Should parents of a deceased young person under 21 delete the kid's Facebook?

If a person's less than 21 year old die, should the parent have the kid's FB deleted?

I am torn on this and am wondering what others think.

It's their choice, but I wouldn't. I'd update it and leave it open as a memorial to him or her. That way at least people who haven't seen them in a while or heard the news will know that they have passed on.

I almost tend to agree with you, but then if the kid died in a way that involved alcohol, and people tagged them in drinking photos, that has to be so hard to see.

I have been privy to both sides of this...one being my step daugher's roommate last year...she died as part of her stupidity in drinking. The other is a friend's daugher who nearly died due to drinking stupidity that did not, but was in a coma for two weeks.....Both girls' fb had messages on the wall that were about drinking and all that and both I felt were so tasteless.

And another kid named Chris, who died a year ago, he was a good kid, raced moto, and died racing...his parents leave his wall as a tribute to his excellence in racing...and I admire that, but they get spam messages that are so mean on his page, and so it would behoove them to just shut if off. But in additon to his racing, he had a tee shirt company, that his sis in law mantains, so there are so many awful messages there, it breaks my heart.

I can see where you're coming from, Red. It's really sick to imagine people out there who are so heartless and cruel. I can also understand not wanting photos of your child drinking if they had died as a result of alcohol or drugs. Also, a suicide could be tough. Maybe change the page to a memorial page but lave it so that you can't put messages? I really don't know but it's a tough question.

I can see where you're coming from, Red. It's really sick to imagine people out there who are so heartless and cruel. I can also understand not wanting photos of your child drinking if they had died as a result of alcohol or drugs. Also, a suicide could be tough. Maybe change the page to a memorial page but lave it so that you can't put messages? I really don't know but it's a tough question.

I honestly don't think it matters either way. If I were a parent and my child had died, I think I'd have other matters on my mind besides "Well, little Joey is buried now. Should I erase his Facebook page?"

femme fatale wrote:It's their choice, but I wouldn't. I'd update it and leave it open as a memorial to him or her. That way at least people who haven't seen them in a while or heard the news will know that they have passed on.

RedBedroom wrote:And another kid named Chris, who died a year ago, he was a good kid, raced moto, and died racing...his parents leave his wall as a tribute to his excellence in racing...and I admire that, but they get spam messages that are so mean on his page, and so it would behoove them to just shut if off. But in additon to his racing, he had a tee shirt company, that his sis in law mantains, so there are so many awful messages there, it breaks my heart.

Can't the spam/insensitive messages be wiped off the wall? Any memorial needs someone to keep it up or the weeds will grow around it.

As for the inappropriate drinking messages, the whole page could be shut down, or edited and it could also serve as an educational place for other kids not to follow the stupidity. All this is determined by the emotions of the grieving family.

Social networking isn't that serious to me to the point where I would create a facebook page in someone's honor, but if the person deceased had created one before their death, and it was particularly active, then I too would leave it up as a dedication to them. As far as spam and troll comments go, I would simply enact the preferences that allow wall comment control, and have someone else regularly maintain/monitor it.