12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

On Facebooks Farmville

There should be some kind of parental control on facebook.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

For starters there should be parental control on their own credit card.

---------- Post added at 00:43 ---------- Previous post was at 00:42 ----------

BTW, Facebooks terms clearly prohibit anyone under 13 from joining.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

More like it should be banned for there to be cash add ons for crappy flash games on Facebook and just an optional donate button if they must to help the game developers. It's just stupid! Also, he's 12, I'm sure you have to be 13 to have Facebook.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

they lie someone I know has made a page for their year old dog and put 1996 DOB. There is no real age checks and I dunno how there could be. Mind you how does a 12 year old have savings that can be spent online I know they are to young for a debit/credit card aint they?

I find it very hard to rustle up any sympathy at all for the mother

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Nope you can have a debit card from age 11 at most banks

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

My cousins son is 7 and he has a facebook! i blame the mother lol.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

jebus cripes now thats stupid

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Yep, and it's not even a Solo anymore at Natwest it's a Visa Debit

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

it just seems crazy to me someone so young will get access to the funds that easily. Bethia has a bank card but I keep it safe there is no way I would allow her to have a debit card at 13 its asking for trouble. Just seems nuts

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

That's the banks way of getting them while they're young.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Back when i was in school i must of only been 14 15, natwest bank came in and gave us natwest t-shirts, stickers and sun glasses and a bank account lol, i felt like i was forced into it.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

There is nothing wrong with having a bank account and debit card at 11 - all my kids had one. It called learning about the real world. I know plenty of adults who are far more irresponsible with their bank accounts and cards. Like the mother above who obviously let her kid get access to hers.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

But if you are going to let your kid have a debit card at that age then the parent should provide limited access to it and only allow the child to use it when they want something, if the parent feels it is a correct purchase, not some silly spending on a Facebook game. The parent in this case obviously can't keep their own card safe. It's ridiculous. I am also completely against the whole idea of paying for 'additional features' on Facebook games, it's just ridiculous!

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

I agree.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Kids who have debit cards cant go into debt, In this case blame the mother for leaving it about, she also should hide her cash if her kids are stealing :erm:
And not let minors on facebook ;)

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

You will find that teen bank accounts don't have overdrafts. It teaches them that they cannot spend it if they don't have it. Both of mine have had them and they have a positive take on money as a result.

Back on topic, this is why allowing young teens access to the Internet without knowing what they are doing is a a bad idea. Yes, that sounds draconian, but teenage years should be a partnership between teen and parents and that way things like this don't happen.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

they cant go into debt but they can waste their money which is more the reason for my opinion cuz I did know the rest ;)

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

I still have 2 at home Mr Zingy, One will rob me blind(13) the other(11) still has money stashed away from over a year ago (I cant find it) but he dont spend it until he pulls a note out for more MS points :rolleyes:

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Yep, the age restrictions on cards only relates to credit cards (i.e..cards that are effectively connected to a loan) as the credit act restricts such loans to people over 18

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

At my son's school ( he's in year 6 ) the class teacher asked all the pupils who had a facebook account to put their hands up.

All their names were recorded and letters sent home to the parents. This letter informed parents that the school would be notifying the education authority etc. that their children were using internet services that were age restricted.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Excellent :)

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

What are the Education Authority likely to do about it? I do not condone letting children go online to young but when the child is at home with their parents its sod all to do with the school or the EA

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Say you've got a 10/11 year old daughter, who without your knowledge has a facebook account.
Wouldn't you want to be informed of this so you can decide whether she should keep it, and if so how much supervision she should have, or if she should have it closed down.

If you're already aware that your child has an account, then presumably you're happy with the amount of supervision they have while using it. I'm 100% certain that you Zing, as with many parents we know on this forum, would not allow their children to have a facebook account or similar without being satisfied they were being kept safe.
So if you recieved the letter, it'd go straight into the recycling because you are a responsible parent who's tech savy.

Many parents are responsible, but they don't understand the internet or the dangers, so cannot put the protection in place that others would do automatically.

It also depends on how well the letter is worded, if it's just "your kid has a facebook account and is under 12, this is wrong, you're a bad parent" then it's not going to go down well.
If however it said "We're writing to inform you that little Timmy has a facebook account, this is against facebook's terms and conditions as they are under 12. The internet can be a source of useful information, however it can also be a dangerous place, especially to children. Here is brief list of steps which can be taken to help keep your child safe on the internet..." then I'd imagine that'd go down much better.
However, with LEAs, chances are the former will be the style :P

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

yeah I didnt think about the kids doing it behind their parents back. One would hope a 6 year old would not get the chance but its a strange world we live in

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

.... and the school would be told by me to mind their own business. What internet access I grant my children has nothing to do with them whatsoever.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Ahhhh, but you forget that Neo-Liebour have made it that brig brother is watching at all times, and if you screw up they will haul you over the coals.... ;)

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

As I said, you'd be aware of what you're children are up to on the internet, and aware of how to protect them.
Many parents aren't.
If you recieved a letter from the LEA saying they'd discovered your daughter had been participating in sexual conversations with men on faceparty, would you also tell them to mind their own business?
Course not, you'd probably thank them, then ground your daughter until she was 36 (at least) and get the police involved to go after the men.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

nanny state!!!

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Let them waste their money, then when they've none left and they come asking for some more you can ask them what they have to show for the money they have spent. Easiest way for them to learn financial responsibility is by being irresponsible in a controlled environment. When they realise that they've got nothing to show for the money they've wasted they won't do it again.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Since that would never happen, the question is meaningless.

Using an underhand trick on six year olds to find out information that they have no business sticking their noses in did however apparently happen.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Not six year olds - year 6 is 10-11. And whilst I don't agree they should stick their noses in to other people's business, you have to consider the position - a lot of parents may well not be IT-literate, may well not know what their children are doing on the internet (whilst the children give the impression they do) and may well not be aware that they are accessing a site for 13 years and above or the potential dangers of poorly-policed social networking (nor would the kids, maybe, even if they are physically able to operate the computer, use the net, they may not be aware of potential predators and the like, or not aware of the threats). You may well be, and have educated your kids appropriately, so there would not be a problem with your kids using it (other than simply using it below the age limit) but if kids are using it inappropriately surely the school have a duty of care to inform the parents of this use - neutrally of course, leading them to take appropriate action as they see fit. It may well be a lot of them do not realise their ten year old child is using facebook.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Yes, but, as far as I am aware, they don't allow on-line purchasing.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

I think they do

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They do, my daughters use them on Amazon and other sites.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

These were year six children, ten to eleven year olds, not six year old children.

---------- Post added at 23:42 ---------- Previous post was at 23:39 ----------

Many banks don't though. I was not sure if it was all banks. Flyboy11 was offered one recently (we turned down the offer), but we were told that it can be restricted to not allow on-line purchases. Perhaps, you have a similar choice with yours.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

Someone already pointed that out, keep up ;)

Doesnt change anything, it was an underhand trick whatever the age.

---------- Post added at 23:45 ---------- Previous post was at 23:44 ----------

.... and since you doubleposted, obviously Im referring to the first bit.

Re: 12 Year Old Spends £900....
 

LOL. Kind of got that one (eventually). ;)