My oldest dd (14yo) wants a MySpace in the worst way. According to her "all of my friends have one"...blah...blah...blah.

I am apprehensive about letting her set one up though. I used to be deadset against having one, but because she is responsible, generally a good kid and willing to let me view her myspace when I request, I am leaning toward letting her have one, with conditions of course...no real name, setting it to private, no pics of family members (except the dog) and false personal info.

Any input from those that have BTDT or are in my situation would be great!

I have a myspace account though I mainly use facebook. (They are similar in purpose.) Without letting her put her true identity up, I'm not sure how she would connect with her school friends, etc. Not sure what the point of that would be. It's up to you of course whether to allow it or not, but if you did, I would let her put her name and basic/minimal identifying info (a yahoo or gmail account but no physical address, for example). Of course as you mentioned, lock the account down so that only friends she knows in real life who she selects can access her information. I'd be very concerned if she started connecting with people that she doesn't know in real life.

BTW, I love facebook, myself. I use it to connect with old friends from college, and keep up with people I haven't seen in years. Hope that helps.

My son got a Myspace in 7th grade.

He uses his name but personal info is wrong (and quite silly!)
I agreed as long as I knew the password and he knew I would be checking it routinely.
There have been friends he has had to delete because I didn't approve of the language or pictures on the page. He also knows I will mention to his friends parents if things really get out of hand. Most of his friends have the same requirements so it has gotten much better.

All in all, it has been a fun way for him to meet friends from other school. He plays many sports and it is nice to talk to someone whose team you just played yesterday.

It is different with girls. I do have to remind my son that girls listen (read) differently than boys. You can't talk to them the same way (they will disect every workd for deeper meaning. Please, these boys have no deeper meanings!!)

When my daughters ask for them next year I think the discussion will be more about keeping words kind and that boys don't mean half of what they say.

Good Luck


Judie and Victor
lucky parents to
Frankie 3/95
Maggie 7/96
Rose 7/96
Elizabeth 7/96

I have triplet 14yo daughters. I have said flat out "no myspace". I think no matter how great your kid is, it's the other little creeps out there I worry about. I see myspace as just a way to bully and cut people down using cyberspace. The mean girls out there just use it as another weapon, so we'll pass, thank you very much.

To contact their friends they can text, i m, email, and (gasp!) call on the phone. Yes, they think I'm uncool but I couldn't care less. I asked them to tell me one good thing that has come from myspace that you can't have in any other way. They couldn't think of any.

Stick to your guns, Mom!!

Bonnie
GGG 9/94
B 1/98

My four will be 14 next month. I let them set up Facebook accounts this past summer. Many of their friends do Facebook as well as a lot of the friends' parents. Like the PP, I have enjoyed connecting with high school and college friends through Facebook. I keep an eye on the boys and what they and their friends are posting.

I've never used MySpace, so I can't post about that, but I'm okay with Facebook for my almost 14 year olds.

Heather, BBBB (two identical, two fraternal) 28 1/2 weeks, now age 18!