<p>I can understand how as teens individuate, they don’t want to be FB friends with their parents. I suspect that this changes as the teens develop and become more comfortable with their own identities as independent adults.</p>
<p>"Nearly a third of Facebook teens are ready to unfriend their parents on the social networking site and are twice as likely to want to avoid Mom as Dad, according to a recent AOL study.</p>
<p>“The moms like to overshare about things like menopause that their kids want nothing to do with or know anything about,” said Jeanne Leitenberg, 27, who with a friend, Erika Brooks Adickman, 28, launched a site last year called “Oh Crap! My Parents Joined Facebook.”</p>
<p>The site, [Oh</a> Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.](<a href=“http://www.myparentsjoinedfacebook.com%5DOh”>http://www.myparentsjoinedfacebook.com), gets at least 20 embarrassing submissions a day from despondent teens, such as these from moms commenting on their children’s Facebook page: “be my friend pleez even if I am your mom” and "dad thinks you look like Cher “… please change photo fast.”</p>
<p>“They join out of the mentality that they’re the cool mom, and they just want to be part of the gang,” Leitenberg said. “They don’t realize how horrifying or how intrusive they actually are.” </p>
<p>Actually, I was ready to unfriend my son but thought that might be perceived as hostile. We’ve struck a balance about posting. I never leave comments on his wall and I NEVER post anything that might actually come back to haunt me or my family.</p>
<p>Remember MySpace pages? It seems to me that the way in which teens prefer to communicate online changes over time. So while the survey may be the absolutely correct, I would expect that a site like facebook would eventually lose it’s younger users at some point in time even if parents were not using it. </p>
<p>It also seems to me that the saving grace of facebook might be that unlike My Space, so many of us oldier are using facebook.</p>
<p>I must confess that I love the sites that showcase embarassing posts from parents to kids. It’s like overhearing a conversation at the mall!</p>
<p>How about parents who join FB and friend their kids to keep them safe.</p>
<p>My daughter posted a pic of her new (to her) truck with a clear image of her liscence plate. Not a good idea. Her Dad told her to blur out the liscence plate and then her friend, who is a cop, explained to her why it’s a bad idea to have her liscence plate on FB. </p>
<p>Another teen we know posted a nice clear pic of her new drivers liscence. What a bad idea!! My DH told her as much and so she removed it. </p>
<p>Sometimes kids do need adults looking over their shoulder. Of course this assumes that the adults have good intentions and wisdom.</p>
<p>My mom used to use Facebook, but she left. I was fine with it since she didn’t really use it much and didn’t talk about “things like menopause.”</p>
<p>Regardless, some of my classmates would probably get into trouble if their parents ever saw their Facebook accounts.</p>
<p>I’m sure my S would love to unfriend my SIL. She often comments on his posts with comments she thinks are funny, but I think are demeaning and embarrassing to him. An example would be him posting that he slept in after a night of game playing at a friend’s house - she’ll post something about how his room isn’t getting any cleaner or he couldn’t possibly sleep any more than he does. </p>
<p>Of course, she’s the aunt that takes him skiing, so he’ll probably put up with it.</p>
<p>Both of my sons informed me they’d never friend me in the first place, if I joined FB. I have respected their privacy and not even joined…though my sister thinks it’s terribly mean of them.</p>