Federal law requires children to be at least 13 before opening a social media account, unless they get verifiable parental consent. One reason is to lower the risk of kids being exposed to online child predators.

But you should also know this: A child psychologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston says when you allow kids to join Facebook by entering a fake birth date, you’re quote: “teaching them to lie and scam the system.” And when they learn to lie to others online, that sets up a pattern of behavior where they’ll be more likely to lie to you. (from the John Tesh Radio Site)