Did/have you set up an email account for your child?

[catbus]

Inspired by chickens987's post in the confessions thread.  

For the purposes of this poll, I'm wondering whether your child had an email account at an age at which they could not actually use email. Don't count setting up email for your 10-year-old, please. 

[MadamePresident]

I started to do it one day, but I just wanted to use her first name. Gmail won't let you do a 5 letter e-mail address, so I stopped due to indecision.

[catbus]

I set up an email account for E when he was a few months old. I wasn't going to, but H mentioned that he wanted to ensure we got him a "good" address before someone else with his name grabbed it. He also wants to scoop up our full names as .com domains, LOL.

[ssmjlm]

I can remember my communications professor in college saying her daughter had email and she was not in school yet. The professor used to have her stuffed animals email her.

[catbus]

Sept 6, 2013 11:54:08 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I can remember my communications professor in college saying her daughter had email and she was not in school yet. The professor used to have her stuffed animals email her.

This is one of those things that sounds creepy, but is probably actually sweet. ...Right?

[ssmjlm]

How did you set them up if you put in their birthdays? Aren't they too young?

[ssmjlm]

Sept 6, 2013 11:55:35 GMT -5 catbus said:

Sept 6, 2013 11:54:08 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I can remember my communications professor in college saying her daughter had email and she was not in school yet. The professor used to have her stuffed animals email her.

This is one of those things that sounds creepy, but is probably actually sweet. ...Right?

Yeah she said her daughter really liked getting the emails.

[meltoine]

No, but DS1 and FIL are the only people in the world with their name. So far, DS2 is the only person with his name, but his FN is more common so someone in the extended family may use it too. I figure they won't have problems getting an email when theyre ready.

[chickens987]

LOL. I am too lazy to do anything like a baby book, so this was my compromise. I use it to save things I think she'll want to see someday - videos, stats, etc. I also sometimes email her randomly if I think of it My MIL has also sent her a few emails. I figure we'll keep it secret until she's older (9 or 10) and show it to her. She'll probably think it's lame, but eventually will be glad she has it.

[arch01]

Yes, we set it up before DS was born. DH and I email him regularly about trips we've taken, milestones, etc. We also sent it to family so they can email him. We thought it'd be neat to have great grandparents (especially) email him because we don't know how long they'll be around and what he'll remember of them.

We also have family spread out across the country, so we don't see them often.

ETA: this is not an email for him to send out stuff in the future. It's an email address that's strictly for the above purpose.

[chickens987]

Sept 6, 2013 11:56:56 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

How did you set them up if you put in their birthdays? Aren't they too young?

I used my birthday. Don't tell the google-police

[catbus]

Sept 6, 2013 11:56:56 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

How did you set them up if you put in their birthdays? Aren't they too young?

I used my birthday.

[turtlegirl]

I honestly never thought about it until this thread.

No plans to do so and probably won't until they are much older and need it for school or something like that.

DH is pretty anti kids and technology and even anti-technology for himself. He doesn't have any social media type accounts and rarely uses email, etc except when needed for school. I don't think he'd see the need for kids to have email at a young age. He also doesn't want them to have cell phones until they can get a job and pay for it themselves. I tell him we can't predict how technology is going to change over the next 10-15 years, so no need to stress about it now.

[hski2349]

I set a couple. I think I used my B-day. I just want DD to have a professional email address with part of her name, first initial, middle name, or first initial last name.

I think ahead far too much. But somebody pointed out to me by the time our kids our grown up there are not going to be any good email address left. They will have a bunch of random numbers, letters, etc. We laughed about it, but my friend and I set up email addresses for our kids that day.

[savan]

I don't know if this counts or not. DH set up an address for each kid and he sends them emails they can read in the future. Mostly about certain milestones or things we've done.

[ssmjlm]

E's name is taken!!! NO!!!!

[cinco]

We just set up an account for my 7 year old. She emails her grandma Almost all of her homework is on the computer now. My baby is growing up!

[Deleted]

C's name is also taken! On gmail and hotmail...damnit!

[Redpoppy]

I did because I either needed it to set up of JetBlue TrueBlue account or thought I did. He doesn't know of it but can have it some day.

[catbus]

ssmjlm and @libgrl: Guess it's AOL for your girls!  (devil) 

[ssmjlm]

Sept 6, 2013 12:25:14 GMT -5 catbus said:

ssmjlm and @libgrl: Guess it's AOL for your girls!  (devil) 

Hells no!  I'll figure something out when I get home.  Stupid work internet keeps giving me certificate errors for google.

[dcn]

Ths never entered my mind until this post. I am going to set one up for him!

[Deleted]

No. By the time she's old enough to use it, email probably won't even be a thing anymore.

[catbus]

Sept 6, 2013 12:29:05 GMT -5 @arya said:

No. By the time she's old enough to use it, email probably won't even be a thing anymore.

But then she can be cool and "retro," LOL. 

[Deleted]

Yes because I thought I needed more space for my Picassa/Google photo's.

But now I forgot what I set up :-(

[toesie]

I set up one, but by now, I forgot both username and password

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2013 12:25:14 GMT -5 catbus said:

ssmjlm and @libgrl: Guess it's AOL for your girls!  (devil) 

Why must you hurt me so???

[MadamePresident]

I do kind of hate that my SIL has the same first initial as me and never changed it when she married and changed her name. So I have to e-mail her at "myfirstinitial.lastname". That's part of my indecision for my daughter. I want one that she can use even as an adult and I'm assuming she will change her last name one day.

[magpie]

Should I be embarrassed to admit that we set one up for our unborn kid already? We just wanted to "save" her name on gmail for her...which is funny because by the time she is old enough to use gmail, we will probably all be on some new email system of the future and gmail will seem super antiquated and old school.

[matildasun]

No, they don't have email, but my husband bought them each domain names using their names. Not really sure why, but he was super excited about it.