Should a 13 year old have a Facebook account?

robpw2

as for giving you my number - i guess considering i know nothing about you and we have never spoken till today it means i really ought to give you it ..........what was it mummy said about trusting strangers ??......

pigpen

robpw2 wrote: »

as for giving you my number - i guess considering i know nothing about you and we have never spoken till today it means i really ought to give you it ..........what was it mummy said about trusting strangers ??......

Oh they don't come much stranger than me. But I'm nice.. and in FB land that is enough

And this guy is a brother of a friend of a friend of my sister..

patchwork_cat

thriftlady wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone. Do those of you whose kids have accounts end up spending a lot of time looking at their friends' accounts? It's sounding a bit time consuming tbh.

My argument is that he sees his friends all the time anyway, that has their mobile numbers and email addresses, why does he need yet another way to communicate? But then, I expect I'm an antisocial misery :)

I don't spend much time checking my 12 yr old DD's a/c, I am her friend have no choice i needed her for Farmville! I check who her friends are and if I don't recognise a name I ask her who is that? I check her wall etc.She knows not to accept anyone she doesn't actually know.
http://www.ceop.gov.uk/
Have a look at this website for internet safety for children .

robpw2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

I am her friend have no choice i needed her for Farmville!.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Greenlight77

My DS aged 13 uses Facebook as does at least 70/80% of his year group. He mainly uses it just for games but thankfully doesn't use it excessively. We have his log in details so can check up who his friends are which I do from time to time, mainly when he leaves himself logged on the computer.

Beware of on line bullying though via Facebook. Someone in his year started a Facebook group "we hate xxxxx" (most groups are harmless nonsense but this one wasn't). Luckily the school found out about it and it was sorted out very quickly and the initiator and those who joined it had heavy detentions. DS had the sense not to join it but they need to be aware of the dangers and consequences.

System

Let hi have one and supervise it.

The more you tell them you can't have the forbidden fruit that is facebook the more likely they are to go behind your back and do it anyway.

thriftlady_2

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Let hi have one and supervise it.

The more you tell them you can't have the forbidden fruit that is facebook the more likely they are to go behind your back and do it anyway.

I haven't told him he can't have one. I've told him I don't know anything about it but I'll find out.

shellsuit

My kids are on facebook ~ son is nearly 14 and daughter is 12.

Daughter is on my friends list so I can see what she puts on hers and I know her password anyway if I ever did want to go into the account.

Son has it, but won't add me as a friend ("don't be sad, you're my Mum!"), but what he doesn't know is that I can see his Wall posts, and it's just mainly crap he puts on there about COD games.

Daughter knows there are weirdos around and has told me in the past when people have wanted to add her but she doesn't know them.

There are some girls on there who are my sons age and I am totally shocked by the pics they add and the Wall posts and status's from them. What makes me laugh is that some of these girls have their Mums as their friends, so God knows whats going on in their parents heads if they can actually see the filth on the accounts!

Silveralice

My daughters are 11 and 15 and both have FB accounts, as do I. I am friends with both of them and keep a loose eye on what's going on that way. By the age of 15, I think it would be very hard for my older DD socially if she wasn't on it, as almost everyone else she knows is. Some teenagers certainly do post unwise things, but those are the ones who are also doing the unwise things... My 11 year old doesn't do anything worrying on FB at the moment, she is only friends with real life people she knows, and spends most of her time playing things like Farmville with girls she used to go to school with. There are quite a few parents who, like me, are on FB and keep a loose eye on what's going on, so I have found there to be enough supervision that anything unwise gets stamped on pretty quickly. We are currently organising a French exchange for older DD and have found FB a great way of getting to know the other family. I agree that I'd rather know they are on it and what they are doing than say they can't and have them on there behind my back, as I know some of their friends have done. I would say that if your son is sensible and you have a good relationship with him generally, there is no reason for him not to be on there. The majority of his classmates probably are. Good luck!

patchwork_cat

shellsuit wrote: »

My kids are on facebook ~ son is nearly 14 and daughter is 12.

Daughter is on my friends list so I can see what she puts on hers and I know her password anyway if I ever did want to go into the account.

Son has it, but won't add me as a friend ("don't be sad, you're my Mum!"), but what he doesn't know is that I can see his Wall posts, and it's just mainly crap he puts on there about COD games.

Daughter knows there are weirdos around and has told me in the past when people have wanted to add her but she doesn't know them.

There are some girls on there who are my sons age and I am totally shocked by the pics they add and the Wall posts and status's from them. What makes me laugh is that some of these girls have their Mums as their friends, so God knows whats going on in their parents heads if they can actually see the filth on the accounts!

Now COD is 18!!! unlike facebook!