Why Parents Shouldn’t Fear Facebook

With a spat of news reports about cyber-bullying leading to teenage suicide, I suspect that some parents who allowed their children to join Facebook might feel pangs of regret.

Not me, and here’s why:

Many parents worry that social networking exposes pre-teens to foul and hurtful language, taunting, and general filth.  Those parents are correct.  The minimum age for joining Facebook is 13 years old.  Yet I allowed my 12 year old son and 11 year old daughter to join about six months ago.  As simple safeguards, I ran their accounts through my email and I have each of their passwords.  They also have friended me, and dozens of their friends–perhaps to puff up their friend numbers– have friended me thus allowing me to access their webpages.  My son has more than 100 friends and my daughter has zoomed to more than 250.

Unknown to them,

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Getting Effort at School in the Age of Texting and Facebook

My wife and I have high expectations for our three elementary school-aged children, but we have told them repeatedly that we do not expect straight A’s.  That may sound like a contradiction, but it is not.  If we see good effort then we anticipate that good grades will flow naturally.  And if their best isn’t good enough to net them an “A” then so be it. Everyone makes mistakes, and nobody is perfect all the time.

My 11-year-daughter has hit the beginnings of puberty and as her body changes, so has her priorities.  Getting full effort out of her is increasingly difficult.  It frustrates but doesn’t surprise me when she forgets her homework at school on the last day before an assignment is due, but remembers clearly when the local high school football team plays a home game that she can attend with her sixth grade classmates and friends.  She increasingly views anything that stands in the way of her interacting with her friends as a grave injustice.

We are fairly permissive parents. 

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