Child's Facebook Page

I am their friend and i have their passwords. Not all teenagers are mortified by their momma's...lol!

Yes and yes, IF that child is old enough to even have a Facebook page. child has to know that at any given time--for as long as he is a minor--parents can at any time view whatever he's got going on online. That is the condition of having the privilege--not the RIGHT, but the PRIVILEGE.

I am friends with my 19 yr old. One tip I have is never ever under any circumstances post anything on thier wall! They hate that. No "good luck honey, have a great day, good luck on your math exam" and no no no commeting on what the friends say. If one of thier friends uses foul or provocative language, just file that away in the "keep an eye on that kid" drawer. The more kids get embrassed or feel we are hovering, the more privacy controls they put up and the less you get to see.

Since we have older teens, hubby and other assorted adults from our circle are friends on their pages. We monitor often and frequently.

I completely agree with Heather P. My 8th grade son got a facebook page about 6 months ago. We are friends on facebook, but I realize I can't see everything unless I login to his account. He's a great kid, but it's sometimes enlightening to see what others post. So far, nothing objectionable has been posted, but he knows that if anything too startling is posted (his friends drinking or something of the sort), I will go to their parents. That was the agreement we made when he was first allowed to get a facebook page. I hope their parents would do the same if they found out something about my son. So far, so good. :)

we didn't let our kids have one until high school. Yes I am their friend and yes I have their password. They know I check to see who they chat with and what they are talking about. I do that with their phones as well.

My children do not have fb. Neither do I.
My kids do have email accounts and I do monitor those. If they tried to do anything behind our backs, hubby gently reminds them that he can hack into anything.

Both my 10 yr old and my 16 yr old have fb and so do I. I am friends with them as well as friends with most of there friends. I do have the passwords and I do go into there accounts and check things from time to time.

Not all teens have issues with there parents being there friends. My girls could care less and I do tag them in pictures and they dont have a problem with it. Every now and then I will be asked, please dont put that on fb and I will honor their wishes.

As far as me being friends with there friends, that is not because of me, most of them requested me to be their friend not the other way around. I know my girls friends pretty well and I have made a point of being very involved from the time they were in preschool.

It probably doesnt hurt that I am a self proclaimed fb addict. So they know I see it all.

At the very least, you should be a "friend". However, I would recommend AGAINST child facebook pages. I know a girl in middle school who has a facebook page. I told her I was surprised she was allowed to have one. She told me that it was OK because she put in her birthdate to make it look like she was 21. And then she turns around and posts her entire class schedule on her facebook page to see who else has the same classes. So now all her friends and friends of friends, and who knows who else knows where she is every school day. She's a smart kid, but this was clearly not the brightest move she's made. :)

My daughter is 8 yrs old and does NOT get on Facebook. My older two didn't have a Face Book page until they were way into HS...yes, we were friends on their page, Yes, we had their passwords.

Friends with my middle schooler, not my high school or college kids (they would die of embarrassment being friends with their mom, lol!) They are friends with the extended family though (aunts, uncles, etc) so it's easy enough to spy on them if I want to.

Just wanted to let you know that even if you are "friends" with your child, that doesn't mean you can see everything they post or everything their friends post about them. For example, they can go into their settings so that you can't view certain posts or pictures where they are tagged. Also, your child's friends can go into their settings and restrict it so that only your child could view posts they put on your child's wall. In other words, just because you can see your child's wall by being their friend that doesn't necessarily mean you can see everything.

The other option is to ask your child for their password. Therefore, you could view it whenever you want and your child would know that anything they would not want their mom to see probably shouldn't be online for the world to see. The only downfall is I know some kids now have 2 accounts. One that the parents/family can view and one that is for their friends.

As a parent, I am really shocked by what kids put on their facebook page. My children are 6 and 2 so I don't know how I will handle facebook/twitter/or whatever new website comes up when they are in middle school. I guess my worry is even if I have really good kids, how can I protect them from some of the inappropriateness of Facebook. Thank goodness Facebook didn't exist when I was in school! It appears to be a lot of drama for some kids (for example: bullying).

I also agree that privacy is a privilege and not a right.

Not only am I her friend and have her password, I set it up and set the security to what I wanted. I also friended two of her aunts and her grandmother. Now she is also mature for her age and very responsible. She knows that I monitor everything and will shut it down if I fell I need to. Now with her younger brother he will have to be much older than his sister is now before he gets ones because I trust him less.
I really think think it depends on the kid.

My oldest is almost 13 and has a facebook. BUT he does not know his password yet. Only I do. Eventually I will let him have it but he knows just like his texts that I read all incoming and outgoing that will not change. I am also friends with him and so is most of our family.

totally agree with Heather P.

that extends past FB as well...

My older kids, 16 and 14 have one, and yes, at one time did have their password, and yes, I am friends with them as well as other family members...
I have lost their passwords and feel they are pretty good kids that I don't need them. They still know I can see everything they put on there, so they aren't going to post things that we'd have a problem with... They will hand over their cell phones if ever asked, so they watch what they say too. I talk a lot to them about the opposite sex and what they may do or try to do, they are smart kids.

Ohhhh Facebook! I have my daughter's password, and SHE DOESN'T. Our agreement is that I will monitor her facebook page and her friends on facebook. I realize it's a matter of time before she realizes she can create another facebook account, but when she does, I will know because the activity on her current account will decrease. She and I have an agreement regarding social media. I will check in to her account and cast my watchful eye over the real life of the American pre-teen (in our case) and she will understand that I do so out of concern for her safety and to patrol the developing character qualities her friends might be hiding from adults. We are a very close family and as changes occur, I don't want to be out of the loop with her or her friends. I don't presume that she'll let me choose her friends for her (if only...) but as parents, we know we have great influence over the direction our children pursue...and that includes what qualities they seek out in their choice of friends. It gives me insight and a bit more security, while granting her this measure of social freedom.

My daughter is 16. I know her password, we are not friends on FB.

I might check it once a week or so.

A lot of kids are moving to Twitter now. Daughter has an account on the private settings so no one can "follow" her without her allowing it.