Telling your parents about internet friends?
I have a few internet friends, and since Christmas is coming up, we want to send presents to each other. Before I even started skyping them and adding them on facebook, I made sure that they were teenagers, like myself. So I know they are teenagers and not online predators. So, to the sending presents thing, I need to tell my mom about them and tell her that we want to send gifts to each other. How can I tell my mom without her freaking out? (By the way, I haven't given them my address or anything. I'm waiting until I get my mom's approval.)
Should I tell my parents that I have online friends even though they told me not to (they're really strict but they don't understand it's difficult for me to leave people I've known for 2-4 years)?
I can’t tell you what to do with your parents, but I’ll offer my thoughts. If this is a new rule, it’s probably not a bad idea to let them know that you already have some online friends. If it’s not a new rule, then you’ve been lying to them all this time. That doesn’t bode well for continued good relations with your parents. What you do depends on whether you already have a good relationship with them or not, and whether you want it to get better or worse.Thanks for the A2A
I am 14, and have had online friends (my age) that my parents don’t know about because they’d flip. They found out about them before instantly grounded me. What should I do? I still talk to the friends to this day.
Okay. Young adult here for you. My parents were VERY strict about my internet usage, but, like you, I had online friends that I wasn’t supposed to have. But I wasn’t the safest or smartest about it, so I’ll offer you advice from my experiences.How do you know these people are real and are your age? How did you meet them?(what site/game).. Do you know their full name? What school do they go to? Are the conversations appropriate? Have you seen their Facebook page and do they have at LEAST 75–100 friends (friends should consist of parent/family types and kids your age FROM THE SAME AREA THEY LIVE). Have they ever asked you to have inappropriate conversation, or to send photos or videos that you should not be sending? WHY did your parents freak out about the last friend? Was it because of the context of the chats you were having or was it just because the internet is a dangerous place?Perhaps to some this doesn’t sound like advice for a 14 year old…. but I know what it was like at your age with the internet.. and I know that you will know what the answers SHOULD be to every question I asked. Hopefully you will be wise and safe while you are on the internet and not do things that would be TRULY upsetting to your parents. Also remember that they love you! I had friends that wished their parents cared enough to check their phones and ground them like mine did.. so just remember how lucky you are that your parents really care about your safety and well being… and cut them a little slack! :)***** always remember not to tell strangers your address, or exact location at any time! (I.e. you are out to eat with friends, not out to eat at McDonald’s!) make sure you Facebook and Instagram are PRIVATE so that ONLY people you KNOW and APPOROVE can see your photos! Internet safety is very important, and there are dangerous people EVERYWHERE! **********
How can I convince my parents to let me meet my online friend in real life?
You need to be reasonable, it's good that you inderstand your mum might be worried! And it's good that you respect she might want a phone call etc. If you haven't met this girl before you must take someone with you. Although you have formed a brilliant friendship, you cannot be 100% certain it isn't an 80 year old naked man! (Sorry but it's always a possibility.. ) So, it's really cool you want to go to the comic con with her. A fun and exciting event with your new friend! :-) I would suggest you take your Dad and meet this girl there? You need to show you have thought this through and care about protecting yourself as much as they do. 'Dad would you take me please so that you can meet her before we go in?' It shows that you are mature enough to assess your own safety, which is nore likely to pursuade your parents that it is safe to go :-) Explain that it's really important to you, you might have made a lifelong friend and you are interesred in making it as safe as possible. As you are 13, it sounds silly, but you might want to get your parents to ring her parents and arrange details. It will put everyones mind at rest! :-) However bare in mind, a phonecall does not confirm that she is who she says she is. Don't meet her alone. Have fun and i hope it goes well. Best wishes.
How can i convince my parents to let me visit a friend i've known online?
well, i think you're old enough... but yeah, 3 hours away can be a prob too. how about taking a few friends to be with you? it's probably impossible to get your parents go with you due to the 3 hours travel time, since they also have a life of their own, haha. well... do u have any older cousins or brothers that you get along with? maybe they can escort you on your way. i think this is your best bet yet. i don't think the guy is the only reason you're having trouble convincing your parents.. it's the distance too. i saw his url and he seems ok.. but girl, looks can be deceiving.. and be prepared for the worst. some guys iv met look ok on pics and was perfect when we were chatting and everything.. but he sucks at meeting me personally.. so good luck to you. oh by the way, no matter how nice he looks or seems to be, always meet him up in a public place, where there are lots of people. wherein alot of bystanders can hear you when you need help. am not saying we don't trust this guy. it's just for safety measures. better safe than sorry.. ok? and another thing, have a limited time to see him.. i mean like have something planned before meeting up with him, like maybe just have tea together then you go back down to your place. this is better because it doesn't sound like you're head over heels with him, giving you more self respect and still give him something to go after you if he hadn't had enough of your company. can you make the meet up and come back home again in one day? i think this is best. if he wants to see you next time, then he should be the one to come down to meet up with you instead. or you may suggest to him that you meet somewhere in the middle, to minus the travel time. :) that's all i guess... good luck!! have fun!!
Should parents allow their child to meet their internet friends?
I’ve met up with an internet friend two days ago.I’ve been talking with that person for about 6 years online, and that person told me that they were going to a convention called Dutch Comic Con. I’m a fan of that too, so I invited a friend of mine to go with me and meet up with my internet friend to walk around the convention together.My mother came with me because we needed to go in the same direction so she met my internet friend as well. She was pretty fine with it as we were talking for 6 years already.Before that I met up with another internet friend, that was 2 years ago. I know that friend as long as the other one. So 6 years now. We met on a busy place, at the train station. So if something happened it wouldn’t be a shady place all alone. I didn’t inform my mother of the fact that we only knew each other online and instead told her we met at a park a few days ago and it clicked. We went to my home to get some movie tickets and then went to the movie.My mother was a bit angry with the fact that I lied to her, but I still regret nothing. My mother can be a bit overprotective (Asking questions multiple times for hours just to make sure I won’t do anything stupid like trying to burn the place down or something) so I didn’t want to tell her. She told me that she would’ve been fine with it if I told her but that she might just travel with me to see if my internet friend is alright.So if you or your kid ever wants to meet someone from the internet, make sure it’s in a place with lots of people. Best to do it while knowing each other for years, not for days. If you still feel unsafe with it take someone else with you to meet up.
Am I old enough to meet an online friend without my parents consent?
I m 17 years old and my parents are completely against the idea of me meeting my online friends. They believe the only friends I m allowed to meet are ones from school and those they ve already met. Initially, when I asked if I could meet my online friends, their response was "we feel uncomfortable with it because we haven t met them" so I suggested to invite them over so they could meet them and they said no. Which, in my opinion, is a huge contradiction... but anyway, I ve struggled to make friends at school. And most of the friends I had have grown detached from me. These online friends have truly been there for me. I ve even told my mum I don t want to be the kind of child who has to rebel to be able to pursue things that she s interested in (I m female, so I guess that plays a role in why my parents won t allow me to meet "strangers"). Whenever I try to bring it up, my parents just make me feel like I m ungrateful for what I have. These online friends haven t pressured me in meeting them at all. We ve video called and talked to each other s friends so I ve done my research to make sure they re perfectly legit but my parents don t want to hear any of it. I m from Southern Africa and I tried doing research about whether or not if I have the right to be able to go meet my online friends. I know it s against my parents wishes, but are they really allowed to keep me from actually going through with it? This was my last resort. I hope someone can help me out. Thank you.