My daughter just turned 13, so we've started letting her have sleepovers with friends. Suddenly, it seems like she has a slumber party every single weekend. One of her good friends is a regular host of these parties.
Her house has a movie theater and a swimming pool so my daughter is always eager to spend time there. I was getting coffee with a few of the seventh-grade moms last week when her good friend's mother the mansion owner pulled me into a side conversation to discuss how 'funny' our girls are. I asked her to elaborate and she shared how 'hilarious' she thought it was that our daughters make fake dating profiles and 'prank' people during their sleepovers.
This was the first I had heard of their 'prank' and, to be honest, I didn't think it was funny. Apparently, their group of friends downloads Tinder on the family iPad and creates an account for a fictional year-old girl.
They find provocative pictures online and, according to the mom, get tons of attention from older boys on the app who flood the fake girl with pick-up lines. Dear Jane: I think my teenage daughter is doing something inappropriate at sleepovers with friends, am I a terrible mother if I don't stop her? While the mom thinks it's harmless fun, I'm concerned by this game that they're playing. Who knows what men they are talking with or what language they are being exposed to!
I don't want to ruin their fun, or isolate my daughter by saying she can't participate, but I fear that this could end badly. After all, there are so many stories of creepy men grooming girls online and manipulating them into giving out personal information or sending inappropriate images. Should I demand that the mother put an end to this herself, given she is facilitating β maybe even encouraging β this game to happen at her house on her iPad?
