Facebook—with its requirement that users 1 at least 13—and Twitter are indeed geared toward older teenagers and adults. Parents should follow those 2 because children younger than 13 are not developmentally 3 for the subtle differences of the social interactions on those sites. Social media are 4 interwoven with kids" lives, though, that to bar them from using the sites at all is not 5 . In fact, if parents don"t let their children use social media, they are not 6 them with the skills they need to function in the 7 world.
Social networking today is really just a(n) 8 part of the way kids and teens are 9 . They use social networking to 10 some of the natural developmental issues 11 they are going through. 12 using social media can come 3 when kids use it to bully or tease classmates, so it"s important to teach children that they are 14 with real people online. Parents can use the chat functions on sites such as Webkinz, which is geared toward children ages 6 to 13, 15 a way to teach kids to be kind in the online world. It"s also important to 16 how your child is reacting to social media to make sure they"re not becoming 17 with using it, or upset by things that they have seen. Trouble signs 18 kids who are acting withdrawn or are obsessive about social networking. If your child is only happy when using social media, or 19 sad after using it, those are signs that it is 20 .