The other day Mom Gadget posted this on teens who blog. Basically, the post linked to another article at RobertoAlamos.com that lists five young teens (ranging in age from 13 to 17) who are already probloggers.
I showed both posts to my own kids who, of course, immediately wanted to start their own blogs.
So, my question for today is this. Do your kids have their own blog? Why, or why not? Also, if you favor kids having their own blogs, at what age do you think that they should start blogging?
I see some definite advantages for kids who blog. In particular, it can improve both their writing and business skills. Of course, as with all interaction that kids have on the Internet, there is a concern for safety.
What’s your take on kids who blog?
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.
12 responses so far ↓
1 KcJoe // May 23, 2007 at
I think that it is great that kids want to blog! The only problem is the safety of it. Who is reading their blog? You never really know. I think if they are blogging they shouldn’t post any information about where they live, where they go to school or pictures or anything that would give away personal information about them. I would also use the NetSmartz411 as a resource and a guide to keep them safer.
2 Sexii Bradley // May 23, 2007 at
I have been blogging since I was about 12. It started with that retarded Diaryland website, and now I recently obtained my own dotcom.
Most teachers and schools have always encouraged students as early as elementary to start journaling. It improves writing & language skills just as Laura so wonderfully said.
I feel that blogging, is the exact same thing as keeping a written journal, except from the perspective of youth, modified for our lives in the 21st century. In an age where everything is changing at such a fast pace, it seems only natural for journaling to evolve as well.
I think kids should be encouraged to blog at any age. However, if they are under the age of thirteen I think that there should be a lot of parental supervision of their blog, and discussions about how to use the internet properly. Most blogs also features ways of limiting who the readers are, and blocking out cuss words and related language and I believe both of those features should be used extensively. Past that age, I think our society is at a point where the reigns need to be loosened for numerous reasons including the fact that school is far dirtier then the average blog, and that by high school most states require students to have taken some type of technology/computer class that would give them a good understanding of the internet. (if they don’t already).
3 Laura // May 23, 2007 at
Hi KcJoe! Thanks for visiting. I visited the NetSmartz411 site and it looks very helpful. Thanks for pointing it out.
Welcome Sexii Bradley. (Is that your real name? Do you get spammed to death from it.) It’s interesting to have the perspective of a real teen blogger. You started at 12, wow! You make a lot of good points.
4 Harmony // May 24, 2007 at
The elementary school my son will be attending in the fall is known as a cyber school with mac laptops provided to all the students (although I doubt he will get one in kindergarten). As part of the creative writing curriculum, each student has to post assignments to their own blog.
I am for the idea and can see it catching on.
5 Randa Clay // May 24, 2007 at
You could always set up the blog to require a username and password to login to read. That way your child would receive the benefits of writing without some of the dangers.
6 Laura // May 24, 2007 at
Wow Harmony! I didn’t realize that kids were starting to blog in elementary school. It’s called a cyber school? What does that mean? I suppose pretty soon he’ll be helping you on the computer. Kids grow up so fast these days!
Randa, that’s a really good idea. In fact, I think it’s a great idea for younger children.
7 Rach // May 29, 2007 at
I admire kids who blog. I agree, it hones their writing skills. I have some blog friends who encourage everyone in the family to blog. I love the idea of a whole family of bloggers.
8 Shawn // May 29, 2007 at
What a great blog you have here and I love this topic. My daughter will be starting a blog this summer, but she is a little reluctant even though she’s an excellent creative writer. I was initially concerned about the safety of it, but after researching it and hearing about those in your article, I am ready to support her jumping in and having fun. Thanks.
9 Harmony // May 30, 2007 at
The cyber school focuses a lot of the curriculum around computers and the Internet. Each teacher uploads the class plan and homework schedule to a site and the parents are given passwords for access. There are Mac laptops for all of the kids, the older students create a podcast each week that can be downloaded from iTunes. I’m sure there is more but I’ll have to wait and learn more when my son starts kindergarten in the fall.
10 laura // May 30, 2007 at
Hi Rach! A family of bloggers–that’s interesting idea!
Welcome Shawn! I’d certainly encourage your daughter, but do have her take all of the proper safety precautions. She should never, ever give out personal information online. Make sure you have her URL so you can pop in and check on what she’s doing. Good luck to her!
Harmony–Cyber school sounds really neat! I wish I’d had the opportunity to attend something like that. Best of luck to your son!
11 Nick Chance // Jul 1, 2007 at
I started my blog, kidreviewer.com, early this year when I was 12. My dad and I talked about how there is 100 adults reviewing movies, but no kids. Yet, kids see movies too. Also, adults decide what toys we should have, but there are no kid reviews of toys.
So I started my blog. I have more topics than I can write about right now, but it’s fun. I’m also a guest contributor on a parenting blog, which I really like. No reviews there, just my thoughts on stuff.
Get your kids to blog. It’s good writing practice. That’s another reason I do it…I want to be a writer. I’m about to go to my second year of writing camp next week.
Come visit http://www.kidreviewer.com and leave a comment.
Nick Chance
KidReviewer
PS – I have collected a list of kid blogs and class blogs and will post them soon at my blog. They have been hard to find, so I thought other people might like having a list in one place.
12 Laura // Jul 2, 2007 at
Thanks for coming by Nick. I look forward to seeing your list.