Are We Supposed to 'Friend' Our Friends' Kids on Facebook?

I received the weirdest message on Facebook this morning from a friend.

The message read:

“Can I ask you something? What’s your problem? Why won’t you friend my son on Facebook? It’s kinda rude.”

Um what?

Your kid is 11 years old.

For starters, the age requirement for Facebook is 13 years old. Why does your child have a profile to begin with? Secondly, I find the age requirement for social media platforms to be quite low. I don’t feel your child should be on Facebook. Thirdly, I’m friends with you. Your child is not my friend. He is your child. Your child is a child to me. A child that doesn’t need to know my grown up business.

There I said it.

Facebook started as a tool for college students to connect. College. Not middle school children. And certainly not children under 13 years old whose parents allowed them to create a Facebook profile with a bogus birthday. Can we please just let our kids be kids?

I see what goes on with your children through you. You. My friend. From your posts. Your pictures. I explained this. And that I wasn’t comfortable friending her child.

The person has since unfriended me.

It is what it is.

In a world of cyberstalking and online predators, I will not add to this rising problem by accepting an underage child as my friend. What about all the adult content Facebook generates? No. I cannot contribute to this.

He isn’t the first child I have avoided friending and he probably won’t be the last.

How old do you feel a child should be to have a social media account? Have you allowed your child to lie about his/her birthday to create a social media profile? I would love to get your feedback on this.

T.J. is a 40 something mom of an almost threenager. She lives with her fiance and their son in a suburb of Chicago. Her blog, Chi-town Mommy Mayhem, started as a way to cope with postpartum depression but now helps relieve the everyday stresses of toddlers and tantrums. She enjoys spending time with her family, friends, dogs, and sitting down with a good glass of wine. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.