Email account for my 10 year old?

Wow have I been struggling with this one.

My 10 yr old has been asking for an email account since school let out.  Apparently a lot of her friends at school have them.  She won't be returning to that school so they gave her their email addresses to stay in touch.  Great idea, right?

Except - my daughter is 10!  I'm thinking that's young to have her own email.  Google agrees - their standard policy is no accounts to anyone under 13.  (Perhaps this will change over time.)  So, I decided to find out how all these kids had their own email.

To put it bluntly, they lied.  Now, I should say that they didn't go and create accounts without anyone knowing and then use them to send out millions of spam messages. Their parents approved (and probably set up the accounts) and then I think are monitoring their email somehow.  I'm not sure why Google doesn't allow parents to create "junior" email accounts that are connected to their own accounts.

I'm leaning towards this whole "lying" idea and creating an account for her.  I trust her and am mostly worried about her receiving spam and/or unwanted email.

Ideas to make this safe:
1.  Set up a filter so everything that goes into her inbox also goes into mine.
2.  Have her password and use it to check her email occasionally.
3.  Read her email before she is allowed to login.
4.  Assume she is trustworthy and do nothing.
5.  Use a different email provider.

I'd be curious to hear what you think and/or what you have done about email for kids.  Thoughts?

I'll be sure to post an update when I decide what to do about her email requests.  Right now she just uses my email and I move her messages into a folder with her name on it.  But, I don't really like her being able to read my email if I'm not paying close attention, you know?

Update 8/2012: She's now 10 3/4 yrs old.  She's been using my email for for the last 2 months.  I decided to get her her own address.  Now I just have to tell her about it.  Thanks for all the great advice!

The 5K - in photos

Well, you all heard about my 5K experience but I realize you have been anxiously awaiting pictures. (At least of something other than my pretty bib.)

Well, here they are.  My dutiful husband (did I mention we are about to celebrate 15 yrs in August?) snapped these photos with his iPhone. He has been so supportive and got all the kids up and ready to come cheer for me.

The start - can you see me? Me either.

The finish.

One of the best things was having Anna waiting for me near the end and running with me up to the finish.  The other best thing was all the food the coordinators had out for everyone.  There were donuts and muffins and fruit and quiche and cookies and more!  They had giant tubs of water everywhere.  It was absolutely decadent and much needed.

The 5K

I'm ready. Let's do this. twitter.com/fab_angie/stat…
— Angie Butcher (@fab_angie) June 17, 2012

I feel a little behind the times.

I just ran my first 5K at 34 years old. I don't feel that old.  But, I don't really feel any younger.  It is such a strange place to be at.

The run was fine.  I was super nervous and pretty much wanted to throw up.  It is a strange feeling to be starting with 300 some other people all crowded together.  I certainly wasn't in a hurry to get going but I couldn't help but think - "I can certainly run this faster than him/her."  I doubt I will be thinking that for one minute at the half-marathon.  This race had many families (entry age minimum was 6) and racers of all ages.  I felt pretty comfortable.  And super nervous.

I tried to pace myself and actually did a pretty good job but I was just so anxious.  I wanted to be going faster but I didn't want to make myself sick.  I know how much harder it is if I push past my limits and I would end up being slower really.

I'm happy with my finish time but I realize that I'm just beginning.  I only ran 3.1 miles, I still have 10 more miles to add on in the next few months!

Back on the road today - I start running 4 days a week now.  I'm hoping for cool early mornings!