Should parents join the same websites their children join to also be their online friends?

That's exactly why I said that the parent shouldn't make themselves known. In that case, then it would be a problem, and as creepy as the parents out there who not only try to be their kids' bff, but actually go as far as competing with them as well.

As I said earlier, my mom has an account on my forum, and despite it having been unused until earlier this year when she needed a link to my root tools thread, she says that she reads everything, just as she did on my brother's old forum. The first thing i asked her was if she had any questions, and she asked me to tone down my cursing, because she thinks I am too intelligent to talk like that and asked if she show other people, since she is proud of me.

Which, she does, especially those who need help with their phones or if she wants to show off my skins and stuff..

But while I am not sure on what, she has read, at the same time, if she asked me a question, I would give her an honest answer. I wouldn't post anything that I wouldn't tell my own mom.

(I'm 32.) :)
 
Black Angel said:
That's exactly why I said that the parent shouldn't make themselves known. In that case, then it would be a problem, and as creepy as the parents out there who not only try to be their kids' bff, but actually go as far as competing with them as well.

As I said earlier, my mom has an account on my forum, and despite it having been unused until earlier this year when she needed a link to my root tools thread, she says that she reads everything, just as she did on my brother's old forum. The first thing i asked her was if she had any questions, and she asked me to tone down my cursing, because she thinks I am too intelligent to talk like that and asked if she show other people, since she is proud of me.

Which, she does, especially those who need help with their phones or if she wants to show off my skins and stuff..

But while I am not sure on what, she has read, at the same time, if she asked me a question, I would give her an honest answer. I wouldn't post anything that I wouldn't tell my own mom.

(I'm 32.) :)
I think an intelligent person is one who curses to let out stress IMO.

And of course, if a kid finds out their parent secretly made an account, they could get mad.
 
fantanoice said:
They don't need to join, but they do need to be aware of the websites they go onto and supervise where necessary.
I agree, but up to what age?  If I had a kid, they would only be allowed very limited on-line access...
 
For forums I would say you can stop supervising at 13 because that's when that COPPA thing stops being relevant, but still be aware of the websites their joining and participating in. Maybe visit the website while they're at school or something just to make sure all is good.
 
I think it is best to talk to kids about online safety, and have the computer in a public place like the Living Room, or Dining room where it is easy to see what sites kids are going to.

A lot of groups, and fan pages on social networks and websites can be invite only where people need to be invited to join, so monitoring online activity can be less useful compared to the Past since most likely parents won't be invited to join groups, and fan pages which children make, and there are messaging apps, and chat rooms where kids can privately communicate where only people exchanging messages, and maybe the webmaster can  view the conversation if the chats are not password protected.

There are also free apps like Private Messaging, Proxy, Tor, and VPN for computers and mobilephones where it is very difficult to track kids by using regular parental control software.
 
fantanoice said:
For forums I would say you can stop supervising at 13 because that's when that COPPA thing stops being relevant, but still be aware of the websites their joining and participating in. Maybe visit the website while they're at school or something just to make sure all is good.
I mean I'm not going to stand right next to my kid and watch while they are on-line, but aware of what sites they use, yes for sure.
 
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