Kids can do crazy things, things we wish they wouldn’t. As a parent I have to say I get a window on my kids activities by their personal pages. I am going to share some of my own family guidelines with you on the use of social networking sites that I have for my own kids.
First for my college freshman. I have recommended that for now he should set his Facebook page up as private and only to be seen by people he authorizes. I reminded him that funny photos doing silly things may come back to haunt him. I don’t necessarily mean the photo of him coming out of our dryer in the laundry room, but I do mean ones where he may not doing something that I would approve of. Periodically I check his Facebook page not to rant, but to give guidance and to know what he is doing. He and is friends are into mud sledding (mudding) right now. But if I see something questionable, I do phone and just remind him of not showing himself in the best light. We have a great relationship and I try to be a mentor now that he is on his own.
For my three small fry (age 12) all social networking sites and instant messaging programs are off limits. I am not allowing this type of interaction at this age. I feel that they can connect with kids and chat online at Fiesta, but beyond that I say no to MySpace and Facebook.
For some weird reason their age group is wanting to IM using Skype instead of AOL AIM, but I am not letting them do this at this time. What I have found from my big kid I am using to help my little kids. Instant messaging can be a huge distractor from homework. I have even institute computer time controls as I have found that it is very easy for them to be addicted to being online and I feel that at their age they need one-on-one interaction and socialization from clubs and activities offline.