Patch Peer Panel Question of the Week

This week's Patch Teen Peer Panel question comes from Catherine Toman of St. Joseph's Academy. She wants to know if a teen's parents should be on their children's Facebook page, and generally, what do you think of Facebook?

Curt Walls, Ladue

Yes they are one facebook, but my mother only has one fore her job. The only way i could get a facebook was if I friended them, so yes it did happen.

Victoria Watson, Villa Duchesne

My mom has a Facebook page in order to stay updated on our family members as well as to monitor me. We’re friends on Facebook because it was part of an agreement: in order for me to get a Facebook, I had to wait until I was a freshman in high school, and one of my parents would create a page just to keep an eye on me.

I’m not ashamed of being friends with my mom and other family members on Facebook. They’re my family, and they’re just looking out for me.

Spencer Desai, MICDS

My parents are (luckily) not on Facebook but I have several friends who do have parents who are on Facebook. Personally, I think that if parents want to have a Facebook to try and keep up with their own friends that is fine and I have no problem with that.

However, if parents make a Facebook and force their kids to friend them just to monitor them, I really have a problem with that. That is essentially monitoring how your teenage kid is talking with his friends and while there shouldn't be any major issues over Facebook, there are still things that kids just don't want their parents seeing.

I feel that parents should let their kids have the freedom of their own, uninterrupted Facebook and so should the parents.

Catherine Toman, St. Joseph's Academy

My parents are on Facebook, and that was actually one of the reasons for which I decided to permanently delete my account. I didn't want to be that person whose parent would be looking at her pictures and friends' comments; my parents don't exactly understand the way that I and my peers communicate on Facebook.

What is meant to be an ironic or sarcastic comment may seem disrespectful to my parents, who are children of the 50's and 60's. Even though I don't think I have anything to hide, I think my parents might have easily misconstrued what I had on my Facebook page, and I didn't want to deal with it. Some kids, though, really should be friends with their parents; that is to say, it might stop them from posting the outrageous or inappropriate things that they do. It really all depends on the type of parent one has, and the way the kid portrays him or herself on Facebook.

Allison Hermann, St. Joseph's Academy

I personally do not have a problem with parents having a Facebook. They use it just the ways kids use it: to stay in touch with distant friends and relatives and to share photos/news about their family.

I am friends with my mom on Facebook and nothing bad in my life has happened from it. If there is something that you would not want your parents seeing on your Facebook, then it probably should not be there. Also, it is not like my mom "stalks" me on Facebook.

If you do not want to be friends with your parents, then all you have to do is ignore their friend request! I think kids today make a bigger deal out of their parents getting a Facebook than it really is.