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If you’re like the majority of parents today, your teen has a Facebook account. And, if you’re like the majority of parents, you’ve heard the countless horror stories about cyber-bullying, stalking, sending and receiving sexually explicit postings, and other issues that have put teens into physical danger or caused intense emotional stress.
You may be wondering if refusing to let your teen have a Facebook account is the only way you can prevent anything bad from happening. It is one way, but there are other ways you can protect your teen on Facebook or any other social network account (Facebook is the one you hear about the most, but there are others; these tips apply to any of them).
Become your child’s “friend.”
Not only will this give you access to your child’s page, but just knowing that you are literally seeing everything your child sees will keep him and his friends “on the straight and narrow” when it comes to content that is posted. If you start seeing a lot of “code words,” ask your child to translate, and then explain that this will not happen again. If it continues, suspend Facebook access for a period of time.
Keep up with your child’s contacts.
If you don’t know a person yourself, ask your child to give you information on who the contact is and how this person came to be on your child’s Facebook page, this is the only way to ensure Facebook privacy for your kids. If the person doesn’t know your child enough to your liking, have your teen remove them from their friends list.
