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How to Keep Your Child Safe on the Internet
Every parent NEEDS to read this
Did you know it’s illegal for children under the age of 13 to open a Facebook account?
It’s prohibited by federal law to allow children to open an account without the consent of their parents or legal guardians.
No big deal right? Everybody’s doing it. It’s sweet. Do you monitor your child’s account? You don’t like to snoop right? You trust her. You want to show you can trust her. What’s the worse that can happen?
A harmless act of telling a small lie about your daughter’s age on Facebook can have serious consequences.
Detective Neil Kitchen from Child Protection in New Zealand wants you to consider this ‘fictitious’ scenario.
“An eleven year old girl approaches her mum and asks for a Facebook account. Mum knows she should be 13 to be accepted to open one. Mum tells her to just make up a date of birth to make her 13, so she’ll be accepted. What harm is there? All her mates have done it. The girl adds three years to her age just to be sure, making her 14.
She builds up a large number of ‘friends’, including her mum. She’s eventually requested by a friend of a friend, when she actually is 14. This is an 18 year old guy. He charms her…
