e-mail and kids

[rosyred45]

I am at a loss. My daughter, who is "normal" was asking the girls in her class about e-mailing them. I don't have a problem with my daughter e-mailing, but I'm just wondering what others thought of an 8, (9-in December, mature for her age) yr old having thier own e-mail address.

I already told her that if she was to get any e-mail, it was upto mom and dad as to whether she could have access to it. I just don't know how other parents would feel if my daughter said, (instead of call me) just e-mail me>

Any advice? She is a very honest girl, and very mature for her age. She loves to handle responsibility, (as long as I know she can handle it).

This doesn't mean she would be on the computer and have access to the internet and all of that crap, just an e-mail account.

Thanks, anything would be appreciated, pro or con.
Kaiti

[Allanque]

As long as you're monitoring it and she KNOWS that she's not to open anything from people she doesn't know or weird attachments, I'd say it's fine.

However, if I were a parent (which I'm not, so take this all with a grain of salt) I'd be very tempted to make her use one that she doesn't know the password to, at least at the very beginning. That way she can only check it when she's allowed to and with a parent there.

[rosyred45]

that's pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking. Log her in-she won't know the password. I'd like her to think of herself of something more than just the big sister, type of thing, that's why I was wondering.

Thanks, I still have't talked it over with my husband, but I think that just that little bit of "independence" will help her self esteem since it seems to be overshadowed sometimes by my son's hyper activities and the attention that he gets.

Have a good one,
Kaiti

[amethist]

you should have some kind of parent controls with your computer dont you? I know i do... you have to go through the master screen name of your account and edit parent controls.
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[rosyred45]

Thanks, I'm not sure of any parent controls, but I will look into it.

I appreciate any thing. I still think if I screen everything I'll be fine, but that won't teach her responsiblilty, now will it?

d**n, it's getting tough and tougher. I give you all credit with kids, I can deal with outher, but when It comes tomy own, I'm at a loss.

Thanks
Kaiti
p.s. those without kids are appreciated too, from more of a non judgemental(parental) point of view.

[amethist]

:)roseyred45 I too agree it is easier to deal with other children it is dealing with are children that is hard and for the responsibliti you will know as her mom when she can handle it trust her first with it then if the trust is broke you take it away.....how old is she by the way?
good luck let me know how it goes.
if you have trouble finding the parent controls thru your internet you can always go on line with a tech and they can explain it to you.
;D

[rosyred45]

#1 sorry about the language, didn't think I typed what I thought
#2 Thanks for what you have given so far, I know that I can trust my daughter, as long as she knows that I know. I think that she is mature enough, as long as she has to go through me to get to anything.

Thank, Kaiti

[LitlBaa]

Katie has her own email address, but I set controls on the sites she visits and the people she IMs. AOL has really good parental controls and I get a report of everywhere she went and where she tried to go. She has been told not to give out any information and she's been pretty responsible about her surfing.

[Honeysmom]

My kids are not old enough for email. The only site I let them go on is PSBKIDS.org. Teletubbies and Sesame Street are still safe...I hope.

I have been told that Yahoo has very good parental controls. In fact, if you will be having kids under a certain age open an account, I think the age might be 13, you are required to open a family account. Then you can set the controls for them.

It might also be a good idea to get a spam or pop up blocker for her. I know I have been just surfing around innocently and somehow got a pornographic pop up or some for an online casino. Good luck, this is one of the reasons I cannot allow my kids to get any older!!!! Becky

[eaccae]

Just be careful. I have spamblocker, parental controls, suspect email filters, adult email filters - you name it I have it - and I STILL get porn CONSTANTLY sent to my email, pictures and all. Alot of it has come addressed to my DS(8) - which makes me think someone stole his name from one of the websites he visits (pbskids, nick, etc.) (I track his website visits and he is usually supervised - so I know HE didn't find something. But I really think that someone got his name from one of the kid websites.) He and his cousin (8) email each other all the time - but they have to use our (the adults) emails. They seem fine with this though.

[rosyred45]

My husband and I already have e-mail accounts set up through yahoo, is that different from a family account, and is it free?
We don't use credit cards or checks. So I hope it is free. If not, we have alternate e-mail through Comcast, who we use instead of phone line. Any thoughts on either one. much appreciated so far.

Thanks Kaiti

[Honeysmom]

Yes Yahoo is free.

[rosyred45]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore a question. Tara is going to be 9, December 14(which was the time she was born: 12:14 on 12/14) Had to through that in.

Any how, she sent her first e-mail. I told her how to type in the address, remember the greeting, type what ever, and the "your friend" I did hit the send, I feel bad I didn't let her do that, but that mom thing took over.

Any how, to a little girl in her class, what are we going to do at recess, what are you wearing.....

It was quite cute.

I did e-mail the little girls mom to let her know that if she has any discrepancies or problems to get a hold of me, I am very open ended and take advice if justified.

Thank you all for your help, I will be back to look over some of the advice, when I get a second.

Thanks again. If any body thinks of anything else, please let me know.
Kaiti

[adhdtimes4]

Because of some unfortunate experiences with hotmail and other free emails, we bought our own family domain name - costs $15 per year, and comes with 100(!) email addresses. Our webhost costs $4.95 per month, and I think it is SO worth it. Each of our boys has their own email, but anything they get is copied to my email, and anything the little guy SENDS is copied to me as well.

I don't read their personal email, but I do watch to see who it is from; if it is suspect, I look to see if it is offensive. But so far - no SPAM at all! (They do get some really stupid jokes, however.)

[rosyred45]

We do have comcast mail that, if I am remembering correctly allows us to have 7 separate e-mail accounts. Would that be about the same as having your own domain name.

Just when I think I know enough, BAM, something else pops up. More to learn I guess.

BTW: adhdtimes4, how would I go about the domain name thing? There's that BAM again. HAHA

So much to learn, so many things to ignore. ;D
Kaiti