Facebook, Integrity and *gulp* Tweens

div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”a href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xM8aT8FH6JQ/TdFS70u_mUI/AAAAAAAAAZs/4O1ihx_wm5o/s1600/fbtweens.jpg” imageanchor=”1″ style=”margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;”img border=”0″ src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xM8aT8FH6JQ/TdFS70u_mUI/AAAAAAAAAZs/4O1ihx_wm5o/s1600/fbtweens.jpg” //a/divI’m going to take a break from finances and strikerant/strikenbsp;talk about the phenomena called a href=”http://www.facebook.com/daveramseyroad”Facebook/a. I LOVE Facebook. nbsp;Almost to a fault. It is a way to reconnect with old high school friends, stay in touch with your Besties from college, and bwaste /bhours playing games i{I might need to attend a Zynga game addiction group—or start one}/i.br /br /b The problem I have with Facebook is not program itself, but with Tweens on Facebook./bbr /br /b/bAhhh….didn’t see that one coming did ya?br /br /I have a Tween who has been wanting Facebook for over a year now. nbsp;The problem, she is not of age to have a Facebook account. nbsp;You see, when you sign up for Facebook there is a little paragraph at the end of the signup where it asks if you are 13 or older. nbsp;My Tween is not 13 and cannot legally have an account.br /br /I know, I know I can hear all the comments now, “Oh come on, as long as you (her parent) is aware what’s the big deal?”br /Well, my big deal is the a href=”http://www.daveramseyroad.com/2010/08/integrity-and-money.html”integrity/anbsp;issue.br /br /For years, I have been trying to instill the character of integrity and telling the truth. nbsp;Being honest with yourself, your actions, and others builds a characteristic that I want all my children to possess. What would I be saying to my daughter if I have been teaching her the importance of honesty and truth and then turn around and say, “Yeah, go ahead and check that you are 13 or older,” when she obviously is not? br /br /If I give her the example that being dishonest on one thing i{however little it may be}/i what is going to stop her the next time she encounters a situation where she has a choice of honesty or not? Once anyone starts down the path of dishonesty it becomes easier each time. nbsp;Sometimes people get to the point where they don’t see that they are being dishonest, yet it is like a billboard to others.br /br /bHere is how my conversation with my Tween went:/bbr /br /b Her/b: Mom, I reeeeally want a Facebook account.br /b Me/b: You are not old enough.br /b Her/b: Well, so and so has one.br /b Me/b: Is she 13?br /bHer/b: No.br /bMe/b: She is not old enough to have one according to the Facebook rules. When you sign up at the end there is a question you have to mark that says you are 13 or older. nbsp;Are you?br /b Her/b: No.br /b Me/b: If you go in and sign up for one and then check that box what are you doing?br /b Her/b: Lying.br /b Me/b: Did your friend have to check that?br /b Her/b: Yes.br /b Me/b: What does that say about your friend? i{Or her parents if they oversaw this action?}/ibr /br /b If you really think about it, why do you think the people at Facebook made the age 13 and not 10? /bbr /br /Tweens are going through a period of change. Change in their hormones, change in schools i{elementary to middle}/inbsp;and change in friends. To a tween, life fluctuatesnbsp;between being awesome and miserable usually within the same hour. Add onto that access to a social networking site where kids feel more empowered to say things they would never say to someone’s face and you’ve got disaster waiting to happen.br /The people at Facebook might have had an inkling that the maturity level of Tweens might not be ready for the trappings of Facebook. nbsp;At 13 there is more stability in who you are and what you are becoming i{not much, but more so than at 10, 11, or 12}/i.br /br /She only has a few more months to wait, but during this time I have beennbsp;trying my hardest to help her recognize truth and integrity in herself and others. That way when it is time to sign up for Facebook, she has a better sense of her self worth and what is truth and what is not.br /br /a href=”http://www.aghdesigns.com/images/blogs/siggy4.png” target=”_blank”img alt=”Anna” border=”0″ src=”http://www.aghdesigns.com/images/blogs/siggy4.png” //a