We finally made a huge decision. It was difficult. I dragged my feet...a little bit, no actually a lot. We let our daughter, who is weeks away from turning 14, get a Facebook account. AAAAHHHHH! It was so hard. I fought this for a long time. Matt wanted to do this for the past month or so...and I just wasn't there. Bryn, of course, wanted one for a long time.
I, absolutely love Facebook. I love making updates...I love reading what other people are doing. And I love seeing my family grow and change, which I would have missed out on because they live in NY. The same goes for a lot of other friends that I wouldn't talk to much if it wasn't for Facebook.
But, we were very weary of allowing our daughter on it. We were concerned about her being exposed to things that were inappropriate for her age. We allowed her to have an e-mail account this past year...which has gone really well. Matt set up monitors on it, so that every e-mail sent to and sent from her account go straight to his account. So, we are able to read everything going on. And, include an occasional grammar or writing lesson (sometimes these kids write like they are in the 2nd grade). We haven't seen any problems with this. We also don't allow our kids on the computer when we are not home (or even upstairs)...there is a password on the computer. She has shown us that she is responsible. She is growing up.
Which leads me to why we made this decision. I was sitting in church on Sunday waiting for the service to start...and I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. And I really felt the Lord whisper to me that we should let Bryn have a Facebook account. I know, sounds weird...but God speaks to us about what is relevant to us. Then He showed me...She is going to start driving in another year...and technically she can move out in 4 years...I have to start allowing her to make good decisions in her life...and deal with the consequences of bad decisions. This was a hard thing. But she has shown us that she is responsible...trustworthy..and she needs to continue to do that as she gets older.
So there you have it...we have moved on. Of course, there are huge monitors on this too. All friends have to be approved by us (which really limits who she chooses)...mainly they will be friends from church. All her messages will be sent to us...and she is on Facebook only when we are home and in the room. This is going to be interesting walking out...it is strange raising a child in this day. It's hard. I thought running after a 2 year old was hard. That was a breeze compared to this teenager that landed in my house. So, we will see. But I believe that we have raised this girl right. I believe that the foundation we have put down is strong and secure. And of course, a lot of prayer will be involved!
I, absolutely love Facebook. I love making updates...I love reading what other people are doing. And I love seeing my family grow and change, which I would have missed out on because they live in NY. The same goes for a lot of other friends that I wouldn't talk to much if it wasn't for Facebook.
But, we were very weary of allowing our daughter on it. We were concerned about her being exposed to things that were inappropriate for her age. We allowed her to have an e-mail account this past year...which has gone really well. Matt set up monitors on it, so that every e-mail sent to and sent from her account go straight to his account. So, we are able to read everything going on. And, include an occasional grammar or writing lesson (sometimes these kids write like they are in the 2nd grade). We haven't seen any problems with this. We also don't allow our kids on the computer when we are not home (or even upstairs)...there is a password on the computer. She has shown us that she is responsible. She is growing up.
Which leads me to why we made this decision. I was sitting in church on Sunday waiting for the service to start...and I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. And I really felt the Lord whisper to me that we should let Bryn have a Facebook account. I know, sounds weird...but God speaks to us about what is relevant to us. Then He showed me...She is going to start driving in another year...and technically she can move out in 4 years...I have to start allowing her to make good decisions in her life...and deal with the consequences of bad decisions. This was a hard thing. But she has shown us that she is responsible...trustworthy..and she needs to continue to do that as she gets older.
So there you have it...we have moved on. Of course, there are huge monitors on this too. All friends have to be approved by us (which really limits who she chooses)...mainly they will be friends from church. All her messages will be sent to us...and she is on Facebook only when we are home and in the room. This is going to be interesting walking out...it is strange raising a child in this day. It's hard. I thought running after a 2 year old was hard. That was a breeze compared to this teenager that landed in my house. So, we will see. But I believe that we have raised this girl right. I believe that the foundation we have put down is strong and secure. And of course, a lot of prayer will be involved!
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