Facebook, "More or Less"

When deciding to write this blog, I did title it  Gardening, Cooking, Birds and More.....well, today I would like to talk about "More".

I like to listen to NPR during the day while cooking, folding laundry and putting the groceries away. Today on Michel Martin's show, Tell Me More, the topic was about Facebook and whether or not kids should be allowed to use  Facebook .Recently, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg was talking about children under 13 yrs of age being allowed to use Facebook. Michel Martin, the show host, had on a few guests who talked about the pros and cons of Facebook.

The discussion was interesting. Michel Martin's guests came from two different perspectives. One who was against her children using Facebook, and one who readily allows her children to use Facebook.

They both seemed to agree that supervision, monitoring and time limits were important.

 Michelle Obama  told Matt Lauer on the Today show that she does not allow Sasha or Malia to have a Facebook account...and not just because of who they are.

I am of the "pro" camp and have allowed both my 16yr old and 13yr old to have Facebook accounts. I have a Facebook account myself and one of the rules with my kids is that we have to be Facebook "friends".

I do acknowledge that there are "bad" people out there. I know pedophiles are stalking children on the internet as well as in our neighborhood, most probably. Am I afraid? Sometimes.

Statistically, a child has a greater chance of being molested by someone they know, not a stranger.  I also feel that this generation of parenting includes teaching your children how to use the internet and helping them learn how to  protect their privacy.

It is a whole new world out there.

What do think? If you have children, do you allow them to have a Facebook account? What kind of rules do you set regarding it?

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