I am getting this question a lot lately.  

"My daughter asked me if she could have an Instagram account. She is 10 and said, 'EVERYONE at my school has one!' I discovered that EVERYONE does not, but I still was shocked how many kids do!"  

Indeed, many preteens are on social networks.

I found several parent blogs justifying it with the following:  

• I monitor their accounts.
• Their accounts are private.
• I use it to teach good online behavior.
• It connects them with relatives and good friends.
• It gives me "insider" information on my child's life.
• It encourages their artistic and language expression.
• It connected them with me.
• It makes me "the supercool mom."

Even so, there are three "superbig" problems.  

1. It is lying.  

Every social network has a policy like Instagram: "You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service." There is no parental permission exception. To open an account you will have to lie about your age. Do you really want to teach your preteen it is okay to lie sometimes?  

2. It is against the law.  

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act states that the collection of personal information of children under 13 must have verifiable parental permission. Social networks don't want that hassle so they choose not to allow under age users. Do you really want to teach your preteen it is okay to break the law sometimes?  

3. It exposes your child.  

If you make them have a private account and monitor all of their posts and friends, you are only controlling their outgoing communication. You cannot control the incoming. On Instagram even with a private account, they push the star icon and will see the most popular public photos. Many are not appropriate for me much less your preteen.

Stick to your guns on the age requirement. Your job as a parent is to do everything you can to protect your child from harm. Lying, breaking the law, and having easy access to inappropriate content is not protective much less what God wants of His people.

 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (2013, July). Protecting Your Child's Privacy Online. Retrieved from Consumer Information: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0031-protecting-your-childs-privacy-online