Kids and Email

About a year ago, my daughter (who was 9 at the time) started asking for her own email account. This, I suppose, comes from having parents who make a living using computers. In any case, after researching our options, we found lots of suggestions online for using free web-based services like Gmail to setup and monitor a child’s email account.

Ultimately, we decided to set her up with a Verizon account (we use Verizon for Internet access, and have multiple email accounts with our service), because we specifically wanted a desktop-based email solution. Why? Because it forces her to use Microsoft Outlook to check email (you can’t check a Gmail or Yahoo account through Outlook unless you pay an additional fee). Microsoft Outlook has some filtering tools that can be particularly helpful to parents hoping to restrict who is able to send their children messages. (Read more on how to set up Outlook to filter your child’s email.)

The filtering tools mean that I see a copy of all messages going through her account. This has been particularly helpful for me to find out what’s important to 10-year-olds. You know, stuff like whether school will be canceled because of snow, which teachers pick their noses, and which boy has a crush on which girl.

This has worked really well for almost a year. But, our now 10-year-old is a whole year smarter. She’s recently decided she “deserves privacy” in every facet of her life, including her email. Her father and I beg to disagree. We’ve told her that while she’s living in our house, we have a right to monitor any and all communication with the outside world. Lest you think this sounds a little like Big Brother… try reading the news headlines with regard to who’s trying to do what to our kids, then we’ll talk.

Anyway, today I did a spot-check on the email she’s received over the past few days and found a reference to another email account. Apparently, she emailed her friends on Saturday to tell them she had set up her own Gmail account, and that they should only write her at that account, for privacy sake. Ummmmm… have I mentioned she’s 10?!

So I quickly brought the laptop into my office and adjusted the parental controls for her account. I blocked mail.google.com (as well as mail.yahoo.com just in case she gets any bright ideas). Then I left the computer sitting out to wait and see what happens when she tries to access her precious new Gmail account.

To be continued…