Do Your Kids Read the Forums?

[Gil]

My boys asked me if they could read the message board here and I told them "no".

 

My go to excuse/reason is that I don't allow free reign on the internet because ANYONE and EVERYONE can't post on the boards, and the same way that I wouldn't allow them to wander through a room full of adults conversing just to "listen in" I won't allow them to roam around an adults forum and "listen in". That is my excuse and the reason I gave, but really I feel like this is meant to be a bit of a Homeschool Haven for Harried Parents and I feel like letting the kids read it might violate The Rules (unwritten that they may be.)

 

Do any of you let your kids--mine are in elementary--read the forums?

Has it ever come up in your HS?

Do you have a reason for your decision?

Just to be clear, they would not be POSTING to the forums, just reading through them.

[SparklyUnicorn]

They don't, but I would not care if they did.

 

My older kid once asked what we talk about.  So I told him.  Who knows, maybe he has browsed around. 

[Guest]

No.

 

My reason is that they don't even go online at this age, and because it's not their business. When they are old enough for an account I assume they can and may very well go anywhere online that I do - so I post appropriately assuming they WILL read it someday - and for the time being "because this is not an activity I approve of for you right now" is more than sufficient reasoning.

[Rosie_0801]

Dd wants to read over my shoulder whatever is going on. :rolleyes:

 

I tell her to nick off. :p

 

If she wants her own account when she's a teen or a mum herself, she's bound to learn as much as I have.

[Guest]

7yods has started reading over my shoulder. I quickly minimize the window and remind him that it is rude and unacceptable.

 

If that doesn't work, I take the laptop into another room and close the door.

 

If that doesn't work, it would be time to limit my use of the forums to after he was asleep or when he was with an alternate caregiver.

 

It's not that I think The Hive are scary, dangerous people, it's because it's none of his business.

 

 

[elegantlion]

I have used posts as talking points, but ds has no desire to read the forums. He's practically an adult (age wise) so I don't follow him around the Internet and I don't necessarily want to be followed around either. I don't post things I wouldn't want him to read, however. 

[Susan in TN]

They don't, but I would not care if they did.

 

My older kid once asked what we talk about. So I told him. Who knows, maybe he has browsed around.

My kids are only interested in dancing bacon.

[texasmama]

No, they don't.  They have no desire to, and this is my gig, not theirs.  ;)

[Rosie_0801]

My kids are only interested in dancing bacon.

 

My dd does a great impression of Machine Gun Kitty.

[Nan in Mass]

The five year old I mind LOVES the dancing bacon.  And the green monster.  I keep meaning to tell the owners. : )

 

Nan

[Tsuga]

No. I vent here. I need a place to vent. Although it's identifiable all put together, to get a historical picture you'd have to do some serious stalking and to prove it was me, some really serious stalking. Not unheard of, of course, but serious.

[marbel]

I doubt that they do, but since they are teens I guess they could.  Certainly my son is not interested.  Sometimes I talk about things I've read here.  I usually say "the well-trained mind ladies are talking about..." but I guess I should stop saying ladies.  :-)   I'll change to "the WTM folk..." 

[trulycrabby]

I don't get to see the dancing bacon with the Kindle Fire. :( :( :(

 

DS11 sometimes reads over my shoulder and usually says something like "that's stupid" or "why do you care about yoga pants?" :o

[happi duck]

I might share something funny or share a topic as a start for our own conversation but my kids don't read the forums. In the same way, my kids share from tumblr and I resist going on tumblr.

 

We're not forbidding each other just giving each other space, kwim?

 

My kids are older teens, btw.

[Jean in Newcastle]

My kids read all sorts of things online but the Hive is my private happy place.  Like EL, we use certain threads as talking points.  Occasionally they will ask me to post a question for them and report back to them the answers.  Oh, I forgot - they do like the Forum Game and will ask me if there are any new entries.  

[albeto.]

I do share with my kids some of the things I read here. Sometimes we have great conversations, sometimes we laugh. My kids are older.

[Ali in OR]

Mine don't really show an interest, but every once in awhile I'll pull them over to read a funny thread--usually things like "things my kids didn't know that embarrassed me as a home schooler." And I often talk about things I learn here.

[Starr]

Over the years I've read them all sorts of interesting funny things. Now they are most grown they laugh and ask if I learned whatever on "the site of all things!"  I agree with Gil, it's really not for children.

[Farrar]

Both of mine look over my shoulder sometimes. I mostly know because they'll be like, "Hey, there's that dancing bacon! I love that dancing bacon. Do you know the dancing bacon person?" Like you're a celebrity, Sparkly. They say it with a dreamy voice too.

 

Basically what we're saying is that the dancing bacon is what the children all want to read the forums for.

[Critterfixer]

One of my DS has a whole "dancing bacon" song and dance routine.

[SKL]

No, I hate it when my kid looks over my shoulder to read what I'm doing on my computer.  :P

 

I would let her read stuff I felt to be of specific interest to her, but the chat board usually isn't like that.  Some of the topics and language here aren't really kid friendly.  And we talk about our kids, which would leave my kids wondering what I'm saying about them.  ;)  Just generally not a good use of time.

[Kareni]

I've often shared and continue to share with my family things I've read about here.  And, if my daughter heard me chuckling, I'd frequently be asked what was so amusing.  I generally shared what I thought she might enjoy/understand.

 

I started homeschooling when my daughter was in 7th grade.  Sometimes I would ask her for her thoughts if they were appropriate (i.e., favorite fantasy novels or a Latin translation). 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[MEmama]

Sometimes. We often talk about the conversations and debates that go on here. He doesn't read through old posts, but he does like to skim the "headlines" for car questions and other things that might particularly interest him. There is so much good information and so many excellent talking points I can't imagine not including him. :)

[Melissa in Australia]

no. My kids hate reading- so they show no interest at all in reading anything over my shoulder

[Miss Tick]

Sometimes they ask what I'm laughing about, but I'm pretty sure answers like "potluck problems" and "creative responses to bad parkers" dampens their interest. Perhaps I should point out to them that if it weren't for WTM they would be doing worksheets all day and reading from books of Selections from Literature, or something. On the other hand, they keep an open mind to it since this place keeps them on the leading edge of pop culture need-to-knows like What Would the Fox Say?, Rainbow Looms, the latest Star Wars or LOTR trailer, and that we no longer put two spaces after a period (I might have been more amazed than they by the last).

[WinsomeCreek]

No, other than maybe unavoidably because they are talking to me while I am reading. We have talked about some of the threads. They know that for years I have discovered some of our favorite resources here.

[Alice]

Mine haven't ever shown interest other than that they also love the dancing bacon. One of mine is also fascinated by emoticons and smilies and whenever he sees me post he'll stand behind me and shout "More smiley faces! Put more smiley faces!" 

 

So if you ever see a post of mine that looks like this....

 

:hat:  :grouphug:  :laugh:  :hurray:  :closedeyes:  :closedeyes:  :party:  :patriot:  :seeya:  

 

You'll know my account has been hijacked by my 8 year old. 

[Night Elf]

My kids have never shown an interest in reading the boards, but over the years, they have requested I post questions. My youngest is 17 now, so if she wanted to read the board, I'd be okay with it. But I really think the majority of information wouldn't be relevant to her so she'd probably not find it as interesting as I do.

[creekland]

Mine never read it on a regular basis, but I did show them some funny things when people posted them (often these were links, not actual threads).

 

Middle son (as a college student) asked me to post a question for him once.  I did that and he read the answers.

 

Otherwise, they never really showed any interest.  They prefer their own places to hang out with friends.  So does hubby.  Hubby has suggested I post a couple of my questions though.  He respects the pure variety of answers and thoughts we can get from the Hive.  In all of these that I remember, we did get very useful advice!  (He learned about the oodles of variety from talks we've had on some of the subjects.  We walk together practically daily and then there are our longer car trips.  Hive "interesting things" can be topics of our conversation, but it's generally just me who has read the actual thread we're talking about.)

[T'smom]

Mine are little, but I can't imagine them ever finding the boards interesting, until they are adults with children. It would be like me reading a forum about Pokemon or Minecraft. My eyes would glaze over before I red the first post!

[KungFuPanda]

I'd be tempted to let them.  My guess is that they'd get bored and move on before they even figured out "who" I was.

[Lady Florida.]

Mine has never had any interest in reading them.. If he did, I'd let him. But again, he has no desire to.

 

 

[AMJ]

No, but that's because they see it as Mom's thing.  However, whenever they hear me laughing or playing a YouTube video that has been linked they come to find out what it's all about and want me to backtrack and read aloud whichever thread I'm in.  And DH now has gotten to the point of asking how things are going with my friends in the Ignore This Thread thread.

 

:laugh:

[AMJ]

Sometimes they ask what I'm laughing about, but I'm pretty sure answers like "potluck problems" and "creative responses to bad parkers" dampens their interest. Perhaps I should point out to them that if it weren't for WTM they would be doing worksheets all day and reading from books of Selections from Literature, or something. On the other hand, they keep an open mind to it since this place keeps them on the leading edge of pop culture need-to-knows like What Would the Fox Say?, Rainbow Looms, the latest Star Wars or LOTR trailer, and that we no longer put two spaces after a period (I might have been more amazed than they by the last).

 

I find that especially with many of the fonts now commonly used putting only a single space after a sentence-ending period tends to lead to more mis-reading and confusion.  I, therefore, will persist in using TWO spaces to separate my sentences.  *pious-supercilious-expression smiley here*

[J-rap]

My kids are older now, but they were never interested.  Also, I wouldn't have wanted them to read the forums.  To me, these forums are mostly conversations between adults -- some practical and some personal.  It would be like if my children were invisibly wandering around in an adult cocktail party eavesdropping on the various conversations.  I just don't see what the point would be except a nosy curiosity.  :)

 

Of course if they had very specific questions such as which science curriculum would be a good college-prep, or something like that, then that's a different story.  But even then, I'd be doing the navigating.

[LucyStoner]

I'm not seeing that either of my sons would care about this board.

 

No offense to the present company but aside from a dancing bacon and a few funny pictures, there's not much here to interest a child.

[MEmama]

I'm not seeing that either of my son's would care about this board.

 

No offense to the present company but aside from a dancing bacon and a few funny pictures, there's not much here to interest a child.

Huh. Just on page 1 of the chat forum right now, there at least 9 threads my son would be immediately interested in from the titles alone. Subaru Outback question (natch), foam rollers (he's an athlete), breakfast at schools, 7th grade public school hell, mommy wars (ooh--what are THOSE?!?), and so forth. Plus this one. ;)

 

He would always prefer to hang out with the adults, though, which I think is awesome. I never knew that was something controversial or "not done". ?? And that's why this place is fun for both of us--always something to learn! :)

[HRAAB]

My youngest are 14. If they wanted to read, I would let them. Honestly though, they usually roll their eyes at me. However, many of the threads on this board provide great fodder for awesome discussions.

 

All my kids know of Sparkly's dancing bacon.

[LucyStoner]

Huh. Just on page 1 of the chat forum right now, there at least 9 threads my son would be immediately interested in from the titles alone. Subaru Outback question (natch), foam rollers (he's an athlete), breakfast at schools, 7th grade public school hell, mommy wars (ooh--what are THOSE?!?), and so forth. Plus this one. ;)

 

He would always prefer to hang out with the adults, though, which I think is awesome. I never knew that was something controversial or "not done". ?? And that's why this place is fun for both of us--always something to learn! :)

I don't think it is controversial to let kids read the forums here. My kids' interests lay elsewhere though. I have discussed some thread topics with my older son. Unless a bunch of D&D, spelling bee, robotics, Zelda and geography threads pop up, I can't see my older son wanting to take a second look at anything here.

 

This place is kinda a snooze IMO for preteens. Crockpots. Shopping carts. Enough said.

[Jean in Newcastle]

This is a public forum.  I assume that people of all ages can read what is on here though not all would be interested.  I also assume that my kids could read anything I say about them here though I don't think they'd go out of their way to do so.  Some teens have been regular members of this forum though I think they are no longer teens now.  

[Guest]

I used to like to think that my kids and grandkids would googlestalk my old forum posts in the same spirit that my father and I cherish my grandmother's journal and scrapbooks that she wrote when she was a promising young poet before 1929 happened and turned her into a typist and secretary, but my Millenials have shown me how ridiculous that fantasy was when we were Facebook friends in 2009 or 2010.

 

If I wind up writing anything even remotely worthy of the modern-day equivalent of a shoebox in the back of a closet, I copy it on to a text file and stash it on a flash drive with my username and other identifying information removed.

[klmama]

Mine don't read here, although my youngest is another fan of the dancing bacon.  

[Cinder]

My kids are only interested in dancing bacon.

 

My 10yo finds this the most interesting part as well. And machine gun kitty. But my much older boys think this forum is mostly boring and have no interest.

[Pen]

Sometimes if something catches his interest.

[melbotoast]

My kids liked to see the old kung fu panda icon. Mostly I yell at them to go away though :D

[obsidian]

:seeya: Teen here. I read on the chat board sometimes, though mostly on the high school/college boards. I researched and chose my classes all four years of high school, so this forum was a valuable resource.

[mathnerd]

My 7 year old likes the dancing bacon and the smileys and the member titles (beekeeping professor, larvae etc). I don't let him read the contents (the same rules apply for all other online sites except some wiki topics that I ask him to read), but he is there looking at everyone's avatars and reading the member titles when I browse the forums. He is not allowed to read anything age inappropriate on the internet.

[Dmmetler]

DD occasionally reads a thread that's about other people's accomplishments-she has never met Lewelma's or Quark's DS (for example), but she's excited to hear what they're up to and feels like they're "friends she's never met". General stuff...eh,not interesting, so she waits for me to point out something that might be cool.