Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Set parental controls. My kids can not install any aps without parental approval.

If you are Family Sharing (assuming you have iPhones) with them and someone in that family group has previously downloaded an app, anyone else in that family group can download the same app without needing parental permission.

This is how my child downloaded Snap without my knowledge or permission- I had downloaded it before and he was able to do so as well, without his child account asking for permission as it is set to do.

There are so many ways to do this too. Many also use old phones and iPads laying around the house. My daughters knew someone who purchased a cracked iPhone 6 for $30 and uses it non cellular to get on social media. Uses friends hot spots too.

They can also access it on their chromebooks too. Don’t need the aps. Just go on browser format for most social medias.

Teens with strict parents will always find ways and most strict parents are clueless and think one parent control saves their kid and become complacent. And their kid has no guidance.

Oh and don’t forget the calculator app. That’s a sneaky one! But if you aren’t in the know, teens blue right past you.

I like the abstinence analogy or they can’t date analogy. They find a way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the parents that say my kids don't have Snap accounts, yes they do. On their friend's phones at the bare minimum. It's how they communicate.

How does it help to have Snap on their friends' accounts when they're not with their friends the majority of the day (especially after they come home, which is when they have down time)?

They are not on their friend's accounts they have their own accounts. They log in and out of their accounts.

Many of them spend a good amount of time together after school, games, practices, etc. There is a lot of time during school too. More than you think. Mine doesn't sit around a whole lot at home and is not in our home the majority of every day. But yes, I do agree you are preventing a lot of use during down time in your home. You can also prevent a lot of use during down time in your home by putting time limits on it on their own phone, if and when you choose to allow it on their own phone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the parents that say my kids don't have Snap accounts, yes they do. On their friend's phones at the bare minimum. It's how they communicate.

No phone, no socials, easy peazy.

Are you people reading what anyone is saying?

They get it on their friends' phones. School devices.

WAKE UP

NP. My kid is 12 and no, he does not have a snapchat account anywhere, not on his nonexistent phone, not on anyone else's, not on his school laptop.

Twelve year olds? Can you all hear yourselves?

Embarrassed for you

I love how you think know this and so surely LOL

Just because your kid is a lair doesn't mean mine is. Grow up and do better.

What is crazy to me is you have people on here telling you what these kids are doing. Coaches, teachers, other parents. Yes, 12 year olds. And yet you are so sure you know what's going on. The hubris in that is fascinating to me.

You cannot parent effectively if you don't admit that on some level it takes a village and you don't have control over everything and know everything.

DP. Hubris? At 12, the number of kids who have cell phones varies widely in different areas - which can be within the same metro area or county. At some schools, all the 3rd-6th graders have their own smartphone while at other schools, only half or fewer of the 7th graders have their own phone.

And sure, probably the parents of each group look down upon parents of the other, as harming their child by *depriving them of online socialization* *depriving them of IRL socialization*.

No one is talking about whether you choose to give your child a phone. No one is talking about whether you are depriving anyone of anything. What people are telling you is these kids get on social media one way or another and they are either going to do it with zero guidance and input from you or they're going to talk to you about it on some level. It's a similar mindset to abstinence-only. Sure you can tell your kid to wait to have sex and then have fun if you end up a grandparent.

I think it's completely fine to not give a kid a phone. I would still have conversations with them about social media and how to handle it and be very specific and outline all your expectations and let them know they can come to you if they need help. Just me though.