Do not expose children to the social network

Facebook and Co: Parents should not expose children

04/14/2015

In the social networks like Facebook the Twitter parents are often with their children „by friendship“ connected. The initiative „look at“ however, advises children not in these media „merely ask“. Often it is already enough to comment on the status messages of the children. Even if parents it „do not mean bad“, it can be complementary to the child. Just the public commentary can only put the son or daughter. While tempting children to Facebook or sending them friend invitations might be a problem for the kids. Therefore, this should be left better. Because the trust can be destroyed. This is indicated by the initiative "Look," a media guide for families.

Do not interfere too much
While it can be tempting to learn more about the child's interests and relationships through Facebook, having a conversation together is much better. When parents publicly comment on their child's status messages, write to the child's friends, or send friend requests, it can expose their child and destroy trust. Especially in puberty, children are so sensitive about maintaining a certain image that they build themselves up in social networks. If parents get too involved, their kids can easily remove them from their friends list or switch to other networks like Instagram. If parents want to communicate online with their children, then better through personal messages.

Point out risks
Parents can use their Facebook experiences to educate children on potential risks in online communities, such as distractions and inappropriate content, or to raise awareness of copyright and personal rights. In addition, they can agree that children pay close attention to who they report to and regularly review their privacy and privacy practices. It should be noted that for the accounts of minors in principle, other default settings and opportunities exist. If they learn through a status update that their child is revealing too much of themselves or sharing inappropriate, they should seek out direct conversation.

To be a role model yourself
It's best to set a good example for parents, and even look for who they're sharing with them through social networks. Maybe there are posts that your children could not do or that could be embarrassing. For this you can set in each post, who may read this and create users in certain lists. In addition, parents should not publish information about their child and link the profile of the child in any posts. Especially children's pictures have lost nothing in social networks or blogs, because they can quickly get to unauthorized persons. Here, parents have a duty to lead by example and to protect their child online.