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Parenting

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20 replies

PQR · 07/05/2011 22:58

I know the rules say you have to be 13 before you can open an account.
Dd is eight and I know several of her friends have an account.
There is no way I will let her, certainly at this age but it does seem that the age restriction is not followed.
How old have your dc been before they have had a Facebook account.
Thank you, she is driving me mad and seems to think if she goes on long enough i'll change my mind :)

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GypsyMoth · 07/05/2011 23:01

she thinks that eh?? well get tough now,and stay tough,because teen years are ahead of you,and you will need to be in control for those!!!

cece · 07/05/2011 23:05

I have noticed quite a lot of DD's class have an account. They are Year 5. DD is not allowed one though.

BrawToken · 07/05/2011 23:10

Mine was 12 when she got hers. I have her password and go on her user and check her friends, tinker with her privacy and generally snoop around (she's now 13). Lots of her friends have accounts and some have had since primary and she badgered me for approximately 2 years before I caved in felt she was mature enough.

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thisisyesterday · 07/05/2011 23:12

i know a couple of people who have let their kids of 7 upwards have accounts, but it's only to play games on (farmville and things like that)
they're supervised and don't actually use the social side of it at all

mumof2beebies · 07/05/2011 23:38

my sister is 11 and her and every single one of her friends have an account, it's the norm, they can be warned about privacy and perverts

Mummyloveskisses · 07/05/2011 23:41

My son is 13yrs and I let him have an account at 12 after a year of insisting he would be waiting until he was 16 and would then be old enough for some of the content on there. As an adult I find it shocking to see naked pictures of men and women and sometimes in lude positions on quizzes my friends take. Its not good enough if your child isn't allowed to do the quizzes because if a friend of theirs can it will appear on your childs wall, any user can make a quiz up and if your child clicks it, it will then say it requires access to her friends list, pictures and account details to allow her to take quiz which children don't see as a problem (and most adults too) and by clicking your are letting that creator see your account etc

Putting it clearer anyone dodgy can make a quiz called ''Is your best friend really prettier than you'' your DD clicks it and the creator then has access to everything on your DD account.

My son only got access sooner because I bought him a phone for his 12th birthday which does have access to FB but doesn't show pictures on it or adverts so his conditions of having a FB account are I set it up and only I know the password, he is only allowed to use it on his phone, he is only allowed to have friends he actually knows in person, he isn't allowed to play games on there (the games ask for the same access to your account) or answer quizzes. He uses it purely as a contact with his mates. He has a PS3 if he wants to play games.

smoggii · 08/05/2011 12:47

I think i might go down the 'I don't approve of lying' route.

To open an account you have to give your DoB and tell her it's never appropriate to lie...even to the lovely people of Facebook.

crazycarol · 08/05/2011 20:34

It is a tricky one because if you say "no" what is to stop them doing it behind your back? While I certainly agree with Smoggii's point about lying, I did allow my dd to have one when she was about 11 (can't actually remember exactly when!), but used it as an opportunity to educate etc. I also joined so I could keep an eye on what she was doing.

And mummyloveskisses, I have NEVER seen naked men or women on facebook, I must be looking on the wrong pages!

cyb · 08/05/2011 20:51

I would resist Fb for as long as poss. it is easy for them to be addicted. I woudl ahve thought Club Penguin more suitable for children that age tbh

We have just banned dd (15) from her lap top as FB was taking over completely and she woudl spend hours mesaging girls who she had only seen on hour before at school!

Mummyloveskisses · 08/05/2011 21:24

crazycarol Maybe I just have the wrong sort of friends

Original poster

PQR · 08/05/2011 22:30

Thanks everyone:)
She is definately not getting it, I was thinking more at the start of Secondary, just wanted to hear others experiences.
The rule in our house is that I know all her passwords, she is already on club penguin and moshi monsters and if she goes onto other sites then her laptop will be mine !

OP posts:

Mummyloveskisses · 08/05/2011 23:10

DS1 was on Club Penguin until he went to secondary school and then he was too grown up lol

I love "The rule in our house is that I know all her passwords... ...and if she goes onto other sites then her laptop will be mine !" its nice to meet someone who parents like me :)

BehindLockNumberNine · 08/05/2011 23:19

Ds will be 12 in August. He is one of very few out of his peer group at school (year 7 at local secondary school) to not have Fb yet.

However, I joined it a few weeks ago so I could suss out how everything works, how to set privacy settings etc.

I am planning on letting him have it just before his 12th birthday. So he can stay in touch with school friends during the summer holiday as I gather most get-togethers are planned on Fb.
But, it will be on the condition he plays NO games, does NOT take part in surveys, sets his privacy settings to the max, only befriends people he knows and I have to know the password and be his friend on it so I keep an eye on what he is doing.

He is a lovely boy but somewhat naive and I want to watch over him whilst he is on it. Just to make sure...

MCos · 10/05/2011 23:33

DD1 is 9, and avid Moshi Monster fan. So far, no requests from her for facebook. Several of my nieces are on FB, but generally started around 11. I am thinking FB OK for 11-12 age group, but not before.

cat64 · 10/05/2011 23:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Fizzylemonade · 11/05/2011 07:52

Quoted from an article "Until their 18th birthday, minors between 13 and 17 on Facebook don?t have public search listings created for them, and the visibility of their information is limited to friends of friends and networks. However, the limited visibility doesn?t apply to their names, profile pictures, gender, usernames and networks, which are visible to everyone, Facebook states on its website?s privacy section"

FB collects data on its users and their on-line habits. It is illegal in most countries to collect data on minors under the age of 13.

There is a reason FB has a minimum age. Any games played on FB as mummyloveskisses rightly points out allows the creator of the game or survey access to way too much info on your child. child being the operative word.

HSMM · 11/05/2011 08:30

I let my DD have her own facebook account (closely monitored by me) when she started Secondary School, because I figured that if I didn't do this, she could very easily set herself up without telling me and then I would have no supervision of what she was doing. I do generally trust her, but peer pressure is a powerful thing. She has been using it for 6 months now and just shares general drivel with her school friends and seems to have married several of her girl friends online . I set up all her privacy settings and check them periodically to make sure they are up to date.

zsazsa123 · 11/05/2011 14:12

my dd has had facebook since she was in y6 now in y7 and as long as you as a parent monitor it on a very regular basis and know password etc think its ok

bruffin · 11/05/2011 14:34

"FB collects data on its users and their on-line habits. It is illegal in most countries to collect data on minors under the age of 13."

I think you will probably find, that it's illigal to collect data without parents permission . FB will allow under 13's to have an account if their parents email and ask for it.

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 11/05/2011 14:36

DS1 and dss2 are 11 and 10 respectively; everyone at their school has an account

They don't

I say they will appreciate why when they are old enough to get it, and until they are old enough to get it they are too young to get FB

This confuses them enough to give me time to run away

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