To Friend or Not To Friend:
Ah, yes! Facebook has entered in to my son’s life AGAIN!
It started last summer, he signed up for an email and FB account. I sort of lost my mind; I’d been hoping to hold him off from the crackbook until he was at least 13 or so. However!! There’s a little thing called computer access at his grandparent’s house so he side-stepped my approval by getting his grandmother’s! I made him add me as a friend, and then I blocked him from seeing my profile so he couldn’t see when I complained…uh I mean raved about him! It seemed to work out ok, so I was fine with it. He mostly used it to play games, and hadn’t even loaded a profile picture. Within weeks he lost interest and soon enough he couldn’t even remember his passwords. Mental breakdown averted!! He’s still my little baby boy!
I agree to disagree on whether or not it is OK for a twelve year old to have Facebook. Some people let their 7 or 8 year olds on there. I’m not judging (sort of), I’m just saying NO WAY JOSE! Not at that age….Yes, it’s the popular thing to do. But so are tattoos. Do I really want my son getting ‘poked’ at such a young age? You have to watch for cyber-bullying and private messages. Its bad enough I have to monitor his regular internet usage now I have to check emails and FB too?! This seems way too complicated looking after a pre-teen boy.
I also realize though that if it would have been around when I was twelve I would have had one too. I would have cried and whined and sooked. Mom would have lectured and then gave in. I likely would have had two accounts so that Mom could see my good one and I could be bad on the other….hey, wait?!? Hmmm…..JEREMY!!!!!!!!!
Fast forward to this summer, and again with grandmother approval (a different Grammy this time!) he again signed up for a new account. No big deal, been there done that, I’m not really concerned. But what is this?! Did he just “poke” a girl???…Since when does he like “poking” girls? (Probably around the same time he started getting pimples, sweating, and locking himself in the bathroom for insane periods of time?!)
Duh Wendy! He’s not so little anymore!
So, my newest dilemma….do I re-friend or no? I can see his wall because he didn’t set his privacy settings so I can still spy.
If I add him as a friend am I making him a target? “Ah-ha!! Your mommy is your friend”
I still have access and we have one solid rule…I must know both the email and FB user names and passwords. And I will check, and double check, and triple check. I will remove friends from your list as I see fit. Some of those kids….man they drive me nuts. I will read EVERYTHING, and I am smarter than you so I will find everything you try to hide (just ask your father)! I will remove FB privileges as part of any upcoming punishments and I will use it to manipulate you in to behaving. Ok, so maybe that’s not quite ONE rule. Oh, and I will add new rules as I see fit!
Do I add him and then block him again? Or maybe I add him and let him read all those times he drove me crazy and I vented about him!! Maybe then he’ll get an appreciation for what he puts me through?!? Doubt it!
Do I leave it be and give him some sort of “privacy” (but still logon to snoop)?
Do I say stuff on his wall like “Mommy needs you to come get in the bubble bath Pookie”….just for the sheer fun of watching him freak out? Or "Like OMG, dude you are so totally epic!! Come give mommy a big hug and kiss". What's the good of being a mother if I can’t embarrass the crap out of him!
I dunno, I dunno, I dunno!!
Stay tuned….
"I want to make a Facebook account and call it Nobody so when
I see stupid crap people post I can "like it" and it will say 'Nobody likes This'."
Friend him!! And then create another setting for "Children's Views" similar to Limited Profile. I have my daughter and all her friends on Children's views, which means they can't see my wall or status updates or half of my albums.
ReplyDeleteThis way, I can still keep an eye on what they are doing or saying to each other without them seeing my adult content.
I also have all my daughter's email and facebook passwords and keep track of what is coming and going through her messages.
I also tell her when to delete something, or when something is inappropriate for her to have on there...I also message the parent's of her friends when I see something on THEIR wall that is inappropriate (yes I am THAT mom!) lol
Leave it alone!! You would have hated me spying on you.....................although maybe I should have done more spying!!LOL He's a good boy, and this is at least the one thing he can have that his sister can't take from him. You can still spy..................you don't need to be his FRIEND to do that!!LOL
ReplyDeleteGood boy or not, the legal age to be on Facebook is 13, for good reason. The agreement with my daughter was I have all her passwords and I am her "friend" on Facebook. It's a fair trade. My daughter is a very trustworthy young lady, but there are people out there (even ones her age) that aren't.
ReplyDelete