Do parents have right to track their child's facebook profile?

[Harley]

Read the news sometime and see how many kids are abducted, raped, and bullied on Facebook and tell me how it's hard NOT to try to see what's going on in your child's social media life. Everyone thinks it won't happen to them or to their child.

[Forever]

My daughter is only nine, so she does not have a face book, but when she is old enough to want one she will not be allowed to have one. School is a tough time on ones life, very tough. You can have a group of friends on Monday and by Friday be completely ostracized. Your best friend can listen to your troubles and air them to the entire school the next day. It is enough that children are bullied in the classroom and in the schoolyard. I wont be extending an invitation to them through the computer.

Now, my daughter has many, many friends. She seems to be adored by her entire class, her teachers and even the large majority of older students. She is independent, strong, brilliant and dazzlingly beautiful. She is quite content at her school and seems to be surrounded by followers. As her mom I am glad that she enjoys school but I worry that her social activities are interfering with her academics. Further, I know that what she has today can be gone tomorrow for no reason at all. Perhaps another little girl gets jealous and starts a nasty rumor. After all, isn't that how this usually begins? And in a matter of minutes she can spiral from well liked to avoided like the plague. There is no way I am going to allow her to get caught up in facebook or other social media where she can be targeted. Worse, I wont give her the opportunity to become one of the bullies.

[LINDA R]

Yes.

[L L]

no

[Taylor]

Absolutely. If you're talking about being their friend and posting what they do publicly, a parent has a DUTY to do that! You have every right to know what you dependent child is posting publicly. You are responsible for their actions.

As far as private stuff on facebook-- reading their messages and whatnot-- it gets more complicated. Technically, you do have the RIGHT to, but it will likely make your child resent you, hesitate to confide in you, and push them to rebel. Since they need to learn to fend for themselves at some point, it may not be worth the strain it puts on your relationship.

[Luke]

I would say yes, a parent can track a child's facebook page, but snooping never seems to have a happy ending. If the parent says '' you can have facebook as long as im your friend'' then that's Absolutely fine, however going on the profile behind the child's back can cause disastrous consequences.

Lets say for example you track your child's facebook without them knowing and you see something you are not happy with on there and confront them, BAM you child knows your snooping, then they will immediately start counter measures to prevent you from doing it again, and trust is irrepairly damaged also. The last thing you want is your child to go into being secretive. Its not worth snooping your child's facebook to catch them swearing or something trivial then the child becomes secretive and puts up countermeasures from finding out anything else, which could be very dangerous.

In my personal experience with my parents they did enjoy snooping rather than talking, I will add that facebook wasn't around when I was a child , but they snooped in everything they could, they found some porn on my old windows 98 computer when I was 12, and they snooped on other things aswell, and bam the trust was gone and I hid everything far better, it really did me a disservice when I became a child alcoholic and drug user and never getting found out due to all the countermeasures I made when I was 11.

In my opinion snooping is lazy parenting and ive never seen it end well for anyone involved.