Hi people,

 

Ok.... my son wants facebook, the majority of his friends have it, and he keeps asking me to get signed up. But..... he is 10yrs old. His friends parents have faked the age to sign them up. Talk about peer pressure, and i am the parent!!!

What do you all think? Do you have kids that are on facebook at this age?

My wife and i are in 2 minds, we want to let our son be responsible, but at the same time, we want to ensure his safety.

 

Al. (and wife)

I wouldnt let my daughter on there until she was the correct age of 13.

Tough call Alan.....

 

Personally I don't care for Facebook. I am on there (but only by default - a girl at work set me up some time ago) but I rarely visit. There's something I don't like about putting your life on show for the world to see......

 

.......so I'd be against letting my 10 year old sign up until he's older.

 

But then I'm not a parent; so it is easier for me so say that I would not allow it in the interests of his own safety. Peer pressure forces children to grow up too quickly nowadays; and the innocence and fun of being a child is too often forgotten.

 

Just my humble opinion mate!

 

Richard:)

My other halfs lad is 10 and is on it quite a bit, he does only talk to his mates or family and i always keep an eye on him and restrict his time on facebook to a minimum.

After having a PS3 for crimbo though hes lost interest in facebook.

 

I dont like him being on there, mainly cos its my laptop he is using and i dont want anything untoward to come back and bite me, in the ass, so if you are going to allow him to go on there, keep a close eye.

 

Graham

How strange - my 10 year old daughter asked me the very same question today (she even used the line "all my friends are on it")

 

I'm in 2 minds myself....

 

Steve :)

Many thanks for your replys.

Our friends are on facebook and i think they can moniter their kids. My wife and i are not, and not really interested in it at all, so we can not moniter our son on this website.

You are totally right Kim, 13 yrs is the minimum age.

(Wise words Richard, as always. Thanks matey)

 

 

Al.

as long as its only people he knows to talk to i dont think theres a problem...you'll just have to keep an eye on him...

why dont you monitor it , let him on it but you have to log in etc you password it then you can keep a eye on what he is up to ,

also private every thing, if it was a girl then id tell her to w8 untill the proper age but a boy should be fine

I wouldn't personally, to me Facebook e.t.c are free voluntary surveilance tools. Too many people being sacked from jobs, caught out in photos for me to trust something like that, not like I do anything I shouldn't, but it is big brother re-packaged.

I've heard there are viruses floating round on it through e-mail.. If I had a 10 year old I wouldn't expose them to it just yet, it's just a fad anyways.. I don't think any good will come of facebook..

as long as you tell him not to allow any friends untill you approve, its no worse than letting them play out, its the school plaground in the safe confines of the house

 

is there not any parental controls on facebook, i doubt he will say anything on there that he wouldnt say in person

 

as you have said, al his friends are on there so who is he gonna talk to???, will only be the friends from school

 

my niece is on it, she is 13 incidentally, but she was bought a laptop for chrimbo for the fact that she has to use it in the living room or wherever her parents are so they can have a sly look over her shoulde rto see what she is doinf, she only plays games that they send to each other

 

no harm done if monitered

Edited February 27, 201015 yr by stellaZ

My 12yr old daughter uses it all the time, we have the login details an check from time to time, no harm done she only has friends and family on her list and if I don't agree with anyone on there a few clicks an they dissapear.

like most of us has said , as long as you keep a eye on him its fine nothing to worring

I personally wouldn't let any child up to the age of 18yrs use any of those chat rooms. It can lead to Bullying and even worse (predators can view your info and pretend to be kids etc) There are some truly nasty people in this world who are willing to exploit these sites to groom youngsters, even if monitored !!

 

Just my opinion.

I personally wouldn't let any child up to the age of 18yrs use any of those chat rooms. It can lead to Bullying and even worse (predators can view your info and pretend to be kids etc) There are some truly nasty people in this world who are willing to exploit these sites to groom youngsters, even if monitored !!

 

Just my opinion.

 

yeah but if you pick his friends and check they are legit then this shouldnt happen. facebook have loads of privacy features so that would fade that out.

i made my sister wait til her 13th bday (just weeks ago) and i kinda keep an eye on her profile - just to make sure everything looks ok on there.

I wouldn't personally mate, there is enough crap on there.

What i'm saying is that people sometimes put too much faith in website security and end up posting personal info that can be used. Only last month didn't it open everyones profile to the public:no: and people had to reset their privacy settings:blush:. I deal with human parasites everyday and you'd be shocked by the stuff they've done to people. I wouldn't let my children play in the front garden for years as it was too close to a main road where they could be taken and thrown into a car! People are too trusting and think it will never happen to them. Maybe the job has me paranoid, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean their not out to get you:shifty:.

im not a father but i am a regular facebook user although im not one of the people who's updating their status every ten minutes and posting everything about their life. it's not facebook that's the risk, its the people on the other end who use it - if you can control who they add as friends and what they post then it shouldn't be too bad - but then all the fun is taken away from it so what would be the point...?

re: viruses - I know there are always hoax emails going around saying 'dont add such and such person because theyre a hacker' or 'dont open that email because its a virus' - Ive never heard of one actually being a real virus and I don't believe that viruses can be spread through facebook messages, although I await to be corrected.

you can set his facebook page up so that only his friend can view it mate.

So that way you know its just his friends on seeing his pics etc.

Then why dont you create one and become his friend just pop on know and then keep an eye on him.