DD1 is 9 and has a webkinz account, an email address/IM chat messenger, and I broke down and helped her make a facebook account (so she'd leave my farmville alone!) today. The rules on all three are pretty simple:
1. I have her passwords. Added plus to that is I have an answer for her every time I hear, "Mom, what's my password?"
2. She tells me when she is giving out her email address/IM to anyone. So far, it's only to family and her friends who are moving away.
3. She doesn't put a profile picture of herself on FB. It has to be something random, like a Pokemon or a kitty-- she can have an album of her photos, but in where only her friends (again with family, and close friends) can see them.
She's very aware that I can and do check, and I'm always nearby. So far, she really only goes on sending the "this happened at school today" emails to her friends, and IM'ing with my dad about her day while playing checkers or word games. Originally she would IM and play checkers on Webkinz with my dad, but he was worried about what would happen if they continuously saw a 9 year old girl (with a gazillion webkinz) chatting with a 55 year old man (with a pink dragon).
1. I have her passwords. Added plus to that is I have an answer for her every time I hear, "Mom, what's my password?"
2. She tells me when she is giving out her email address/IM to anyone. So far, it's only to family and her friends who are moving away.
3. She doesn't put a profile picture of herself on FB. It has to be something random, like a Pokemon or a kitty-- she can have an album of her photos, but in where only her friends (again with family, and close friends) can see them.
She's very aware that I can and do check, and I'm always nearby. So far, she really only goes on sending the "this happened at school today" emails to her friends, and IM'ing with my dad about her day while playing checkers or word games. Originally she would IM and play checkers on Webkinz with my dad, but he was worried about what would happen if they continuously saw a 9 year old girl (with a gazillion webkinz) chatting with a 55 year old man (with a pink dragon).
