The Phone Years
"My friend wants me to add him on Roblox."
What to say
Start here
"I know Roblox looks like one game, and a lot of what you do on there is. What I keep coming back to is that someone you've never met can message you on there or pull you into a private server, and neither of us can see that from the outside. Show me who you play with and I'll stop guessing."
Explain it
"I get why you want to add him. It makes sense that you want to connect outside of school. But as a family, we don't allow Roblox because I don't think it's safe enough for your age. We'll find another way for you to connect."
Protect childhood
New ways to connect are great, we just want the connecting to happen somewhere safer for now. Try a phone call, a playground meet-up, a playdate, or time together after school. The friendship is the part that matters, and the app is optional.
What not to say
"Roblox is dangerous." Scare words make you sound uninformed and shut the conversation down. Name the specific design issue, the open chat and strangers, instead.
Why this matters
Roblox looks like one simple game but it's a huge social platform with open chat and strangers. This keeps the focus on staying connected with the friend through something offline, so your kid hears here's another way instead of just no.
Follow-up questions
- "What do you and your friend like to do together most?"
- "Could we set up a time for him to come over instead?"
- "Who else is usually in the Roblox servers you play in?"