Kids on facebook?

Honestly, I've talked to my son about being online like I talk to him about drugs and alcohol.

Gaming/internet addiction is prolly one of greatest hidden causes of high school failure/college dropout for males. 

As parents, most of us have our heads in the sand when it comes to our kids being online/gaming. 

I actually appreciate the FB rules because it allows me to give my kids a reason.  My oldest 2 are 17 and 20 and rarely post anything on FB.  The younger 3 are 10, 9 and 5.  No FB.  My 17 year old just got his own computer.  I am shocked that parents are really so permissive when it comes to computers, computer/video games, cell phones etc.  They don't want to be the bad guy, I don't mind, I'm the Mom not the friend.

My daughter will be 13 in August and then she can get a page. I think she has the maturity to handle it now, but it is a violation of the FB TOS. We want to teach her about agreements/lying/etc. When she gets a page we'll teach about how to behave online.

In your case, I wonder what you mean by "called her on it." It seems a good idea to inform her (who reads the TOS anyway? ) rather then turn her in as suggested above. Maybe you said something that set her off.

We caught the twins on FB at age 11....their accounts were about 6 days old.  

If I remember correctly the beatings lasted a day longer. 

Just report the profile and the pictures.  If she won't hear it from you, she'll definately hear facebook admins.

Sigh....This is a big issue here as well. I teach fifth graders, and nearly all of them have a Facebook account. They aren't allowed to access it at school, but I overhear discussions about postings, and one kid did a survey about it, so I know the rate is about 75%. Yes, it's against the site policy but there is no way for them to check unless we contact the site and report everyone.

It is really parents' responsibility to follow the site rules and make their kids follow them. We do talk with kids and parents about Internet safety and the importance of NOT putting address, birthday, and other identifying information that could help a predator or criminal locate the student or steal identity, or of meeting Facebook "friends" in person for the first time without a parent present. (It would not occur to my students that the "friend" could turn out to be an adult predator rather than the child he/she claims to be.) It shocks me that a parent would post her daughter's driver's license and birthday online--practically an invitation to identity theft. I think in many cases parents either don't have the time to monitor their kids' Internet use or are not as net-savvy as their kids. Many kids will lie and say they're using the computer for homework when in fact they're on Facebook or gaming sites. And yes, as a teacher I see a definite negative correlation between reported screen time and academics, especially reading level.

My gut feeling is that Facebook is NOT a good idea for kids below HS age. Most don't have the judgement to post appropriate content, the time management skills to balance their online time with academics and other demands, or the emotional maturity to handle inappropriate or hurtful comments. Every year our school deals with several such incidents--although they occur outside of school, we have to address them as they affect the kids' emotional well-being and ability to relate to each other in the classroom.  I do know a few familes that have a family page and post together about travels, etc.--in my mind much more appropriate for tweens.

I tried to report it but couldn't.  The report page has a bunch of fields that are all required, including the email address the account was set-up under.  I'm not the kid's friend so I can't see that info.  Maybe I'm missing something.

I don't really know the kid that well, so I can't judge on if he's one of those "mature" kids that can handle it.  But I do know his mom, and she's, well, like I said she posted a picture of her daughter's DL for all to see on fb (which she rapidly took down after I pointed out that just maybe that might not be a smart idea).

I probably shouldn't care but this is my family and even though I'm not particularly close with my cousin or even know her kids that well I wouldn't want anything stupid to happen to them.  Also, I just don't understand why people can't follow rules.

As a parent who regrets letting their gets get facebook pages around 13 yrs old, I encourage everyone to read Hotrunner's post above.

Not just the obvious safety (photo and personal info posts), but the info they get...crazy.  I believe it really desensitizes them to things that would have (properly) been otherwise taboo for them, and emboldens them to behaviors/language that in a vastly increased way compared to what they get from in in person peer to peer pressure.  Think:  Mob Mentality. 

2nd Hotrunner's comments.  With a niece who grew up way too fast with neglectful parents, it's bad enuf the knee jerk texting that goes on (her boyfriend dumped her via text <sigh> but the FB posting I'd see on her page from "friends" was outrageous.  And it's all a contest to see who has the most friends.  My niece has something like 1,000 "friends" and she's 16.  Really?

The privacy controls are hard enough for educated adults to figure out, let alone tweens / teens, I'm certain her photos and comments have been seen by myriad of people she has no idea.   

I bite my tongue for the very reason stated -- oh right, I have no kids so I have no common sense and no idea how one would raise a child.  mua ha ha ha ha ha.  I'd rather have access to her page and be able to give her some guidance than be kicked off like grandma b/c "she keeps telling my mom what I post on FB"

All I can say is I am ever grateful FaceBook, email, texting, IMing wasn't around during my misspent youth of the '70s and '80s to come back to haunt me.
 

Exactly.

Argh...

One of my nieces has had a FB account for 7 years or so.  She turned 16 in November.  Her mom even helped her set it up!  

2 of my nephews, different parents, have a joint FB page, ONLY for games, they can't even post anything.  The younger one is 6 and the eldest is 9 I think.  They are highly supervised, but I think the only reason they have it is because they saw their mom and dad and older sister (who is 16, a month older than her cousin) playing FB games.

Although I fully admit I'm not the greatest parent either - my 5 year old like to play Disney Jr or PBS Kids online too.  Which is all she's allowed to use computer for.

Yes

It's not really your business and pointing something like this out steps on toes.  Sometimes it's better to keep things to yourself unless you saw something on there that was concerning like a 23 year old creepy guy posting on the wall or something.