I plan to steer my kids from social media for as far as I can, however, recently my kids (ages: 7,8,9) have discovered Instagram.... as I am sure most of you all are aware of by now since they are following eveeeeeeryone they know.
After seeing that their cousins and pretty much everyone else in the family had an account, they begged us for one. We, reluctantly, agreed and forbid them from following anyone that was not family.
Next, they would see "People you may know" pop-up and they were seeing lots of Mom and Dad's friends, church friends, and former teachers. They had been doing so good following our strict directions that we gave them permission to follow anyone they knew. We also periodically check their accounts.
It never fails, just when you think you are doing something right as a parent, you are quickly reminded that you probably aren't.
A coupple of nights ago I walked in Rilyn's room to tell her it was time to get off of her laptop, brush her teeth, and go to bed and I found her teary-eyed.
"Whats wrong?" I asked her.
"This boy posted something on Instagram!" she sobbed.
And my first thought, was OMG! Roxie, you are such an idiot to ever allow your kids to get on social media! #badmom
"Who was it and what did he say???" I asked.
"It was my teachers son. He said, if you do not re-post this by midnight you are going to die!!!!" she wailed.
"And I didn't re-post it so I an probably going to die!!!!" she cried.
Immediately, I was relieved. And I may or may not have chuckled a little.
I explained to her that it was not true and that I see stupid stuff like that on Facebook all the time. I told her to un-follow him and ignore it.
"Oh I am!" she hissed! "And I reported him, too!! You should never scare people like that!!"
So, I would like to publicly apologize to whatever teachers little boy just got suspended from Instagram......
