Should I let my 11-year-old daughter have a Facebook account?
The problem, when your daughter moves up to senior school, is that it becomes much harder to compare notes with other mothers. There just don't seem to be the opportunities anymore. Either everybody is making their own way to school, or they have clubs that finish at different times, and all that nattering that went on at the school gates comes to an abrupt end.
I haven't seen another parent since the beginning of term which means I only have what Flo tells me to rely on. And if I'm to believe her all the others in her year have 11pm bedtimes, full access to their mothers' make-up bag and Facebook accounts to boot. Suddenly I feel I'm in a foreign country with no guidebook. Can these things be true?
I've told her she can have a Facebook account if she allows me to be one of her friends. This, apparently, is THE most uncool thing she's ever heard and she'd rather go without than have me poking her on a regular basis.
Perhaps I'm being overprotective. It's hard to know if stories of online bullying are over exaggerated and pose any real threat? Besides, every mother has a different comfort level when it comes to the internet. I've got one friend who won't let her child play Club Penguin because she doesn't like the idea of some stranger penguin waddling over to ask permission to enter her igloo.
I think I'll tread water on this one just a little bit longer. And in the meantime, let her wear mascara instead...
What age did your child get his or her own Facebook account?
How about being allowed to wear make-up out of the house?
AOL Safe Social is a new AOL tool, free for a 30 day trial, which lets you see when your child has been tagged in a photo and who their online friends are.