S/O How old for Instagram?

[Anonymous]

It's not against the law, people. Terms of service are not laws. Instagram can delete the account, but drive your child to the police station and you'll be laughed out of town. Police have more important things to do than play into your weird parenting choices.

Terms of service are not law!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not against the law, people. Terms of service are not laws. Instagram can delete the account, but drive your child to the police station and you'll be laughed out of town. Police have more important things to do than play into your weird parenting choices.

Terms of service are not law!!

+1

Some of these parents are really off the deep end. I feel more for their children, than the IG parents' children, really. Let's keep perspective, people - instead of trying to take other parents down, you should be helping, not hurting. Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not against the law, people. Terms of service are not laws. Instagram can delete the account, but drive your child to the police station and you'll be laughed out of town. Police have more important things to do than play into your weird parenting choices.

Terms of service are not law!!

Thank you!! I agree some of the parents here are a little over the top!! Wait until they start having to deal with real teen issues!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least 13. Allowing your kid to lie and violate TOS is a really bad message. They will think they won't need to follow rules if they don't want to.

Not to mention all the social issues she isn't ready for.

Parents really need to do the right thing even if others aren't. Teach the right lesson.

Different people think different things are the right things to do. You understand that, right? And my kid is not so simple-minded as to think everything is black and white - she knows you need to think about WHY things are rules and laws. There USED to be a rule that black people had to sit in the back of a bus, and give up their seat to white people. Everyone blindly followed that until someone finally said "There's no good reason for this. Let's change it; I'll start." I could give five hundred more examples. Just because my 12 yr old uses Instagram, it doesn't mean she's taking molly and cutting school.

So you're framing a web site's legal terms of service as a CIVIL RIGHTS issue? Seriously? NO. It's really simple. This is a site that has very clear, very specific rules for members. Members must be 13. If your child is not 13, you are teaching him/her that it is okay to lie and to violate someone else's rules for their space. It's a really, really destructive lesson.

Why does the possibility that it might NOT be a really, really destructive lesson and say, a NBD kind of thing seem to bother you so much? You seem invested in the idea that these kids MUST be going astray with bad parents because of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 11 year old has an account - but I signed up for her using my email - so technically it is my account. I monitor it daily to check what she is posting and to educate her about what is an appropriate post and an inappropriate one. I have told her to take down a couple of posts.

Yes, technically it is breaking the law - but I feel this is a good way to teach her to be internet savvy - if I wait until she is 13, I will have less control.

Why would you have less control? Are you going to stop parenting when they turn a teen?

[Anonymous]

So, for all of the "It's the TERMS AND SERVICES!!!!" people - do you read the 5+ pages terms of service every time it comes up, or do you just click "Yes, I agree with the terms and services" to proceed on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not against the law, people. Terms of service are not laws. Instagram can delete the account, but drive your child to the police station and you'll be laughed out of town. Police have more important things to do than play into your weird parenting choices.

Terms of service are not law!!

I am a PP that never said it was a law. I said it was a rule. It is a TOS.

But you rationalizing that it is "only" a TOS and letting your kid enter the teen IG world at 11yrs old is good parenting is shocking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11 yr. old daughter who is obsessed with the idea of having an Instagram account. She says all her friends have one (which is true, she showed me) and she desperately wants one too. I'm concerned because I know technically you have to be at least 13 and she's not; I've heard about some awful things showing up on Instagram; and I think she's already distracted enough by YouTube, texting, etc. We monitor those last two and only let her do it in moderation, but it still seems to take up a lot of her brain space.

At what age did your kids get IG accounts and are there any things I should be particularly concerned about, or am I worried about nothing? TIA.

I am in the same boat with my 11 yr old and I was going to hold out until she was 13 but recently changed my mind. Right now, not all of her friends have it but some do. For my kid, there is going to be a learning curve on this in terms of what to post, how to comment, how to like, etc, so I decided better to start now when there are few kids to see her mistakes and they can more easily be deleted/fixed then in a year or so when it really matters for her socially.

[Anonymous]

my 10 y.o. has one. it is totally tame and we follow each other and I rarely post. basically she follows and likes her cousins living abroad, a handful of school friends, sone teenie bopper bands, and girls from Dance Moms. It is all fun, no worries, and there isn't any forbidden fruit element making it super tempting.

[Anonymous]

I signed up for an account Under a generic name. It's on my DDs phone and mine. I check it every day and we discuss appropriate behavior on social media. She's 11 and she listens to what I have to say. If I waited until 13 she probably wouldn't listen to me. If Instagram asks it's my account.

[Anonymous]

The reasons all of you give to justify this is unbelievable. I am guessing you are the same type of cool parents that turned a blind eye at the Wootton party that killed 2 kids. Everyone does it, so you might as well be aware, right?

If they are on IG at 10yrs old what will they be doing at 13? Not IG. They will be the kids acting cool and bragging how "lame" IG is and move onto more adult websites and apps. It is a steady progression.

[Anonymous]

There is a law. The Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA).

It says that you can't collect personal information from kids under 13 without parental consent. So it's not your kid that's breaking the law if they sign up for a website without your knowledge. It's the website vendor which is breaking the law by collecting the child's data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reasons all of you give to justify this is unbelievable. I am guessing you are the same type of cool parents that turned a blind eye at the Wootton party that killed 2 kids. Everyone does it, so you might as well be aware, right?

If they are on IG at 10yrs old what will they be doing at 13? Not IG. They will be the kids acting cool and bragging how "lame" IG is and move onto more adult websites and apps. It is a steady progression.

Or maybe those kids who were given just a little bit of freedom and responsibility at a younger age will learn how to make judgment calls and good choices as opposed to your children who have been hovered over and cannot think for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons all of you give to justify this is unbelievable. I am guessing you are the same type of cool parents that turned a blind eye at the Wootton party that killed 2 kids. Everyone does it, so you might as well be aware, right?

If they are on IG at 10yrs old what will they be doing at 13? Not IG. They will be the kids acting cool and bragging how "lame" IG is and move onto more adult websites and apps. It is a steady progression.

Or maybe those kids who were given just a little bit of freedom and responsibility at a younger age will learn how to make judgment calls and good choices as opposed to your children who have been hovered over and cannot think for themselves.

Wrong. i don't hover over my child. I just tell her flat out, no to all social media until she is 13 because that is the rules. Not just the rules of IG, snapchat, Facebook, etc.... But my rules. If some parents allow their kids to lie, that is not my problem. I am raising my kids to be honest, fair and have integrity. but go ahead and rationalize how being dishonest is showing responsibility about making good choices. How ironic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons all of you give to justify this is unbelievable. I am guessing you are the same type of cool parents that turned a blind eye at the Wootton party that killed 2 kids. Everyone does it, so you might as well be aware, right?

If they are on IG at 10yrs old what will they be doing at 13? Not IG. They will be the kids acting cool and bragging how "lame" IG is and move onto more adult websites and apps. It is a steady progression.

Or maybe those kids who were given just a little bit of freedom and responsibility at a younger age will learn how to make judgment calls and good choices as opposed to your children who have been hovered over and cannot think for themselves.

Wrong. i don't hover over my child. I just tell her flat out, no to all social media until she is 13 because that is the rules. Not just the rules of IG, snapchat, Facebook, etc.... But my rules. If some parents allow their kids to lie, that is not my problem. I am raising my kids to be honest, fair and have integrity. but go ahead and rationalize how being dishonest is showing responsibility about making good choices. How ironic

Good luck with that.

Let me tell you my story. I had the same attitude. I didn't even want my DS to have a smart phone back when he was in 6th and 7th grade. By the time I let him have the smart phone and IG at age 13, he was very socially awkward online compared to other kids his age. And the PP who said the thing about having lots of followers has a point. In hindsight, I would have let him have the phone and IG sooner because it just makes it easier or kids to connect socially. That is the way they do it now.

You can monitor the IG if you are signed on with her account. I think it is better for them to be on the learning curve before they reach 13 so that they can navigate the online social world with grace.