My son (9) has a Minecraft account, a Steam account, and an email address which he doesn't know the password to (because he wouldn't remember it).

His main interaction thusfar has been chatting with people in Minecraft and on Steam, which concerns me only over the language.

I'd suggest delegated Gmail accounts: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/email-delegation-grant... used as contact emails for social networks.

I set up a delegated Gmail account for my son so that I can monitor and rescue the account. He uses Steam for online gaming (mostly gmod), and Facebook.

My daughter's iPhone is set up with my Apple ID, but her Gmail address is used for iMessage, Facetime, etc. Aside from the ability to use 'Find my iPhone' to locate her if necessary, I can also lock the iPhone remotely when I get a RenWeb alert that she didn't turn in her homework!

My 3 year old daughter has been actively using an iPad in some form or another since around a year old. I don't plan on censoring or controlling her access but would review this based on changing circumstances.

Her use is (casually) monitored in case any issues do pop up, though I consider this unlikely for a few years as she's only into Disney-style apps and a handful of toy unboxing subscriptions on YouTube. I've not noticed any opportunities for offensive or inappropriate content coming up so far, although this could change when she can spell and type! :-)

I post a lot of family pictures online but I never post anything that I'd consider embarrassing for my children. Nor do I post anything on Facebook that I wouldn't want a random stranger to overhear in a shopping line.

I gave my child a macbook without parental control in age of 3.