Kids blogging question

[Kissy]

How old do you think a child should be before you allow them to blog? Any suggestions for allowing a 10 yr old to blog. My son wants to start a blog but I am not sure I should allow it. He hates to write though so my thought is what if this gets him writing....What do you think?

[Kissy]

No one wants to share?

[fivetails]

My dd11 has one - mind you, she's only done one entry yet LOL ...now that she has her own digital camera, I think she'll get more interested - writing about specific pictures and such is quite 'her'. :)

I don't think there's really an age - I know a girl of about, oh I think she's 7? who has one, with her mom's help....I also know a 12 nearly 13 year old who has one, more independent there.....

Of course, you'd want to know what they were posting - Our basic rule here is that with anything (emails, facebook, forums, blog, whatever), I get to view it prior to sending/posting/etc. :)

[CherylG]

My son started one in a writing class and he too was " not a writer." I always let him know that I would have access and this was not a private diary. I also stressed that I could yank the plug if things got "weird". He is a one-liner or a sentence answerer only, so his blogging life did not last long, but he has a Facebook account with the same understanding, that I can go on anytime and that I have to approve his friends. This really has helped his writing. He cares about spelling and grammar now-it's not deep but that is a start. OK-he's 14 we should have started earlier but we are kind of unschoolers.
Our little one is a prolific writer and has had a blog since she was 9 years old. We kept it private and only invite family and close friends on it. When a special friend died-we posted pictures and she did a lot of writing about that. The hard thing is keeping people coming back to the spot to respond to what she/he writes.

[Frontier Mom]

My three ds's have a MyPraize account. They got them because kids in the youth group and our hs basketball team had them, so I let them sign up. However, they were required to give me their user names and passwords so I can check them out periodically. And, our computers are in plain sight.

They enjoy chatting on them and it has a blog space on it. My rule is that you cannot ask me how to spell anything so you either have to know how to spell or look it up!! If they are old enough to write, they can have one.

The site is monitored and pictures & videos are screened. They must accept invites from friends so they can manage who is their friend. All this is to say, mine are allowed here but I am watching them constantly. The "net" is just a scary spot - you must be careful.

My oldest also has a blogspot where he posts a recap of all the books he reads. This is somewhat private.

[umarider]

dd13 and I were just talking about this the other day. She is satisfied w/ membership in a (girls only) PenPal site, but I pointed out that she may want to at least open a Facebook/Myspace account before we move back to the mainland. I don't want her to seem clueless when she encounters new kids who are totally into that kind of stuff. Really, dd13 is not my concern... she's cautious and has a great sense of self and little patience for the "teen-garbage" that some girls seem determined to throw at each other. She's always come to me when she has any questions.

dd9 is the one that worries me. I don't think I'll let her have a blog for quite a while. She would be too sensitive to negative feedback and would probably be too open w/ what she posts and who she allows to access the blog. She is one of those kids who wants to belong and will go along w/ more than I care for in order to be accepted by a group, KWIM?

I think the question isn't so much about "right age", but more about "right maturity". And is your computer in an open space where you can supervise?

[True Blue]

My 11yod blogs. I am insisting she keep it private and only let friends in right now. She is an ace at html. She has great writing. I'm hoping her spelling improves. :)

[sunshine]

sound fun for him