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One Step To Far?
Posted by therookiedad
I am sure that many of you have already seen this video making the rounds on the internet…
The age of social media is new to everyone. Right now, there are no rules to it. People can post whatever they want and rarely see consequences. Parents are now having to learn how to parent a child who can post whatever they want to on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog. Hot Mama has even had to “parent” me a little on some of my posts, I’m very grateful for that because I’ve been known to post something without thinking. Teenagers don’t realize that what they post on any social media site can hurt them in the future when they are unable to get a job. How do you teach a teen that?
This is said for every generation but parents (myself included) are now dealing with the things that our parents never had to deal with. My parents hated the fact that I spent so much time on the computer and on the internet talking on MSN Messenger with all of my friends from out of town. They did things to prevent me from even getting on the internet, they took the ethernet cord from the modem so that I couldn’t get on it (I either ended up finding it, or making a cord in my Computer Networking class), put a password to login to the computer (I ended up finding a way around it) and finally putting a password on the computer before it even booted up. Their parents didn’t deal with an age of children who were technologically savvy, in fact their parents dealt with their kids staying out late playing baseball or football in the backyard.
I know that my parents are proud of who I am and the life I am living. Their parenting got me to this point. Even though my teenage years might have been a rebellious time, who’s teenage years aren’t right?, I turned out just fine because I still had supportive parents. I don’t want to claim that today’s teenagers are out of control because the same amount of blame can go to the parent. As a parent you have to figure out what works for your child.
I don’t agree with how this father handled the situation, I am sure there was a better way to handle it. I am on the outside looking in so I won’t attempt to claim that I know how to solve the problem. I just hope that parents and teenagers alike can some lesson from how this father taught his daughter a lesson. I am sure that in 15 years there will be something new that I will have to parent the Kid in that has not been dreamed of yet.
Social Media and Your Baby
Posted by therookiedad
My wife would find it ironic that I am blogging about this and have the opinion that I do, but today when I was browsing Facebook it hit me. Why do parents create a Facebook or Twitter account for their kids?
This is very strange coming from the guy who is addicted to social media, I have my personal Facebook, my blogs Facebook and twitter accounts, and now a Google+ account (I will only invite you if I’ve known you for a while so don’t bother asking). I find it hard enough to keep up with all of those. Where do you find the time to even update for your baby? I have a hard enough time trying to keep this blog up with an 8 month old!
Can someone tell me the point of creating Facebook pages for your baby’s? What are their status updates? Goo Goo, Gaa Gaa, Da, Da? How does that enhance your parenting skills? Are you so addicted to Facebook and Twitter that you need to have the account for your baby and provide updates? Why can’t you use your own accounts to keep people aware of what is going on with your baby? Read the Facebook Terms of Service, “You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.” Is your baby 13, NO I don’t think so! Rules are made to be broken I realize that, but come on enough is enough. We see enough of your baby on your personal Facebook page why would I want to be friends with your baby?
I made the comment about the chipmunk getting a Twitter account before he was born, my wife shot it down. Thank you! I’m so glad that you told me not to do that.
How soon is to soon? If Facebook and Twitter are still around in 12 years (if Google+ hasn’t taken over the world at that point) when the chipmunk gets into social media, I know that my wife and I will have rules in place. What those rules will be, I don’t know. Google+ is changing the way people can share things and when the chipmunk gets on that, he will realize that, “Hey, mom and dad can be in a different circle and I can keep them from seeing everything.” There comes a point when teenagers don’t understand the implications of the things they post on social media. I’ve been caught with some of the things I have said on my professional twitter account before and talked to at work because of it. Even though you don’t mean things to come across a certain way on social media, it comes across in a totally different way to other people. Teenagers just don’t understand that, so as parents we must come up with rules to safe guard them.
I know these are some very strong opinions and a complete reversal of my thoughts before the chipmunk was born. Some of you may not agree with them, and that’s alright. We all have differing opinions, so if your baby has a social media account, I’m interested, why did you decide to do it? Comment either on this blog or on my blogs (not my babies) Facebook page.
Tags: Baby, Blog, Child, Children, Dad, Daddy, facebook, Family, father, Fatherhood, Fathers, Google, home, Life, mom, mommy, Mother, motherhood, Online Communities, Parent, parenthood, parenting, Social media, Social Network, Twitter
