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Pro tip: If your kids are online, you should be too.
That’s one of the key messages Mia Freedman wanted to teach parents at the Family Life Forums which wrapped up recently.
Don’t be an ostrich when it comes to social media. Want more advice? Watch the video:
You can read more about the Family Life Forums on Mamamia here and here.
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Top Comments
Being 'friends' with your child on facebook may just provide a false sense of security. Any punk can create a 'secret' group with an elected group of friends. This basically acts as a private wall where photos can be posted, comments made etc.
Facebook friends outside the group would not even know it exists, let alone what is posted.
You basically need the password to access the account to know what is really going down.
Great talk - we have a rule that they must have their parents as friends on Facebook which works well and have set their privacy settings together. This is for the 21 and 17 year old ... The 13 year old is not allowed to have a page and doesn't seem that fussed however his cousin of the same age has one and his parents are the classic IT ostriches - luckily he has accepted me as his friend so I can monitor his content. I have told his parents they need to check his privacy settings but god knows if they have - they reacted like I was being a killjoy when I suggested it
21??? do they live in your house / use your computer?
Yes she does but to clarify it was the 17 year old brother that we have been stricter with however I still spent time with the daughter ensuring her privacy was protected as well as ours through her and educating her about protecting her reputation
If the 13 year old has any grasp of tech (and he may or may not) he'll have the good sense not to let you see anything that you might deem inappropriate! Being friends on FB in no way guarantees you see what they do. More important than monitoring is explaining the risks and the built in protections on various platforms. I explain responsible digital citizenship to my 9 and 6 year old kids. How not to be an arse, and what to do when other people are arses. Of the two, the first is most important. Social media has the awesome power of blocking - not something "old fashioned" interactions gave us. :)
Bit of a worry you have to treat your 21 y.o. like a child.