social media sites for children

[amandajane]

I came across a list of top 10 social media sites for children aged 7-12 and started to think about it. My children have some peers whose parents allow them to have facebook accounts. I do not want my children to be on facebook but am thinking that these sites might be a good alternative, but am not 100% sure.

So I am wondering what others thoughts are or if your child belongs to any of these sites. (which include ScuttlePad, Togetherville, WhatsWhat.me, Yoursphere, Frankstown Rocks.)

 

[Karen]

My kids are 5 and 7 and I can't imagine them being allowed on Facebook for a good long time. I know it's something I'll have to consider but for now I keep a strict lockdown on where they are allowed to go on the internet. It just freaks me out for them to be on a social network site.

 

[Brandi]

I've never heard of any of those (geesh... where have I been?? ) I let my son (12yrs.) get a FB account when he was 11. I know his p/w and can monitor any time. He's very clear about not accepting friend requests of people he doesn't know and I have his privacy preferences set to be safe I see nothing wrong with it but that's just me . Plus, I can always take it away from him if need be.

 

[sportay24]

Mine are 7 and 9 and they play around on youtube watching skate video for example but they don't have facebook or anything like that. I'm curious about the ones you listed Amanda, maybe I'll check them out but most likely won't really introduce them to it, they don't ask me if they can have facebook, so for now, I'll leave it alone

 

[RebeccaH]

my oldest is 10, and he had never even cared to have a facebook account. and based on the experiences my friends have had with letting their children have fb accts, i don't see it happening for another few years. i've had friends who have had their kids' pw's and login info, thinking that was going to be enough to keep control, but often the crap rolled in faster than they could harness it. in the end the kids ended up being swallowed up in stupid kid school drama and rumors that could have been avoided (at least on that scale) had they just stayed away from fb. idk, it's just not for me.

as for the ones for kids, my kids play wizard 101 and have a few friends on there. otherwise, they use a phone or face-to-face to talk to their friends. email or skype works great for keeping in touch with friends we've moved away from. i just don't see the need to add an extra distraction to their lives right now.