Parents Unsupervised Teen Sleepovers?

[cbifoja]

Funnily enough my son actually makes a very nice living working in the video game industry. He literally plays for the equivalent of a full time, and part time, job. It is a brave new world out there and literacy in computers and gaming can take a kid a long way, even the army and government have recruited gamers.

So many of my high school students are apparently planning on going this route. I hope it's a robust industry and that they are hiring in a couple of years! LOL

 

[cbifoja]

My DD has just recently started dipping her toes in social media. Unfortunately for her, her mother works in a high school so I have a pretty good idea of the "tricks of the trade". Like others have mentioned, I have all passwords and reserve the right to look at any account at any time for any reason whatsoever. Right now she has the Insta suite but no Twitter, Kik, Vine, etc.

She lost her Insta once for posting a picture of a friend without that friend's permission. I also thought that she had started an account with a friend without that parent's permission but thankfully, that wasn't the case. After that, we sat down and created a social media contract that we both signed.

Now the sleepover thing. Ummmmm, hell no. Mine didn't even get to go to a team member's birthday party because they were a bunch of teenagers and they were going to be hanging out at the mall for a couple of hours.

 

[bogwoppit]

So many of my high school students are apparently planning on going this route. I hope it's a robust industry and that they are hiring in a couple of years! LOL

Living in the right city is key. There are a few centres for gaming and, fortunately for my ds, Montreal is one of them. He is also fluently bilingual, English and French, and has enough Japanese to get along, but more than that knowing the industry inside out is a huge deal and the ability to play many kind of games on many platforms.

I totally get how this is not for every family, but I am pretty much a tech geek myself. However ds dad is a hunter/trapper /fisherman who works construction. So ds has had a very rounded childhood both in and out of the house.

 

[cbifoja]

I'm afraid most of my students aren't really willing to excel in anything that will get them off of their parent's couch when they graduate high school. They definitely wouldn't put the effort in to learning a second language and certainly not a third!

Please know that I wasn't mocking or judging your son AT ALL! Quite the contrary, he sounds quite intelligent. I was making a statement about how unambitious too many of my kids are and think that they will make a great living with little effort.

 

[raenndrops]

I thought I was the only one who disliked the " trout pout"!

What is it with these parents who think it's ok for their children to post these pics and the "rock n roll" (tongue out devil horn fingers) pics on social media? The moms post them too !

I just don't get it!

I agree about the "trout pout."

There are times, however, when the "rock and roll" look is appropriate... and I don't consider the "rock and roll hands" to be devil horns.
For the 2011 YMCA Gymnastics Nationals, the theme was Rock the Gym and it had a Rock and Roll theme... gym names were Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, the Clash, and Def Leppard. For Opening Ceremonies, they were encouraged to dress up using the rock and roll theme. We have a pic of our team girls posing like rock stars. It is cute - not evil or horrible.

 

[bogwoppit]

I'm afraid most of my students aren't really willing to excel in anything that will get them off of their parent's couch when they graduate high school. They definitely wouldn't put the effort in to learning a second language and certainly not a third!

Please know that I wasn't mocking or judging your son AT ALL! Quite the contrary, he sounds quite intelligent. I was making a statement about how unambitious too many of my kids are and think that they will make a great living with little effort.

I did not think you were mocking at all.

Ds is very, very smart and has found his calling, he works incredibly hard for many hours a week. It is not a job for sofa slugs.

But I agree, so many kids think they will work in the industry because they can play call of duty on the Xbox. Not a chance for them at all.

 

[bogwoppit]

I agree about the "trout pout."

There are times, however, when the "rock and roll" look is appropriate... and I don't consider the "rock and roll hands" to be devil horns.
For the 2011 YMCA Gymnastics Nationals, the theme was Rock the Gym and it had a Rock and Roll theme... gym names were Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, the Clash, and Def Leppard. For Opening Ceremonies, they were encouraged to dress up using the rock and roll theme. We have a pic of our team girls posing like rock stars. It is cute - not evil or horrible.

As long as their tongue is in their mouth I am good with it as a fun theme! Bet they had a blast.

 

[wandrewsjr]

It's like that down here in LA too. I go directly to coaches/ teachers/ sponsors and let them know our family policy. They may pass any info through my fb if needed, or may email me anytime. In some instances, such as my DD(12)s cheer coach we allowed her to call DD directly with weather updates. I haven't met any resistance yet. We also don't allow tv watching or video games- that has been the true challenge.

Wow...no tv...you are mean! At 10 and 12 would say there are still a good number of parents who don't let their kids on social media. Most school/sports/activity information is still communicated through parents. It's when they are 15 year old sophomores that it will become more challenging.

 

[raenndrops]

Mine rarely use any of that stuff and they are 15, 17 and 21, it gets old really fast. Especially when they know who can see their stuff. Mine also had to be friends with me and not block me on anything. I had their passwords too.

The girls' (OG and YG) parents have rather "strange" rules to me. The girls can have a cell phone @ 10, but not a touch screen until 17... of course, YG is only 9-1/2 and stepmom bought her a phone on Monday. OG is mad about that.
They also can't have FB until age 10-1/2 (oooooh)... and I, me, the not a parent pseudo-parent am to have access at all times. I have OG's password and I monitor her page. I also have her email password... In fact, she forgot her log in info and called me for it, lol.

They are on their phones too much, but OG isn't on FB that often. After 3 months, she got bored of it and only logs on less than once a week. She doesn't do any of the other social media sites. Hoping YG gets like that with her phone.... and if they all forget, that she doesn't get FB until she is MUCH older.

 

[raenndrops]

As long as their tongue is in their mouth I am good with it as a fun theme! Bet they had a blast.

Their tongues were out of their mouths for 1 picture (but not like KISS out) ... they were told to look "as rock and roll as they could." But they did have a blast!

 

[wandrewsjr]

Sorry to hijack, but even those 10/12/14 year olds who are allowed on social media aren't on Facebook anymore. It is too uncool now that so many moms, dads, even grandparents are on there. It's now Instagram, Vine, Ask.fm, etc.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Wow...no tv...you are mean! At 10 and 12 would say there are still a good number of parents who don't let their kids on social media. Most school/sports/activity information is still communicated through parents. It's when they are 15 year old sophomores that it will become more challenging.

Not here. In their combined circle of friends ages 9-14, they are literally the only kids without smartphones and social media accounts. It could just be this community, I am not sure.

 

[cbifoja]

Sorry to hijack, but even those 10/12/14 year olds who are allowed on social media aren't on Facebook anymore. It is too uncool now that so many moms, dads, even grandparents are on there. It's now Instagram, Vine, Ask.fm, etc.

Yep.....no one except us "old folks" uses FB anymore.

 

[bogwoppit]

Yep.....no one except us "old folks" uses FB anymore.

True that.

 

[SignHere]

As long as their tongue is in their mouth I am good with it as a fun theme! Bet they had a blast.

I think I hate the tongues out more than the "rock n roll hands"!

But, definitely, "trout mouth is the worst.

 

[txgymfan]

My nephew has been "on" Faceboook since he was about 13 (2 years) and he never posts. When U catch him "liking" something I will try to start a Pm conversation and that's fun but it is rare to catch him on. I also follow him on twitter but his tweets are so random that without knowing the inside story they just make me laugh. He does snapchat and text so his mom monitors texts and trusts him for the rest.