Kids, computers, and passwords

[polkadotsuitcase]

Curious to know if you know your kids' passwords to their online stuff -- mail, YouTube account, whatever. Hubby and I are in agreement that we should know 12yo son's passwords...12yo son, naturally, disagrees.

"Naughty" sites are blocked, obviously, and I trust my kiddo. But his accounts are just things that I want to have access to, as a parent.

Wondering how others handle the brave new world of online, plugged-in kids?

 

[pixiewings71]

I know my DD's passwords for almost everything and what I don't know she will tell me if I just ask.

 

[kimblebee]

I know my daughters name and password for her various accounts. She knows I will sometimes check her hotmail account too to see her emails. She is almost 10 so a lot of the sites she goes to need a parents permission to complete registration. She knows what is and isn't allowed so I'm not too worried about her signing up for something that isn't appropriate for her.

 

[mamamary]

I know their passwords.

 

[bellebud]

I have all passwords and my kids (10 and 9) both know I will, at any time, pick up their phones and look at their texts, read their emails, etc. So far, so good.

 

[kristilew]

Uh, yes, all passwords, full access. She may call it hers, but it's my laptop, my cell phone, my iTouch, my internet, until she's on her own and paying for it. If I can't access whatever I want, whenever I want, she knows the accounts will go buh-bye.

ETA: it's not her I don't trust, it's her unsupervised friends. I continue to be shocked by what a 12 or 13 y.o. will text or post online. otoh, great talking points!

 

[scrapquitler]

Uh, yes, all passwords, full access. She may call it hers, but it's my laptop, my cell phone, my iTouch, my internet, until she's on her own and paying for it. If I can't access whatever I want, whenever I want, she knows the accounts will go buh-bye.

ETA: it's not her I don't trust, it's her unsupervised friends. I continue to be shocked by what a 12 or 13 y.o. will text or post online. otoh, great talking points!

This exactly.

I am friends with her on Facebook (and several of her friends have friended me). I told her in no uncertain terms that I am also looking at her friends pages, and would not hesitate to call their parents if I saw something inappropriate on the friends pages (especially her friends who are kids of MY friends).

I look at her phone, I read her facebook wall. Yes, I am the parent.

 

[Fire14]

My parents knew my passwords entire time I lived in their house and it was my computer and I was over 18 at time.

 

[dollydell]

This exactly.

I am friends with her on Facebook (and several of her friends have friended me). I told her in no uncertain terms that I am also looking at her friends pages, and would not hesitate to call their parents if I saw something inappropriate on the friends pages (especially her friends who are kids of MY friends).

I look at her phone, I read her facebook wall. Yes, I am the parent.

you do realize that friending her and looking at her wall doesn't mean you actually see all that is actually there right? It is very easy to create a group for parents to be in so that they can't see certain wall posts or so that only certain friends can see, so they and their friends can post things that you wouldn't think appropriate, but as you can see everything else, you think there isn't a problem. The only way to tell for sure, it to be logged on to her account.

 

[lukenick1]

How can I block my kids from going to You tube and google???

 

[StacyMarie]

My kids cannot belong to a site if I do not have the passwords. When my teenage daughters wanted FB, I set them up so I know the passwords and also anything they post on FB copies to my e-mail address so I see everything, even if they post something and erase it, a copy has already gone to my e-mail. They are aware and know that I monitor EVERYTHING. If I think it is inappropriate in any way, I tell them to delete or no more FB! Same with Youtube, Myspace, and e-mail addresses, etc. I have the passwords! They are pretty well trained now on what is acceptable behavior online. Also, if they post something to FB and one of their friends comments something under it that is inappropriate (because I cannot control other people's teenagers bad mouths), I make my girls delete it too! Call me a meanie, I don't care, LOL!

 

[mommasita]

Yes. DD11 and DS14, and there are no privacy passwords in this house. I also spot check often.

 

[scrapquitler]

you do realize that friending her and looking at her wall doesn't mean you actually see all that is actually there right? It is very easy to create a group for parents to be in so that they can't see certain wall posts or so that only certain friends can see, so they and their friends can post things that you wouldn't think appropriate, but as you can see everything else, you think there isn't a problem. The only way to tell for sure, it to be logged on to her account.

Yes I am aware of that. I can log onto her account, and do (we play games on one another's accounts all the time anyway).

 

[FireDancer]

Just remember that just because you have their passwords doesn't mean you know about all their accounts. They can set up an email and give you the password but have a completely different email they just access from other computers you would never know about. This is why it is important to discuss with your kids online safety instead of just try and filter their information. These things come up daily in the tech community.

It's a little harder with Facebook but not impossible.

 

[tvguy]

I know theirs. They know mine and my wife's. There are just too many cases when one of us needs to retrieve information from anothers account for us not to know.
Both mine are in college now, and I can log in as them and pay their college tuition, transfer money to their bank accounts, and they can log into my accounts and do the same.

 

[maelstrom]

I'm so glad that my parents weren't like this. My mother is to this day very controlling and overprotective (I'm 24) but she never had the passwords to any of my accounts, never read my text messages, etc. If I ever have children (not likely), I would never require them to tell me all of their passwords, etc; my fiance is in total agreement.

 

[cybrkitn]

Yes, we do. DS is only 8 and registered on kid appropriate sites (Pet Pet Park, Club Penguin, Webkinz, etc.). I have all the confirmation emails (DS does not have an email account) with his information, which comes in handy when we forget what it is.

 

[tonilea]

My son is quite a bit younger than yours. At this point, I know the logins and passwords. He only knows the logins.