Tim J Priebe

How do you raise your kids online?

Posted on January 10th, 2011 @ 8:17 am

I’m looking for some advice on parenting, specifically in regards to the Internet.

If you’re not aware, Leann and I have two kiddos. Right now, Josh is six and Jackson is four. Saturday, for the first time, Josh played a math game online at home that he has at school. The game required a username and password, both of which Josh remembered, although they use cards at school. As a geek dad, I was so proud!

The computer I had as a kid

This got me thinking about the different decisions parents face now than they did when I was growing up. In my family, we were fairly early adopters of the home PC, and although I was on BBS‘s back in middle school, my kids have access to the entire Internet almost a decade earlier than I did.

For example, both of our boys have Twitter accounts. Right now, however, it’s just Leann and myself (mostly me) posting funny things they say to each of their accounts. I occasionally have fake conversations with them online, complete with @timjpriebe, @joshuapriebe and @jacksonpriebe. These conversations replicate funny conversations we had in person.

But at what age do I let them start updating their own Twitter accounts? Twitter has no limit of their own, although Facebook limits the age to 13. Should Leann and I let them have a Facebook account when they’re 13?

Both of the boys are aware that I work on computers all day. Jackson doesn’t know what a website is, but Josh is starting to get the idea. So as the children of a web designer (the S in T&S Web Design does, after all, stand for Sons), total avoidance of the online world isn’t really a feasible possibility. What do we let them do, and when do we let them do it?

I’d love to hear from other parents on this, as I feel like I have lots of questions, but none of the answers.

Parents, what have you done that has and hasn’t worked?

Tags: internet, jackson, josh, leann, online, parenting

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