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Email Addresses
Hi, my name is Keana. I am 12. My parents won't let me have an email address and I'm in middle school. My older sister has one but she has bad grades. I don't have bad grades or an email address! All of my friends have one and I feel left out. Every time I try to talk to my parents, they seem irritated, but I just to talk about it. What do I do?
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We parents can be a strange breed at times.
The fact that your sister has an Email account might have everything to do with the fact that she is older and nothing to do with the fact that she has bad grades. Then again it may have everything to do with her grades as email address are needed to sign into different websites she may be using to improve her grades.
The Internet was in its infancy when my son was 12 and I really can't say how I feel about a 12 year old having a email address. It is also wrong of me to say if your parents are right or wrong in not allowing you to have one. They are your parents not I.
I will say this to you. Today's technology is moving a lot faster then when your parents were your age. While they are probably more tech savvy then I am, as I am old enough to be their parent. You are probably more tech savvy then they are at this time. This is very troubling to us as parents and grandparents as it is hard for us to supervise that which we are not fully understanding of.
Remember one of our primary responsibilities to you as our children is to keep you safe from harm. How can we keep that promise if you know more than we do about something that can cause you great harm. Something we read in the newspaper or see on the evening news causing other peoples children harm. Remember an email address is more than just an email address. It is the key to the Internet gateway.
If they are having trouble supervising your sisters access to the Internet. Then I would say they are going to be very reluctant to allow you access as well. My advise will be not to badger them on this. As my mother use to tell me when I said others had something I wanted; "Does that mean if Billy jumps off the bridge you have to jump too." I never quite understood her meaning until later in life. So saying my friends all have one is not going to get you one.
You need to calmly find out what your parents true objection is to you having an Email address. As a salesman I can tell you that not Every objection is the real reason for saying no. You have to find out the real reason then you can work to overcome it. One way I can think of might be to ask mom, "Mom why do you think it is wrong for so & so's parents to allow her to have an email account. Mom may just let the real reason slip. Then you can work to overcome her problem.
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I know exactly what you mean! My parents did the same thing to me last year and EVERYBODY else had an email. Two things you should consider is that the world is a dangerous place and they are just trying to protect you. Sometimes that means not letting you have things like an email account or a facebook. Also, they might be having trouble watching you grow up. If not letting you have an email is the only thing that they are doing, then they might now think that you're ready for it. Overall, the best thing you can do is stop trying to ask about it (what most kids and teens don't realize about asking for things is that they usually seems bratty, rude, disrespectful, unappreciative, etc even if you don't mean to) and prove that you are responsible enough for an email address. Grades are one way of doing it. You could also try offering to do extra chores/help out, being respectful and kind to others (including the rest of your family, and others like that. It'll help and they might give you some more freedom as well. Good luck :)
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Im 13 years old and i have an older sister too with worse grades and she still gets more than me. So i can totally relate!
Whatever you do, do not bug your parents! Also don't compare to what your friends are doing because they will answer well they have different parents. Just maybe show that you are responsible to have one! Help them out more, maybe ask your sister for advice. With your friends having one, maybe discuss emails and go to your parents informally showing how safe it really it is! I have a gmail and i love it!!
Hope this helped!
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E-mails really aren't dangerous things. You have the option to use a fake name and age when signing up as well. I recomend gmail because it is very safe. try to convince them by showing them ho responsible you are. also, explain to them why it is really important to you and even suggest they talk to some of your friends parents who have emails about it so they can see it really isn't bad!!!
Good luck :)
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