teens and mumsnet

[galaxydefender99]

Should teens look on mumsnet? I'm 13 and love reading mumsnet, its so helpful I can see advice on stuff and see what other teens are like through looking at posts about what they are going through . I think that if u want to post something asking for help on a troublesome teenager u should show them and look through other discussions about teens going through similar stuff to show them they aren't alone going throÙgh things like deppresion eating disorders or even to show them that you aren't the only one with boundries regarding pocket money bedtimes anÐ bf's/gf's. Hope I make sense? [Confused]

[ripsishere]

I am not sure TBH. I imagine it would be useful for some, but a bit inappropriate on some threads.
Not sure I'd want my DD finding out about bumsex from a website.

[aufaniae]

ripisishere are you aware the OP is 13?!

[TaggieCampbellBlack]

And there you have it

[aufaniae]

galaxydefender99 I think you're meant to be older to be on it, if I remember correctly, Mumsnet is meant to be for 18+ and Netmums for 13+ I think (but I know at your age I would have found MN interesting!).

I think the internet in general is great for bringing people together so you realise you're not, as you say "alone going through things like deppresion eating disorders or even to show them that you aren't the only one with boundries regarding pocket money bedtimes and bf's/gf's."

I find I'm conflicted on this. On the one hand, there are some threads here which are really not suitable for teens I think.

On the other hand it's great that there are so many people of different ages here. I was going to ask you if there wasn't a teen forum you could go on, but that would be a totally different thing, wouldn't it, as you wouldn't have the benefit of interacting with (mainly) women of all ages.

So, in short, I dunno. Should you be here? Officially, no. Do I personally think you shouldn't be here? Not sure ... In reality there's a lot worse on the internet. But then again us mums want to be able to have a chat without worrying that our teenage DCs are here too! We need to have some "private" space (although anyone who thinks their teen can't find them on mumsnet is probably kidding themselves!)

What a difficult question! My oldest child is 4 right now. I can see being a parenting teens is going to be hard!

[aufaniae]

Gah! I meant to say: I can see being a parent to teens is going to be hard!

[LesBOFerables]

Personally, no, I don't like the idea of young teenagers joining. There is lots of the internet for them. That said, anybody can read anything on the web, and if they find it helpful, fine. But I don't want to have to moderate how I speak here to include a much younger audience.

[ripsishere]

. Sorry, seemed to be sitting on the fence there.
OP, I don't think you should be here, unless you are a mum!

[aufaniae]

What about teen mums?

(galaxydefender99, please note, I'm not recommending it btw! Having a baby has been lovely but it has totally and completely destroyed my social life! I rarely see my friends any more. At least when I had a baby at 34, I had lots of fun memories to look back on!)

However, in my class at school, one poor girl got pregnant at 13 and had two kids by the time she was 16. Should she have been banned from MN (had it existed back then) which could be a great source of support for her? I wonder what MN says about teen mums?

Also, I don't think mumsnet should be just for mums. Although it is primarily a website aimed at parents, there are lots of non-parents here, who contribute to the forum. (e.g. Nannies, Childminders and others with a professional interest in parenting, as well those TTC and plenty of people just here just for the good advice and/or for fun.)

"I don't want to have to moderate how I speak here to include a much younger audience."

I don't either. This is important to me.

However, the thing is, this is a public forum and it's so easy to forget that. If the OP is interested in teen issues, she may well stumble across mumsnet via google, as it gets such good google rankings. (Have you ever had the experience of finding your own MN thread in the google search results when looking up a topic? I have a few times!)

It has to be said though that people can be downright rude sometimes here. I feel uncomfortable about a young teen coming up against some of the more forthright posters here.

[ubik]

I want to know what you are doing up so late on a school night.

[nooka]

I like mumsnet to be my space, so I don't think I'd want my children (12 and 13) on here too. Having said that they often read over my shoulder, and if it is a particularly funny thread then I might even call them over to have a look.

They like the very inappropriate ones best - we were all just enjoying the condemned cake thread this evening.

I'd be happy if mumsnet had a 'childrennet' version, like the gransnet because I think they get the quality control (generally) right.

[ordinarygull]

But even if 13 year olds aren't posting on here they can still read can't they? My 13 year old often reads over my shoulder to see what's happening on here, the age restriction for membership would only stop him posting a question or contributing to a discussion, not from reading a thread and getting advice!

[secretscwirrels]

I agree with nooka though I don't think my 17 and 14 year olds would bother to look here actually.
They know waste hours on here I use it regularly. I have found some really helpful advice on here and when I want to open a discussion I might say "I read somewhere that....." They often reply with " was it on mumsnet?"

I do like the idea of a forum where young teenagers could discuss their problems with other mums. They might find their own parents were not so unreasonable after all. Too difficult to monitor though.

[flow4]

I think this is 'our' space as parents, and in practice my attitude would probably be the same as when kids stay up late: if they're pleasant company, fine; if they start to be a nuisance, it's time for bed they're less welcome!

As for your suggestion, galaxy > "I think that if u want to post something asking for help on a troublesome teenager u should show them..." I'm afraid you're missing the point... If our teenagers would actually sit down, read, and discuss the problems with us, then we probably wouldn't be here and we wouldn't need mumsnet!