by Vanessa Van Petten
Many parents and kids email us and ask about their kids putting up their own blog. We actually love the idea, as long as they are being safe. Here are some tips if your children want to put up their own blog:
1. Make sure you have all of their usernames and passwords.
2. Think very carefully about whether or not you want to use their full name.
3. Do not add any pictures where you can see their full face.
4. Talk to them about disguising their names and family members.
5. Help them pick a theme. Blogs are always better when they have a unifying theme.
6. Explain the difference between a journal/diary and a blog.
7. Read their posts before they are posted (at least at first!)
8. Use it as spelling and grammar practice!
9. Set-up a separate email account for blog emails. Bloggers (especially young adult bloggers) get pitched all the time. Make sure they have a separate email account.
10. Let them be creative and explore themselves in a healthy way that still keeps their private life private!
Share, share, that’s fair: What do you think? Should kids be allowed to write their own blogs?