5 rules for Facebook families

As parents, one of our jobs is teaching our kids the facts of life. Even though many parents never really do this, kids manage to learn them anyway.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Kids are teaching their parents the facts of Facebook. Even though many kids never really do this, parents manage to learn them anyway.

I’m convinced that some kid in a dorm room in Cambridge or Palo Alto is working on something to draw kids away from Facebook now that parents are on it. And I don’t blame them. They’d like to shut the door to Facebook like they shut the door to their rooms, and not have their parents in their face.

Since Daniel and his friends are here for spring break, and I’m in their faces anyway, Facebook has come up in the conversation. I was eager to learn what they are willing to teach. Now that we’re all in this together. In the same way families establish rules for existing under the same roof —maybe it’s time to establish house rules for Facebook families.

Moses got 10 commandments from God. For Facebook we came up with 5:

1. Thou shalt not friend your children– or any of your children’s friends. You may accept if they friend you. It took me 3 months to accept Daniel’s friend request, and I’m still not sure it was the right move.

2. Thou shalt not write on your kids’ walls. Or on your kid’s friends’ walls. Or on your friends’ kid’s walls. If in doubt, don’t.

3. Thou shalt not tag your children in pictures. Especially if they’re embarrassing. And while YOU might be embarrassed by a photo of your child drunk at a fraternity party, SHE might be embarrassed by a picture of her as a preteen wearing braces.

4. Thou shalt stalk if you must—-but quietly. Apparently everyone is stalking everyone else, but no one wants to admit it. If you learn something about your kid from stalking, they don’t want to hear about it .

5. Honor thy father and mother. This has absolutely nothing to do with Facebook. But it’s still worth remembering.