Class chat messaging

[Black101]

do you let your children message in a year group message chat? I found hundreds of messages over a weekend on my daughters iPad some were inappropriate, one child is messaging saying she hates my daughter privately then messaging as part of the group chat causing arguments. Another child is writing very very long messages and posting every couple of minutes about boys she fancies and goading my daughter into a relationship with a boy in this group. my daughter is a young nine year old in nature compared to the girl leading this group who is very controlling and has become a new best friend recently. Bit worried where it’s heading. Any advice?? Had a long chat about bfs, appropriate online behaviour, peer pressure, blocked the girl that said she hates my daughter and have taken the iPad away for now. As parents we are horrified, we have grown up children but they didn’t use internet or mobile phones until about age 13 it seems a different world ten years on. Looking for advice not judgment

You say no judgment but why did you think it was in any way appropriate to give your 9 year old an iPad and not pay very close attention to what was happening???

I’m interested to read the responses you get here. I’ve got a ten year old (year 6). He only has the phone numbers of two children from his year who he hardly messages, less than once a month. He isn’t in any group chats. He doesn’t seem to care that he isn’t in them and hasn’t asked to be. He doesn’t ask for other kids numbers etc. I know when he starts senior school in September this may change. I don’t know what I will do if this sort of thing happens then so I’m interested to see what others say. Hope your daughter is ok.

9 yo too young for class group chats, nothing good can come out of them

9?! No, take it off her. She’s way too young. I don’t let my 13 year old be in whole class group chats

Teach your kids to leave any big groups.

Good luck

9 year olds aren't mature enough to have unsupervised access to the internet. Especially since you say your child is immature for her age.

Have you checked her internet history? Predators pretend to be children and hang out in children's forums and games to groom them OP. Bullying is rife online and with some apps you can't keep track of what they're sending each other.

I'm a primary school teacher, and group chats in years 5 and 6 cause an awful lot of problems. I'm always horrified by how little they are monitored by parents.

Nine is way too young for group chats online.

No. I wouldn’t allow this. My elder two children (one now a young adult and the other late teens) had smartphones at a young age and having seen the outcome of that, I refuse to allow my two younger children to have one until they’re much older.
There is absolutely no benefit to allowing a child that age to have a phone, use social media or be part of group chats. If you speak to any teacher, they’ll tell you the problems they cause within year groups in terms of bullying, mental health issues, and children accessing inappropriate content.
The only responsible thing you can do here is remove your daughters access to the device.

Ds is nearly 12 and still no phone. I saw what it did to his older siblings with Snapchat and class groups etc so we are holding off. I would take your 9 year old off it op. It’s toxic at that age. Toxic at any age really but 9 is so young.