My daughter has been wanting to share more with grandparents and our friends, but I didn't want to inundate my Facebook page with her artwork or manage bunches of email for her. She was getting more and more upset about it. I'm certainly not ready for her to be on Facebook. I'm trying a blog as an alternative, and now she is at her own site at
CheekyandGreen.com. I'm right there with her typing as she tells me what she wants to say and helping her post her pictures, etc. I'm planning to be there for every post until she's a teen and even then I plan to be heavily involved.
She wants a cellphone too, but we aren't going there for at least 10 years. And I thought my arguments with my kindergarten daughter were going to center around shoes and ear-piercings!
As my kids enter school, I am not finding life to be as I expected. I miss my 3 little sweet toddlers and life that centered around Little People toys and Wooden trains. A year ago, I never dreamed that this year my time would be spent settling sibling arguments over who has the Nintendo DS Mario Kart cartridge, playing referee to who's turn to do Zombies on the iPad or fighting battles of will over posting photos!
It certainly is a new digital era!
How do you manage your kids' access to the digital world?
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Comments (18)
I think this is a good idea. I post a lot of the stuff John does on my Xanga. However, I think it may be a good idea to start a separate one for him. It will give his family in Ohio a chance to be involved with his life.
The blog sounds like a great idea! I am a nanny of a kindergartener who loves taking photos and videos and sharing them with me, her family, and her friends' families. I think some hardcore precautions would need to be observed though because the internet is a very grown-up and public place. Finding a blogsite that offers completely link-only or password-required access seems like a good start for managing this sort of endeavor.
With the increasing technological/digital advancements and the sign that its clearly not going to come to an end any time soon I think familiarizing kids with the basics of how things work is a good idea (especially with things that are educational or aid in self-expression). Always monitoring your kids' use of the internet is wise, too. Even as an older teenager (since that's when we got internet at our house) there were times when my parents lack of guidelines and regular check-ins were evident in my poor decisions about what things I would explore and check-out online. Its definitely a tool that can be used for both good and bad.
It's a tough call. I never allowed cable/satellite tv, nor game stations ... until they got a Wii for Christmas. (Can we say arguing?) Internet has never been allowed until High School and then monitored.
I think it has to be case by case with each child. Each of my daughters are so different from one another. My oldest? No way would I have allowed it had it been available. My next one? She has had a fb for many years now and is really not interested in the pc. My younger ones, no internet except for math and English type games.
I know I have to change as technology is changing and its better for them to learn at home rather than somewhere else where there may not be the same values. I think you are doing it very well! A blog is a good idea. Very good idea.
Blog whenever with supervision, I agree, but I would save the cell phone until 8th grade or first year of high school (13). Or maybe that's just not the way it works these days with cell phones aha
I see the little kids coming up these days and it almost disgusts me how much their parents let them do that I don't think is appropriate. Cellphones and social networks being a couple of them. I agree that giving your daughter a blog to communicate to her family or friends is an awesome idea. I think I would also implement the supervisions you laid out if I were a parent. As far as the cell phone, my parents got me one when I started sports in high school and driving so that they could contact me for late night pick-ups at the high school for sporting trips and so forth. I was never interested in having one until then, but obviously that is not the way things are anymore. Hmm.
I don't have kids to manage over the digital world, but its good to know you watch how your daughter handles the internet in a more constructive way. Most parents just let their kids run free over the Internet without considering what they could get themselves into.
I kind of grew up as the internet developed. We never had internet at home until I was fourteen just because it was never really widely available until then. Before that point, I played outside, played board games, or, if I was on the computer, I played Solitaire, Minesweeper, Lemmings and some Aladdin game for the Sega that had been adapted for the PC. I got a phone around the same age too because I was walking home from the bus stop alone and my mum wanted me to have one just in case.
I think a blog is a good idea :) just make sure you're there when they access it so you can control friend requests, and make sure it's suitably private!
I don't have kids yet but I intend to raise my kids like I was. Which includes no freaking electronics. Come on, we existed for thousands of years and billions of people with no ELECTRICITY; I will make sure my kids appreciate not having something before they have it.
my god daughter wanted to start a blog when she was 9... I sent her a journal, she filled it up within a month. Her dad got her a simple laptop when she was 11 (its one of those small things with nothing but a word processor on it) and she is a very avid writer and musician.
If she wanted a way to communicate with family and friends, she wrote letters. (ya know, the thing with the pen and paper that was around before e-mail).. i still love getting letters from her.
She got a cell phone when she was 10.. but it was one of those per-programmed things with only like 4 buttons because her birthmother tried to abduct her from school.. She is 14 now, and because she was never told she couldn't have a computer, cell phone, or whatever she isn't interested in it. The more parents react with such negativity, the more the child is going to want it.
I do think personal blogs can be a good idea, with restrictions of course.
I think a parent should always be present to oversea what is posted, always keep the passwords and log-in information so the child cannot just do it whenever they feel like, and that it should have privacy settings so the only people that can read it are people that are invited to read it. Blogs are just the new diaries/journals.Honestly it's hard for me because my husband is a big video game addict. So I try my hardest to keep my kids outside. I don't think there is anything wrong with a video game for a half hour out of the day or t.v. for 2-3 hours scattered through the day. Everything I keep age appropriate because I don't need my daughter becoming a teen at 4 years old. She is dramatic enough about nail polish and clothes all on her own. I don't need that teen crazyness yet!
Most of the day I encourage my daughter to play pretend and use her imagination. I did star on xanga when I was in 6th grade though so... I have no problem with a blog to help express herself and share as long as it's monitored and she knows not to share her location or give it away even by mistake.
What ever age you let your daughter go out, weather to the park, mall, or even school on her own is when she should have a cell phone. Pay phones aren't on every corner anymore for her to call you or the police during an emergency.
Sure crazy things don't always happen but I started walking to school and back on my own or with my brother at times or with a crown of friends back in 6th grade. I've had men expose them selves to me and try to grab me on my way to school or walking home from the park two blocks down. I also didn't live in a bad neighborhood. It's just there are creeps out there lookinf for easy targets.
Yeah having a cell phone costs and it's a big deal but just make sure you let them know it is for when they aren't in the house and only for emergencies. They don't need a smart phone just a simple one.
Since I took care of my oldest niece since she was a baby until she was about 9, I monitored everything she did in the computer. She was ok with it and even asked me to be there with her. I spoke to her about the dangers and how she must be careful. She's the sweetest thing.
When I was younger, I would have gone crazy without xanga. Yea, there's a lot of crap out there & it can be a little corrupting but it was my therapy. Still is. So it's a tough call, but I like your idea. Introduce her to the internet & prepare her for it; better for her to get introduced with you than in a few years when she has it all to herself.
Oh, & my kids won't have cell phones till they're teens. My 12-year-old- cousin has one, it's nuts.
Blogging? I wasn't even allowed a MySpace until after we started using Facebook.. @__@
But I don't see how its a bad idea if you're there with her. If you're there its not like she's going to meet some random guy and run away with her. As long as you're not posting first/last names, schools/hours etc. I don't think its a big deal at all...Also, I got my first cell phone at 11 because we no longer had a house phone.. I think that convenience is why so many people are getting phones younger and younger.But yeah....They grow up so fast:c
I don't have any children, since I'm only 18, but on the topic of cell phones: I got mine when I was 11 because we moved to a bigger town and my parents were a bit worried (even though our first house there was right at the school - we did live only a year there, though, and then moved just out of town), and I think it was a good idea. Just like someone already mentioned - a cell phone should be given to a child when they start to do things on their own.
I'm not crazy about cell phones at all and the one I have right now is my second, even though I didn't really see the point of getting me a second one as the first one was still completely fine (it was a Christmas present). And I've never had a smart phone, nor do I feel the need to have it.
I think it's great that you give your daughter an avenue to express herself. Given her age, it's only right that you're there along with her, but I disagree that you have to be there all along the way. I'm 19 years old and I (sort of) grew up with the internet. This post struck me because I created my blog when I was in first year high school and it's been my diary sans the paper and pen. From the perspective of a daughter, I would not want my mom to be too involved with my personal life. I haven't encountered any problems or what you would call "scandals". I knew well enough to keep what was public appropriate and what was private, well, private. You can do your part as a mom just by educating her and letting her be the good daughter you raised.
My cousin is 7 and he uses his moms cell to send me videos and such of him talking to me all the time. So, that being said, technology is a great way for your daughter to do that. (: Xanga like all other social sites has creeps, but it's safer than facebook etc... for a child I mean.