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[scarlett]

This thread is making me feel depressed about secondary schools ! At the moment my sons are putting together a home for their big collection of ants...... but this time next year DS1 will probably be glued to the laptop being cyber bullied Is it a really big thing at school ? Will he be stressy about going on it ? Ds2 has just asked me why I'm still on an eleven plus website when I don't have any children taking the 11 plus at the moment ! Maybe they won't get a chance to get on Facebook !!!

[doodles]

Don't worry Scarlett, yes they do grow up horribly fast once they hit secondary school, but at the moment my DS has taken his younger brother to the park with some other friends and they are all playing cricket. I'll see them in about an hour hungry and arguing about who got the most runs.

[blessedmum]

There was an article I once read and I will find it and put it up.
A policeman in the US pretended to be a girl's friend on a social net working site and eventually arranged to meet this girl. he offered to come to her house which she felt was safe.
When he got there. Her mum was shocked that it was an adult male. He proceeded to tell the mum her daughter's life history, where they lived, where she went, the things she likes and dislikes, about her family and all. The mum was so shocked that a total stranger knew so much about her family.

The man had become friends with almost all the girls friend which made her feel everyone else knew who he was.

The internet is a dangerous place. Whilst it has a wealth of information and it is very useful for our children. they need to be portected from the crazy people out there and the home is where they should be the safest.

There is nothing wrong with knowing what our children are up too. Eevn now as a married woman with kids, my parents are still interested in my life and I enjoy sharing my life with them.

[andyb]

Don't worry Scarlett, yes they do grow up horribly fast once they hit secondary school, but at the moment my DS has taken his younger brother to the park with some other friends and they are all playing cricket. I'll see them in about an hour hungry and arguing about who got the most runs.

That made me smile. DS1 has taken DS2 to the park to play football with some friends. The first thing they will say when they get back it "what's for tea?" then they will both claim to have scored the most/best goals!

[scarlett]

So actually, our kids are making the most of the fresh air and we are the ones glued to the internet !

[andyb]

This thread is making me feel depressed about secondary schools ! At the moment my sons are putting together a home for their big collection of ants...... but this time next year DS1 will probably be glued to the laptop being cyber bullied Is it a really big thing at school ? Will he be stressy about going on it ? Ds2 has just asked me why I'm still on an eleven plus website when I don't have any children taking the 11 plus at the moment ! Maybe they won't get a chance to get on Facebook !!!

DS is in Y8 (but not yet 13) and plenty of his friends have accounts. He did try to set an account up about 6 months ago (he adjusted his d.o.b.) but he forgot his password and hasn't been inclined to have another attempt. He doesn't have a laptop and the only computer is in the family area. He occassionally says x has a laptop/iphone etc but hasn't pushed for us to get him one - he has the cheapest, most basic mobile we could get, we are probably the only family he knows without an xbox/ps2 and he has spent most of nearly every day of the holiday so far outside!

[andyb]

So actually, our kids are making the most of the fresh air and we are the ones glued to the internet !

Yup

[scarlett]

That's really nice to hear, Andyb....my sons are real country children ,spending most of their time outside and I'd hate for them to suddenly want laptops etc, DS1 has been telling me for years that one of his friends has a laptop, blackberry etc etc but this particular boy is always asking to come back to ours to eat his dinner in their tree house...sleep in the garden and then make a great big wormery in the allotment...so maybe boys do prefer being boys !!

[doodles]

Ok they are back and in the shower and I am on here still

But apparently DS2 (8yo) did a fantastic catch.......... yawn yawn!

Both DS's have laptops and DS1 has mobile ( for travel to school, he takes it to park etc for safety as there are no phone boxes near us and he takes responsibility for DS2 and his credit lasts ages) and they also have a Wii but the laptops have dust on and the batteries need replacing in the Wii controllers!

However, apparently both cricket bats need retaping and oiling .................... yawn yawn and they need a new bale for the stumps.

[sp]

Going back to the privacy issue: FB is NOT private!! DCs can have private face to face conversations with their friends. My DCs have been told in no uncertain terms (by us and the schools) that everything they post on FB is in the public domain and to treat it as if they had shouted it in the town centre! I know nothing about FB (nor do I want to) but DH is a "friend" of DS. What DS doesn't know is that DH very rarely looks at it but the threat is always there. Novelty seems to be waning in this part of the world (ie our house). Could be because lots of our adult friends have FB pages which kind of diminishes the excitement!