(no subject)
I told my 12 year old (will be 13 in June) son that he was too young for a MySpace account, and couldn't have one until he was 14 (which is also MySpace's rules). I've let him get around Internet age limits before, like to get a Yahoo email account (for which you're supposed to be 13) but MySpace is, IMHO, a stinking cesspool of crap, and I'd prefer he stays out of it for as long as possible. I let him tool around the Internet, but his computer is out in the den where I can try to keep an eye on him.
I noticed this morning that he had password protected his login on his computer. I changed the password and logged on as him, to find out that he has a MySpace account. I'm really disappointed, he's always been a really great kid, but he's heading into teenagerhood and a lot of things have changed lately - all of a sudden lots of phone calls and texts and greater interest in personal hygiene - so I'm not totally surprised.
In general I'm a pretty permissive parent. He's always been an easy kid, he has his moments, but he has never been a huge behavior problem or anything. But I don't want him to think he can walk all over me. My current plan is to ground him from the Internet for a month, make him delete his account, and to have some serious discussions about why I think MySpace is a bad influence and why. (We've talked about Internet safety a few times before, but it's not a bad idea to go over these points again, I think.)
I feel kind of bad about making him delete his account, though. He has friends on there and I am happy with his new school and the fact that he has a lot of friends, and he seems to be a friendly and outgoing kid. But I told him that he had to wait until 14, and I want to stick by my word, plus I can't stand by and let him disobey and disrespect my wishes like this.
And the funny thing is the kid has a better profile than I do, LOL (since I don't care for the site much, I haven't bothered to do more than the minimum). On the one hand I'm disappointed that he snuck around and disobeyed me....on the other hand I'm impressed with his creativity and technical know-how. I don't want to diminish his creativity....but I do need to maintain my authority with him especially because I'm not particularly strict at all, and because he's heading into teenagerhood...
What do you think, booju? Should kids younger than 14 have MySpace accounts? Am I being too harsh here?
I noticed this morning that he had password protected his login on his computer. I changed the password and logged on as him, to find out that he has a MySpace account. I'm really disappointed, he's always been a really great kid, but he's heading into teenagerhood and a lot of things have changed lately - all of a sudden lots of phone calls and texts and greater interest in personal hygiene - so I'm not totally surprised.
In general I'm a pretty permissive parent. He's always been an easy kid, he has his moments, but he has never been a huge behavior problem or anything. But I don't want him to think he can walk all over me. My current plan is to ground him from the Internet for a month, make him delete his account, and to have some serious discussions about why I think MySpace is a bad influence and why. (We've talked about Internet safety a few times before, but it's not a bad idea to go over these points again, I think.)
I feel kind of bad about making him delete his account, though. He has friends on there and I am happy with his new school and the fact that he has a lot of friends, and he seems to be a friendly and outgoing kid. But I told him that he had to wait until 14, and I want to stick by my word, plus I can't stand by and let him disobey and disrespect my wishes like this.
And the funny thing is the kid has a better profile than I do, LOL (since I don't care for the site much, I haven't bothered to do more than the minimum). On the one hand I'm disappointed that he snuck around and disobeyed me....on the other hand I'm impressed with his creativity and technical know-how. I don't want to diminish his creativity....but I do need to maintain my authority with him especially because I'm not particularly strict at all, and because he's heading into teenagerhood...
What do you think, booju? Should kids younger than 14 have MySpace accounts? Am I being too harsh here?