Jff~do You Monitor Your Kids?

My hubby works in IT so he installed a web program on his daughter’s computer so that he can logon to it even though she is in another state. He can see what sites she has been to and read any instant messages. He also likes to mess around with her and start typing or doing things while she is on, she thinks it’s cool. She has given him all her passwords and she has always been honest with what she is doing. My daughter is 5 so I keep an eye on her when she is playing games on my computer.

As for cell phones, I think some kids need them (no matter the age) to get a hold of their parents. I don't think kids need all the fancy stuff that the phones have now.

How many more posts do you think this troll is going to cause today?

My son is 8. He has an iPod Touch, easily navigates the internet on my Mac and uses my husband's iPad2 all the time. With iCloud, I am notified if he downloads/buys any new apps/games/songs etc. So Big Brother is alive and well at my house.

My daughter, now 25, didn't have a cell phone 10 years ago - when she was this person's supposed age. They were too expensive.

Right now my 11 year old has a cell phone. He's NOT that into YET - thank God. But I'm sure next year in middle school he WILL be! (YIKES!)

My 9 year old? No cell.

Neither have an ipod or ipad. They have DS's, a Wii and an XBOX. And if they did anything like what that person did? They would be gone. For a long time.

My boys have e-mails and do on-line stuff. I access it all the time and they KNOW I do. They won't have that freedom for some time. They have their own (shared) computer. it is located in the family room.

If my kid(s) hacked into my account here or anywhere else? They know it would be bad - really - really - bad. They don't want to see what would happen to them if they did that!!

My daughters have email accounts and are required to give us the passwords. We check them intermittently. The computer is in the kitchen where there is always another person. My oldest, 15, has a phone. We have monitoring rights and she is supposed to bring it to our room before we go to bed. We are not as on top of monitoring as we'd like to be - not sure how to fit so many things in, but I do believe it is important. No pictures allowed on phones. My 9 year old only uses the computer for school work or the occasional game...again, in the kitchen. Some high schools give the kids laptops - those are harder to monitor!

Personally, I think that if this troll's parents were on top of him/her the original alleged incident at McDonald's wouldn't have happened.

my daughter is 3 and i will be monitoring her use of the computer. ipod phone games everything because i know what i did on them

I am not the least bit convinced that it's a child at all. I had a man that called me 2-4 times per year for over 20 years. He would always start out talking like he was just a normal husband/father looking for childcare. Then he'd tell me some story that turned real sick as he was telling it. I'd hang up on him when I figured out who it was. The last time was actually only a couple years ago and the man has to be in his 40's or 50's by now!

I used to have some or one...I never knew....people that gave me grief, posted derrogatory things online about me, here, on Craigslist, and other sites. The person finally just went away. They either got a life or died. They dogged me for YEARS and hard. This person or persons were definitely adult.

People can be very strange.

Both my daughters have phones. They are so I can get ahold of them when I need to. And because they are on different swim teams, clubs, scouts, etc. My senior is after school every day and does not have a license, so if she wants to come home she needs to call me.
My 14 yo is homeschooled but we got her one for Christmas, now I can stop giving her mine when she is at Scouts, the pool, etc.

We have a computer in the kitchen and my senior has one She does not have FB and we don't have to monitor her every second.

My oldest had access to the computer once and abused it. So we made a password he could not spell. We also didn't have cable, we had it once, he abused it, we got rid of it . He didn't get a phone until he was 18. My other three know if we find something that we find questionable on any computer they will lose priviliges, immediately.

Having followed through with minor things when they were little and watching their brother lose his priviliges, they don't question whether or not I will cancel cable, internet access, phones.

HAHA Jackie, My hubby has does the same thing with my computer, my mom's, my daughter's. He's our fixit man.

I have FB passwords for both older kids (13,14) and check daily. Actually, one of them lost the privilege of logging herself in and doesn't know her own account password (and the e-mail is my husband's account, so he can see every message, request, attempt to change the pw etc.) so she can only go on when we allow her. She attempted to set up another account and we intercepted that one too. We go through their texts at random, and the only way they can get on the computer is by logging in under an ID we assigned that captures all activity so I can log into my e-mail and view the websites they go to, and those are restricted to teen-appropriate content.

That said, I'm well aware that they could be doing who knows what at friends' houses and I haven't cracked the code on effectively monitoring internet use through the gaming system but I'm working on that (or will shut down the wi-fi access via PS3). But at the end of the day, it wouldn't be easy for them to be a total PITA on the internet and I would know if they were visiting parenting forums. It's a total pain to stay on top of this but I think it must be done at this age.

My two little boys don't have phones or any social networking or e-mail accounts. My husband or I have to log them onto their computer account and they can only visit sites that we have approved.

Ah, I should have my son answer this one. LOL

He is 15, has text messaging and a FB account. And I monitor everything he does on the computer and on-line on the PS3. The electronics stay in the common areas of my house also. I do read his text and FB messaging. I do have time limits on it all so it cuts off at 9pm during school nights. And parental controls in place on the computer.

He chafes at the bit occasionally, but his option is not having any electronic media so he goes along with it all. When he can afford to pay the bills for these things, then he can have absolute freedom on them.

:)

I have passwords to everything and monitor often. He rarely texts or posts anything anyway, but it's interesting to see what his friends are up to. His phone and itouch are left in the kitchen when he goes to bed, and the computer is in a common area of the house. This is for our 14 year old. Our 7 year old doesn't have access to anything.

Don't mean to sound stupid , but what does that mean "the troll is back". I don't watch the news diligently so apparently I must have missed something.