A little over a year ago, I set up Kameron on Facebook so that we could be neighbors on Farmville and so that we could send along notes to each other, as well as his mom every now and then. While setting up Kameron's account we noticed that we had to lie about his age in order to start his profile, and for the last year or so it has never been a problem . . . until a few weeks ago.
Maybe a little more preface is necessary. After a month or so, I noticed that more of my siblings were allowing their children to establish accounts on FB as well. Kameron began communicating with them, my siblings, my parents, and established contact with family all over the United States, where other wise not very realistic if it were not for this somewhat new social media in Facebook. Nothing brought cause for concern that our minor children had Facebook accounts, in fact, we were quite happy that the boys could communicate with wholesome, family centered exchanges of communication, and play games that didn't involve shooting, blowing-up, or firing a weapon of some kind. We were happy with the new ability the boys had to have a somewhat decent place to communicate with their family. Margie Jo was even able to communicate with the boys this summer more than ever before when they were with their father downstate for his 3 weeks of parenting time. It was during this period of time when we noticed something weird . . .
One night Margie Jo logged on around 1 in the morning and noticed Kameron was on Facebook. Margie Jo went to instant message Kameron and the response was just not Kameron . . . it was obvious it wasn't him. That was the first sign. The next sign came a short time after the boys return from their time away from us. Something wasn't right, as the list of mutual friends for Kameron to select from was even more than R rated . . . women sitting on beds or bar stools with very short skirts and their legs positioned as to expose their underwear. When I sat next to Kameron and noticed this, I asked him where these friend requests and mutual friends were coming from. He has had his Facebook account for over a year without this problem or concern . . . the next problem came when Margie Jo noticed conversations that Kameron had access to were beyond R rated, conversations that were not from our family and friends, but outside the family. These conversations that posted on Kameron's and Kellen's wall were beyond inappropriate for 10 and 12 year old boys.
The Final Straw that led to pulling Kellen and Kameron's Facebook accounts: A few Saturday mornings ago, before anyone in the family was up, Kameron and I were sitting on the couch watching a fishing show. Kameron asked to go on the computer and I told him to have at it. I could tell Kameron was having a hard time logging onto Facebook, and he asked for some help . . . it was obvious that someone had been using/hacking Kameron's account, and Facebook knew it . . . they were having Kameron take a "face recognition" test off his friends list. They would show a picture of my parents, or my nieces & nephews, or my siblings, and then FB would give Kameron as list of choices of who the picture is before they would let him log on to his account. I thought this was a pretty clever way of verifying if this was really Kameron . . . and as it struck me as to the reason why they were asking Kameron to identify his friends before they would allow him to log on, a pair of bare breasts pop-up as a picture for Kameron to identify . . .
I quickly grabbed the lap-top off his lap and canceled the quiz they were making him take. After discussing the problem as a family, the boys agreed to suspend their Facebook accounts . . . which we are very sad about. We had no problems for over a year, but after 3 short weeks away, 10 and 12 year old boys have pornographic profile pictures as common friends, and conversations on their wall that should be part of some Smut Mag, and for this reason, Kellen and Kameron are no longer on Facebook . . . which is sad . . . it was a fairly decent way for us to communicate as family and friends with the boys. But, we were hi-jacked by amoral filth . . .
I know we will not be able to protect our children forever, but if we are able to control what it is they read and see in our home, and keep them from the exposure from within our home; helping them be in world, but not of the world. Our home has to be a refuge from the filth that degrades our children; that teaches them that evil is good, and that good is evil. That it is okay to be amoral, that it is okay to be promiscuous, that it's okay to not have any standards of morality. We HAVE to teach our children that having standards, and morals, and decency is nothing to be ashamed of. That it is okay to tell ANYONE that they don't agree with that life-style, that they don't want to be associated with it in any way. I pray that our children will stay moral, and keep away from the traps that would lead them away from the spirit of all things pure, worthy, and good.
Maybe a little more preface is necessary. After a month or so, I noticed that more of my siblings were allowing their children to establish accounts on FB as well. Kameron began communicating with them, my siblings, my parents, and established contact with family all over the United States, where other wise not very realistic if it were not for this somewhat new social media in Facebook. Nothing brought cause for concern that our minor children had Facebook accounts, in fact, we were quite happy that the boys could communicate with wholesome, family centered exchanges of communication, and play games that didn't involve shooting, blowing-up, or firing a weapon of some kind. We were happy with the new ability the boys had to have a somewhat decent place to communicate with their family. Margie Jo was even able to communicate with the boys this summer more than ever before when they were with their father downstate for his 3 weeks of parenting time. It was during this period of time when we noticed something weird . . .
One night Margie Jo logged on around 1 in the morning and noticed Kameron was on Facebook. Margie Jo went to instant message Kameron and the response was just not Kameron . . . it was obvious it wasn't him. That was the first sign. The next sign came a short time after the boys return from their time away from us. Something wasn't right, as the list of mutual friends for Kameron to select from was even more than R rated . . . women sitting on beds or bar stools with very short skirts and their legs positioned as to expose their underwear. When I sat next to Kameron and noticed this, I asked him where these friend requests and mutual friends were coming from. He has had his Facebook account for over a year without this problem or concern . . . the next problem came when Margie Jo noticed conversations that Kameron had access to were beyond R rated, conversations that were not from our family and friends, but outside the family. These conversations that posted on Kameron's and Kellen's wall were beyond inappropriate for 10 and 12 year old boys.
The Final Straw that led to pulling Kellen and Kameron's Facebook accounts: A few Saturday mornings ago, before anyone in the family was up, Kameron and I were sitting on the couch watching a fishing show. Kameron asked to go on the computer and I told him to have at it. I could tell Kameron was having a hard time logging onto Facebook, and he asked for some help . . . it was obvious that someone had been using/hacking Kameron's account, and Facebook knew it . . . they were having Kameron take a "face recognition" test off his friends list. They would show a picture of my parents, or my nieces & nephews, or my siblings, and then FB would give Kameron as list of choices of who the picture is before they would let him log on to his account. I thought this was a pretty clever way of verifying if this was really Kameron . . . and as it struck me as to the reason why they were asking Kameron to identify his friends before they would allow him to log on, a pair of bare breasts pop-up as a picture for Kameron to identify . . .
I quickly grabbed the lap-top off his lap and canceled the quiz they were making him take. After discussing the problem as a family, the boys agreed to suspend their Facebook accounts . . . which we are very sad about. We had no problems for over a year, but after 3 short weeks away, 10 and 12 year old boys have pornographic profile pictures as common friends, and conversations on their wall that should be part of some Smut Mag, and for this reason, Kellen and Kameron are no longer on Facebook . . . which is sad . . . it was a fairly decent way for us to communicate as family and friends with the boys. But, we were hi-jacked by amoral filth . . .
I know we will not be able to protect our children forever, but if we are able to control what it is they read and see in our home, and keep them from the exposure from within our home; helping them be in world, but not of the world. Our home has to be a refuge from the filth that degrades our children; that teaches them that evil is good, and that good is evil. That it is okay to be amoral, that it is okay to be promiscuous, that it's okay to not have any standards of morality. We HAVE to teach our children that having standards, and morals, and decency is nothing to be ashamed of. That it is okay to tell ANYONE that they don't agree with that life-style, that they don't want to be associated with it in any way. I pray that our children will stay moral, and keep away from the traps that would lead them away from the spirit of all things pure, worthy, and good.
1 comment:
I think what you did was absolutely right. Kudos to you!!!
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