 5, 6, 7, 8,9, or 10? no. Will her friends. Very possibly.

I also don't believe that there should be sexist ads on telly. There are and I, as a thoughtful individual, am aware of such things and intend to discuss these things with the people around me and with my kids. I cannot not stop them, but I can help inform my kids and the people I love of my opinion and why I think such things are wrong and conversely what I think is right.

Well as my daughter is 9 I can, and sometimes do stop her from doing things I feel shouldn't be allowed to do.
If it's something I feel is important, I don't give her my opinion then allow her to decide herself. I say no. She (usually) listens. Simple.

And it is not up to individual parents to set all limits, some age limits are set by others and are therefore non negotiable, driving a car, smoking, drinking, films, games etc etc.

and yet some parents flaunt those limits too because they feel they know better or feel that their child is mature enough to handle such things at an earlier age...and some children and parents are right

Yanbu. Utterly ridiculous. I despair at people's inability to say no to their kids, or any acknowledgement of the fact that, actually, parents do usually know better. I too wish the age limit could be 16. Apart from anything else, FB is horribly addictive - there are a thousand other things children should be spending their time on.

for instance, I've previously posted about how big my child is and pointed out that she according to the guidelines should no longer be put in things like a jump a roo and other walkers and activity centres. I still had parents saying 'do it any way' or I never bothered checking...

I'm amazed that facebook could possibly make anyones life better, particularly a kids.

why are you amazed about that lowenergy? It's a social network much like MN only you can do more on it...

Hi There,

I actually studied this as part of my degree!

The problem with childeren being on social sites it's they simply don't understand just how easy it is to trace them by the things they do and say.

Writing something as simple as they went on a school trip to the zoo today can actually give away thier identity! I know that seems really far fetched but it has been done many many times.

I have never used social sites myself untill recently, I have family in the US, Australia and elsewhere so i set up a page and put every secutrity setting on the site to hi, you can't find me on any lists or do any searches to get my page. And I put photos of my son on it and post little updates on how he is doing. At the moment he is two. When he is ten he will be allowed to sit with me and read comments (after I've been on without him).

Children under 13 should not have thier own page. Once they reach 13 parents have to share a page with thier child to teach them how to be safe.

It is a tricky thing because you need and want to keep your child safe, but they also have to be exposed to it to learn how.

For those of you who have worked out who I am but what I've typed sssshhhhhh!

I would imagine that whilst some parents flaunt the rules because they feel they know better, there are equally as many who flaunt the rules because they don't have the willpower or authority to enforce them.

And for those of you that suspect I Am a child by how awful my typing and spelling is, I'm very sorry!

Theladyevenstar Why did you opena different account if you could simply block the offending person?

Those that say you may as well let children do it as at least they're doing it at home and you can keep an eye on them..Well I agree to a certain extent with that, I do want my DCs to be able to tell me what they're doing and I will make each decision based on its merits as it comes. However, My DC at present, have no alternative internet access so it would be inpossible for them to do it without me knowing. I would also like to think that my DC would not go behind my back when I have said no, especially when they're under 13.

For starters DS1 uses his laptop in the living room only so i can always see whay he is doing, there is no chance to hide it.

And secondly i opened a new account when he asked me to change his name on it to DP's surname as well since we have changed it in RL.

TBH I cannot actually remember when he was last on it other than to play a game.

Agree with you, Whatnot.
I also make decisions about what is or is not acceptable based on the information available.
I will only do this within any guidelines issued however, for example a 15 rated film is completely off limits, regardless of my own feelings about it's content.

Rules are generally adhered to in my house as I feel allowing rule bending in some areas encourages children to believe it is acceptable in other situations.

I am the first to rail against the stupidity of people who claim Facebook causes all the ills in the world such as getting people abducted and causing otherwise strong marriages to break up as if by magic.

But there is an age restruction (isn't there?) and, as with all age restrictions, it is there for a reason.

And, as with all age restrictions, people will try to break it to prove how big and clever they are, thus proving the opposite.

I would not dream of allowing my child to have a FB account before 13yrs...in fact, even then I would keep a close eye on what information they put on it/what pages or profiles they view. I am constantly amazed at the kind of info people put on FB about themselves and their children not to mention how easy it is to browse through photos of people you don't even know.....and it's frightening what information can be picked up from seemingly innocent pics....the name of a school on a uniform jumper....., name of a street in the background...not to mention the fact that someone could fake familiarity because they can see your friends list, hometown, relatives etc....

even with proper security measures in place, young children don't always fully understand the implications of their actions and don't posess enough skills of judgement...there is a min age for a reason, and even supposedly 'mature' children are just that. Children.

UQD yup its 13.

Theladyevenstar You could have just changed his name on the same account.

Those who do have underaged children, well any age children really-Do you ensure that no one that are not on the friend list are able to access photos and information? I think that it is possible to block messages from anyone other than friends too.

Tanmu Completely agree that it is so easy to identify people from backgrounds or school logos. I just don't think its worth the risk myself.

TLES I understand that you only allow use in a family area, but that has not prevented your ds from receiving nasty messages in the past. Why do you think he is protected now? What has changed?

I struggle to see enough advantages in using FB to outweigh the risk.

Morecrack what exactly then is your solution? And how do you intend to Enforce it?