To Friend or Follow or Not?
Keeping tabs on what your kid is doing on social media
Note: I found this in my drafts from three years ago. My kids at the time were 12 and 15. Now, with one a legal adult and the other about to get her driver’s license, it’s so gratifying to say that putting the below advice into practice is worth the temporary arguments about boundaries. I found myself completely letting go but that release was gradual as it became obvious that my kids know how to make good choices and when they don’t, they know that, too!
I made it a rule that I am allowed to follow and friend all of my kids’ accounts and their feeds. My wife and I treat this like training wheels or a teenager’s driver’s permit. Until they demonstrate that they understand our guidelines, I check in on their activity; not just what they are posting but who they allow to follow them, who they follow and what posts they like or comment. I expect stumbles at this point and hope for enough of them now to effectively learn from mistakes. Mistakes are what we are all supposed to keep making, no matter our age. Mistakes mean we’re learning new things that are out of our comfort zone, and your kids (and mine) are in one of the most accelerated development periods of their lives.
