Facebook … no expert here. My name is Alice Myer and I’m simply a mom of three daughters who resisted Facebook (FB) for several years. That is, until my first daughter moved off to college and one of my FB using friends said, “Hey … I loved the picture of Becca and her new goldfish!” That’s all it took … nobody was going to get the scoop on my college-bound daughter before me!
I joined Facebook just in time to read a posting from my brother who has three teenage girls. His post read, “Ellie, Maggie and Libbie … I have asked time and time again, so hopefully by communicating through FB you will get it this time … PLEASE unplug the curling iron when you leave for school! Love, Dad.”
I got a good laugh, but my nieces were horrified! First of all, it was a “hair straightener” not a “curling iron” and secondly, all their FB friends saw the post and commented!
So I learned quickly that Facebook may not be the proper place to parent. However, I have discovered that Facebook is a great place to become an informed parent.
Remember the days of rotary phones? As a kid, if you wanted a private conversation you had to use the house phone with the extra long cord so you could stretch it to the nearest closet or food pantry where you would shut the door and whisper to your friend on the other end of the line. If you were really cool (and blessed), you would have a colored phone (not beige or black) in your own room because your parents got tired of not having an open phone line and bought a second line just for the kids. Gone are those days! With cell phones, texting and social medias, it’s much easier for kids to create their own private world if we let them.
That brings me back to Facebook. If you want to be informed and “listen” to your child’s world, I encourage you to get an FB account and become their “friend.” Now that I have found my bearings in this social network, I appreciate putting faces-to-names of friends of my children that I might not normally have a chance to meet. I enjoy being a little more informed about the crowd my children choose to hang around. I also enjoy using that information to steer our conversations towards areas I may see as concerning.
Becoming a FB user has done nothing but open up conversations between me and my children. I use the term “FB user” loosely because I don’t participate in FB often, but I do scan FB daily which gives me the inside scoop and opportunities to start conversations that are current events in my children’s lives. In other words, Facebook gives me insight into their world that might otherwise be a whispered conversation held in a closet where the phone cord is tightly stretched.
p.s. Here’s a simple YouTube tutorial on How to Setup a Facebook Account/Profile.
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