Are happy endings possible with your kids and the internet?
They say that open communication and visibility is the name of the game when it comes to kids and the internet. But as is frequently the case with children-
My daughter is smart, and can apparently run circles around me.
I thought I had the internet locked down. And then I found that someone with my daughter’s photo as a profile picture was liking all my photos on Instagram.
She and I have had many discussions about the use of social media. (If I’m being honest, I’d call them arguments.) At 11, I don’t feel that any child knows enough and has the ability to know what is appropriate to put on the internet or in filtering out what she discovers and can be found on the internet. I believe it’s important to protect our children’s innocence.
What did I find once I caught on to her subterfuge?
Our daughter had signed up for an Instagram account without our knowledge using her school email account. Her school email account.
Have you asked your kids about what they have signed up for, or done with the access they have to the internet at school? Click To Tweet
I would never have thought about her school email account enabling her to be able to sign up for everything she wants to. Social media platforms aren’t blocked by our school district I discovered.
In investigating the situation further, we also discovered that there were weird guys commenting on her pictures on her Instagram account. She had posted the cellphone number that she and her brother share for all to see. From her Instagram account, we discovered that she had posted a link to four YouTube channels she had also started, and she was posting videos to.
We asked the school what they could do to help parents by locking down access at school. They said they would look into it and I haven’t heard anything back. Facebook’s rules state that children cannot have an account until they are 13. This could be a good age to start considering when to let children use social media with a lot of direct supervision, but it depends on the child.
Thankfully we caught on to was going on before anything bad happened. But it could have. Our story could have had a very different ending.
Instead, this was our happy ending-
The next day as we walked into church. She confessed, “Mom, I actually feel better not having social media. I’m so glad that we got rid of it.”
Often as parents, we question ourselves. Are we really doing the right thing? Am I going to screw my children up? This was one of the very few times where I could say to myself with confidence, “We did the right thing. This time… Click To Tweet
So lucky that you found out and it’s terrifying that she could use her school email address for this! #dreamteam
This story could have had a very different ending. I’m really glad it didn’t.
This is SO SCARY! I cannot believe the school is so unmonitored that her email account is signing up for social platforms with age limits above hers. It sounds like they may not be monitoring the student usage at all. Scary. Glad you found it and have put precautions into place – I’m not normally one to blame schools for everything, but this sounds like they need to overhaul their entire electronic guidelines and supervision. #DreamTeam
I’ve been off line a bit and I’m just getting back to the comments on my blog. It WAS so scary. I was not happy with the school, and they have now made changes to help control this issue I’m happy to say. I’m just glad that nothing horrible happened and that it was able to be fixed for other students.
I’m glad you had a happy ending. I hope that she learned that you have her best interests in mind with the rules you place. I can’t believe the school email accounts don’t block them from being used for anything but school related stuff. In workplaces that can be done, so it should definitely be able to be done in a school setting!
Thank you. I really felt like it was important to share as not every parent would think about this.
You are brilliant, and I need to thank you for sharing this with this momma! M’wah to you! The world is scary enough! Oy vey… #dreamteam
Thank you. The internet and children is a scary combination.