I’ve received over 1,000 cards. Not one has been offensive, or rude.
I’ve seen many children profiles, that note they are “monitored by parent”
Could always participate in both, the main site for the thrill of randomness, and visit the forum for Swaps section of ‘stamps’ and ‘other’ for scrapbooking fodder 
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You could allow him to make his own profile but have the cards come ‘in care of’ you, and you could preview them before giving them to him to weed out any potential problems in subject matter or message.
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I really don’t have that much experience with getting/receiving cards from kids. I think maybe two received cards from young ones; both cards were nice. But as others have noted, you need to exercise care with how much information you make publicly available. That’s why @jaenelle’s suggestion is a very good one.
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My daughter has been Postcrossing with her own account for just over 2 years now (starting at age 7 years). She hasn’t had any issues with anyone sending anything inappropriate. She has seen some postcards with nudity on other people’s walls (for example, when looking at favorites walls to help her choose a card to send) but I’m nearby whenever she’s logged on so we just have a conversation about those images and anything else she might have questions about. Those instances have been rare and there has not been anything truly concerning!
We keep her settings on international exchanges only (she does not send within our country) and she does not do direct swaps. Her profile states that she is a primary school student and she mentions “My mom helps me with Postcrossing” so people will know that there is an adult monitoring things for content and also to make sure cards are sent and that received cards are registered promptly. She loves it and does a good job!
I have told her she needs to wait until she is a little older to join the forum as it is really a form of social media and I don’t think she needs that just yet 
Through my activity on the forum she has gained an international pen pal and corresponded with a couple other kids (those exchanges set up by the parents for the kids).
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Let me add what the community guidelines say about kids participating:
You’re older than 13, or have permission.
If you are under 13 years old, you must use the website under the supervision of an adult and with due consent from your parent or legal guardian. We believe children can learn a great deal with Postcrossing, but like with any other website, their online habits should be monitored closely by an adult.
That’s why the profile should state that he’s helped by his mum who’s also a Postcrosser. This makes senders (and receivers) feel better because they know that the cards (and personal data) will be handled properly.
I’ve written postcards to a lot of children on this website. If the profile is clear about how old your son is, I’m sure he will get appropriate mail.
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I think kids do well with official accounts that are monitored by parents but I’d keep him away from the Forum til he’s older given the wide range of subjects discussed usually at an adult level & of content sometimes that could be disturbing (war, sexuality, politics etc) to kids.
With official profiles you can clearly show they are for a child but on the Forum that is a lot less clear given that people get into discussions/games often without looking up someone’s profile.
I’ve had several experiences on here where I’ve seen children under 13 in the Forum for hours & hours, clearly not actively supervised by an adult & involved in discussions & games that would not meet with approval from most parents for kids of that age.
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I don’t have children myself but there are countless children profiles on postcrossing. They usually make it clear that the profile belongs to a child (maybe I would avoid putting a full date of birth though) and ask for appropriate cards/no nudity etc.
It’s probably not 100% foolproof because some people might not read the full thing or be distracted or don’t speak a lot of English but they can usually handle the situation with online translators. It would be a rare unlucky case to receive something totally wrong for a child, but in that case it’s of course important for the parents to be nearby and help make sense of the situation.
I’d also agree that the official site is probably easier to monitor for a parent than the forum. And in the official site, the admins can help while the forum is less regulated in terms of swaps etc. (It’s just impossible to keep track of everything I believe, and it states somewhere that swaps on here are your responsibility). Perhaps you can browse it together if he is looking for something specific e.g. swapping with another child or looking for cartoon characters or whatever.
It’s exciting and it must be mind-blowing for a child nowadays to enter this world
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@elikoa is spot on with this suggestion. We don’t have my daughter’s birthday anywhere on her profile. A couple other things I thought of after my previous post are:
For her address I have her first name and last initial only (not full last name). That works in the US, not sure if other countries have different rules about what is required in order for mail to be delivered. And her profile picture has never shown her whole face - at first her picture was a drawing she had done, then we changed it to a picture where she was wearing a mask 
and now her picture has a book covering the lower half of her face. Also, I have it set so her profile page is visible Only to members (under Settings → Profile) to try and reduce the number of people with access to her profile.
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the post from @SilverHare practically describes my profile - no date of birth, no full name but only the initial of my survey, no picture of me, only visible to members. So I guess that goes for adults too but of course adults can make their own choices and arguably have more ways to cope when things happen.
The original poster is from the UK and when I lived in the UK I had my first name + initial only. It worked. In my native country that wouldn’t work because we usually have surnames on the postboxes instead of apartment numbers so your surname is the only way the post workers have to locate you, unless you live in a single house. Countless times people are so confused when there is no full name but it really doesn’t make a difference at all in some countries.
I’m sure German postcrossers have mentioned that legally in Germany you have to use your full name so I don’t know if I’m breaking any laws in other countries, but post was/is delivered to me for sure.
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My daughter is participating too since this month.
We do not state her exact age.
We have to use her last name, or she won’t be able to receive cards, but we’ve been a bit creative with the first name.
I help her write her cards and as I always empty our mailbox, I get to see all cards first. As she doesn’t have an e-mail-account, the hurray-messages are going to one of mine. So I can see everything first and when I translate a profile for her, I might skip some sentences which I do not find suitable for a girl in primary school.
I wouldn’t let her use the forum, I don’t think a forum is suitable for children.
So far she really enjoys postcrossing and is very happy when one of her cards arrives or she receives one and she really puts a lot of effort into every card. She only speaks very little English so I translate the sentences she wants to write and she copies them. This works well for us and she might even learn something without even noticing it.
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I think for this reason it is best to write the age in the profile. “I am 8 years old” will be translated correctly to every language and people know what it means. Profiles where the user mentions what stage/level/I don’t know how to call it of school is attending can be confusing because school systems differ between countries and it can’t be translated. If someone from the Czech Republic wrote “I go to primary school”, they could be anywhere between 6 and 15.
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I set up an account for my nephew @okieboy when he was 7 or so…I wrote the profile draft and mailed out cards on his behalf. His mom tweeked the profile as his interests changed and registered received cards. They pinned locations on a world map and he showed his cards at school; but he grew up and lost interest, so it’s now inactive. Only once did he receive an inappropriate card and mom threw it away
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It has been a long time since I have received a card or sent a card to a child. There were children on Postcrossing who were trying to practice their writing, improve their English, or just learn about other countries. Have you noticed a decrease in children participating in Postcrossing? If so, what would be the reasons for that?
Thanks, Claude
Might be that many of these started postcrossing as school project, but in times of covid and distance learning less class-projects like this were initiated. That’s just a wild guess though 
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In the last week alone, I’ve received one postcard from a child and sent to another one. I would guess that I usually send or receive with a child about once every two months. I don’t know how this compares to years ago.
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And to add to my comment of yesterday, I’ve just drawn another address of a child.
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I got this child account in January, 5 years old girl.
She never comes back to register cards. She should have minimum 6 cards traveling to her right now.
That member logged in after you got their address.
Postcrossing monitors all accounts and we have already flagged that account since you sent to them and offered to help them.
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My daughter (7 years old) was very excited with postcrossing and wanted to be involved with it. So, we created a profile for her. As she doesn’t know english, I told her that she can draw something on the back of the card or decorate it. She also writes “happy postcrossing” and her name in english. But I am thinking, is that acceptable? How would you feel if you received such a card? I would love it, but maybe other people would find it annoying.
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Hi Chrys,
That’s really a good start.
A nice way to introduce kids to the concept of letter/postcard writing & I’d be happy to receive this card.
Thanks for sharing.
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