Convince Your Parents to Let You Get AOL Instant Messenger

All your friends have Use AOL Instant Messenger but your parents won't let you get it! Have no fear - even the hardest-nosed parents can be persuaded with some smart strategizing.

Steps

  1. Find out all the details about what you are trying to do. Go to www.aim.com and check out the different options you can download. Or, if your parents are really against downloading things, tell them that you can get a screenname and access AIM online without downloading anything.
  2. Address your parents' fears. Tell them what AIM is and how it works. Promise your parents that you will only use AIM to talk to your friends, and that you won't give out your screenname to strangers on the internet. Also say that you can make it so that only people on your buddy list can talk to you. Allow them to approve everyone on your buddy list.
    • To reinforce this step, consider letting them talk with everyone on your buddy list as you, to show them how your friends behave.
  3. Tell them about all of your friends who have AIM and have never had anything bad happen to them. Don't do this too much though, it gets irritating very quickly.
  4. Speak maturely and rationally. If you show your parents you're able to have a mature conversation with them about the use of AIM, they may believe that you're mature enough to handle having an account.
  5. Ask your friends' parents to explain to your parents that AIM is okay. Sometimes, hearing that it's okay from another adult is helpful in getting your parents to allow you to do something.
  6. Try to restore your parents' faith in you. If your parents trust you, there's no reason for them to not let you get AIM.
    • You could mention that to them too. If you've made IM or AIM mistakes before, your parents need to give you time to build up your trust again. If you ask right away then they won't let you, but if you try to be a more responsible person, eventually your parents will let you get a new AIM screen name.

Tips

  • Always log out of AIM when you get off the computer!
  • If you promised your parents that you wouldn't talk to strangers on AIM, then don't do it! If someone you don't know starts IMing you, block them.
  • Develop some guidelines for AIM use so it doesn't interfere with your parents work. If you're using their computer, establish times that you can be online.

Warnings

  • If your parents don't trust you on the internet because of mistakes you've made before, it's going to be difficult to convince them to let you use AIM.

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