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Step 1
Ask your teen for the login email and password to his or her Facebook page. If your teen allows you to have this information, make sure to thank him or her for trusting you with it and show that you trust your teen by not deleting messages and comments on the site without talking about it first.
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Step 2
Create your own Facebook account at facebook.com and add your teen as a friend. This way you have full access to the teen's wall comments and applications as well as profile information, and show your teen that you are interested in his or her life without having to ask for login information.
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Step 3
Talk to your teen. Ask what he or she does online and talk about the information on their Facebook profile. Teach your teen the right Internet safety skills and you can trust that he or she knows how to use them to keep safe from predators.
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Step 4
Know how much time your teen is spending online. Be in the room every once in a while and look over your teen's shoulder when he or she is on the computer. Ask if anything interesting is going on and be there to listen and discuss anything that might become an issue.
Comments
tanyagray said
on 7/12/2009 A note of advice to any parents reading this: although missmaryjeen's comment is a bit agressive, she does have a point. Asking your teen for their login information is an invasion of privacy, and doesn't teach them to respect the personal information of others. I would strongly advise against prying, spying, or obtaining their passwords. If you get found out, they will never let you forget it.
Creating your own Facebook account and adding your child as a friend is a much better way to keep an eye on them. Getting them to help you set it up can even be a good way to become closer with them, as many teens' lives revolve around their online life.
My opinion: don't monitor, don't spy, instead build a relationship with your child first, so that they will be open enough to tell you anything you need to know without you breaching their privacy. Being "Facebook friends" is a great way to ...
atlantagrits said
on 6/29/2009 missmaryjeen, perhaps you don't use inappropriate language or make inappropriate comments on facebook, although from your post, I doubt it. Some teens do. To know where they are but not what they are doing means a parent is only doing half their job. Some teens are troubled, their behavior scary and a cause of concern. Facebook may be the only place they reveal this state of mind, so I'll monitor it. Parents care about their kids and are responsible for them. Once they're in college, over 18, they're adults. Younger than that, they're the parent's responsibility. If you think that just "encouraging them to do the right thing" works for teens who don't listen to parents and think parents (and all adults) are clueless, then YOU, little girl, are clueless. I'll bet your parents encouraged you not to have a potty mouth, but that didn't work, did it?
missmaryjeen said
on 1/10/2009 that they are at a higher rick of suicide of drunk driving or becoming addicted to drugs or even porn
Coming from a parent that has raised 6 children i think you might be one to take my advice
truly think about this before you do it.
missmaryjeen said
on 1/10/2009 what the hell? really parents are you that uptight about what your kids do on the internet?
the only thing you have to do is make sure you know where they are when there not with you
don't "those" parents that all your other kid's friends hate
when you were a kid your parents didnt listen in on your phone conversations or anything
and guess what you grew up just fine...
Real like keyloggers thats just invasion of privacy
if you want your kids to hate you i mean really "HATE" you then i suggest you do this and just see what happens
you'll end up driving yourself crazy monitering them when you should just be encouraging them to do the right thing because guess what?
once they go off to college you not going to be there to monitor their every move
and as a result of that, as a result of them being let out of the cage they will go so fucking crzy and be so socially awkward tha
missmaryjeen said
on 1/10/2009 what the hell? really parents are you that uptight about what your kids do on the internet?
the only thing you have to do is make sure you know where they are when there not with you
don't "those" parents that all your other kid's friends hate
when you were a kid your parents didnt listen in on your phone conversations or anything
and guess what you grew up just fine...
Real like keyloggers thats just invasion of privacy
if you want your kids to hate you i mean really "HATE" you then i suggest you do this and just see what happens
you'll end up driving yourself crazy monitering them when you should just be encouraging them to do the right thing because guess what?
once they go off to college you not going to be there to monitor their every move
and as a result of that, as a result of them being let out of the cage they will go so fucking crzy and be so socially awkward tha