Suitable UK chat site for 10 year old?

square_bear

Hi

My son would like to join a chat site to talk to other kids about any general stuff.

He likes Club Penguin, Football, Music and crafts.

Which sites are genuine, safe and interesting for his age group?

Thanks.

Doodette

I personally wouldn't let either of my kids near a chat room of any description squarebear, We are a very internet friendly family, my kids are allowed a fair amount of freedom on the net provided they act sensibly and we do check :P. This is not about trusting your kids on the net, it is about not being able to trust the people on the other end, there is no site that will only allow kids to sign up or that will be able to pick up on a bogus profile. I come from a gaming background with loads of "friends" that I speak to regularly and I myself wouldn't use a chat room.

I am sure there are some really friendly and welcoming places to meet and talk to like minded people, but I wouldn't let a child into one. That is just a personal opinion, I am sure there are many parents who will allow their kids use chat rooms and totally disagree with me, it comes down to weighing up the pros and cons and deciding if you want to let him.

debitcardmayhem

Peer pressure, ends up with more pressure and not always the right kind. I cannot talk from experience but what's wrong with the chat room, which appears to have disappeared, the dining room table over a family meal. Having friends round and going round to their's too,at least you know they are real kids. I am not trying to lecture at all, but when you were young did you have a mobile phone, a PC and a console, I didn't even have a football but still played footie, I did have a cricket bat and a catapult(sorry mam, I lied).

We were told then that there are all sorts of strange people are out there, in this day and age you cannot really rely on the fact that "kids" are really that on a site. Having watched tonight's Panorama I feel that too many of today's youngsters have very little common sense(I wonder why?), web sites are full of people that are not what they claim to be, me included I guess.

Perhaps there is another section of the forums that may help better than me, and the techie board, but again not all of them are what they claim to be.
Sorry for being so negative

InDebtToEverydayLiving

This is a little strict perhaps on my part but I will not allow my two kids (11 and 12) near a chat room or social networking site. They can take friends phone numbers, they can text their mates on their own simple handsets IF and ONLY IF they tell me the moment something is said that they're not happy with. This is purely so I can monitor 'bullying' etc.

I work on customers machines all day being asked to check machines and report back to parents etc and I can honestly say that the crap that people do to each other mentally and verbally is disgusting.

Kids are the worst for it too.

square_bear

Thanks for the replies.

Point taken.

We as a family do talk together on a regular basis, and I don't want that to change.

But yes, I will have to think again about letting him use a chatroom.
Because of the darker evenings, outdoor play is limited.

I think it's time to refocus on his real interests.

A.Penny.Saved

I don't have children but if I did I wouldn't let them near a chatroom. You never know who they are talking to and what appears okay at first sight might be anything but. Such people are experts at gaining trust and deceiving people. The next thing you know, your kid could be off out to meet this person they believe to be another child after being told something by them to prevent them from telling you. It's far too risky IMO.

I'm surprised at how much freedom some parent's give their children on the net.

They often allow their children to use their PC's and windows user accounts which means the browsers are likely to contain all the cookies and flash cookies that the adults pick up while browsing. That alone could expose them to things that I would say could be inappropriate for a child. A browser and advertisers have profiles of the type of person using a computer to server advertising. A Male 25-35 is likely to get different adverts served than a child. They might not be appropriate. It can all depend upon the sites visited too. A wrongly typed word in a search engine and a inquisitive click and before you know it they are being shown !!!!!!.

My brother does a similar thing with his seven year old daughter, allowing her to use his windows logins to browse the internet. I mentioned it to him and his wife and they didn't have a clue and didn't realise.

paulofessex

Just wondering if Skype would be a good for what your looking for, however perhaps only for his circle of friends at school, cousins and perhaps aunts and uncles.

WhiteHorse

square_bear wrote: »

Hi

My son would like to join a chat site to talk to other kids about any general stuff.Which sites are genuine, safe and interesting for his age group?

Firstly, at that age, none of them. Secondly, if that's his way of socialising with other children, you have a problem.

square_bear

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Firstly, at that age, none of them. Secondly, if that's his way of socialising with other children, you have a problem.

I was only asking a general question about chat foums for kids, thinking that at least sites like Club Penguin are relatively safe enough for him to use.

He socialises with other children really well and is a bright lad.

He was curious about these things that others at school are members of and talk about.
We had our doubts and were very careful about what we allowed him to use, hence the question that I have posted.

bluesnake

A good few years ago my friends son (13) took part in chat rooms that included video cameras with other kids as they played Quake?. One day on entering the room his son was playing against a 40+ year old, and at best wearing no shirt.

That guys IP was very quickly blocked.

Personally, like others, would generally keep children away from chat rooms

Lifeforms

Against all of the other replies, I'm going to say good on you for actively knowing, and perusing suitable chat sites.

Chat sites for young kids are very very different from the Chat sites that we all know of, heard about, experienced etc. pervy, seedy, and dangerous are 3 words that come to mind. Equally the actual child suitable (not friendly) chat sites, borne from, and designed for young children in mind can be a useful educational tool about different people, different cultures etc. They should all have filters for addresses, behaviours, actions, words etc. Thus said parents need to do what they would do in real life; police it, monitor it, and know if their kids are talking strangers which could be a predator.

Take a look at this recent article on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16836318
It considers Club Penguin to reasonably "safe" although as anyone will tell you, nothing is 100% safe. Whilst that article deals with moving on from Club Penguin to the likes of facebooks for younger children, it has a paragraph or two regarding Club Penguin that explains what it is, what it's set up like, and how it tries to protect kids.

Basically stick with Club Penguin for a long time, it's specifically designed for what it is.

I'm just gunna sit here and wait for the throwing of yucky stuff for even daring to go against the grain and say that kids should use chat sites.