Are your teenage daughters on Pinterest? If you haven't already heard of Pinterest, you will soon. It's becoming super popular, especially among young women and teen girls.

Pinterest is an online display of anything and everything you like, which you can organize into theme-based collections called “pinboards.” You can pin your own favorites, but you can also surf around other users' pinboards and follow them, re-pin them, or simply hit “like.”

Like anything else, you need to teach your kids how to use the Internet if you expect them to use it safely and responsibly. Parental control software can be a good training tool, but eventually they need the skills to do it alone. Have you taught your children these 10 critical things about going online?

1. If you accidentally come across something inappropriate, shut off the computer and tell an adult.

2. Not everything you read online is true. From rumors to homework resources, no one is fact-checking the Internet for accuracy.

My last post talked about 10 things you must teach your kids to do if they are ever the target of cyberbullying. One of them was to spend less time online – and here's why that's important.

Cyberbullies want to isolate their victims and give them a warped perspective. They will try to convince their victims that everybody hates them. Bullied kids who limit their online time lessen their exposure to these messages and can increase exposure to real-life friends who like them and think they have worth.

As a high school teacher, I often run across the road blocks my school district has set up to inhibit students from using social networking sites during class time. Much like parental controls this is tactical maneuver from schools intended to protect the students. Unfortunately it’s not unlike sticking a finger in the proverbial damn. The plethora of social media sites that high school students have access to is astounding. And which ones are popular or trendy changes on a weekly basis.

Everyone these days belongs to some kind of social network - teens in  particular are enamored with social media and facebook for kids. They love having the ability to know everything that their friends are doing at all times, all the time. One of those social networks is called FourSquare, and many of you know what it is, or at least heard it mentioned.

For those of you who don't know what FourSquare is; its a social network, most commonly used through an "App" on a mobile phone. Users are encouraged to "Check-in" when they arrive at any number of locations. Restaurants, bars, schools, offices and even homes and apartments have the ability to create a location where any user can "Check-in" and receive points for doing so. Companies most often use the service to promote deals and encourage visitors, but kids and teens most often use the social network as a game to see who can get the most points.

Why do teenagers do what they do?  If you are the parent of a teen, you have probably asked yourself this question many, many times. When they have access to the internet, those questions are even more prevelant with the addition of ones like: are my kids safe on social networks, at what age is facebook for kids a good dicision- Well now we know.  This article provides 5 interesting, scientific explanations of why our teens do what they do. This article was originally published by Mental Floss.

The Number 1 reasons stated in the article is:

We all know that texting while driving is dangerous – statistics agree that it's even riskier than driving drunk. But even if your child isn't even close to receiving his or her license, you're not off the hook just yet. Texting also presents a potentially fatal distraction while simply crossing the street.

In a recent study published by the University of Alabama, 10- and 11-year-olds were observed walking across the street in a simulated environment, several times while using their phones and several times while not using their phones. Researchers found that children using a cell phone took 20% longer to cross the road, were 20% less likely to look both ways, and were twice as likely to be hit by a car. Your kids safety may be affected by using their phones even when they are walking!

Parents worry about their kids safety playing online video games for a lot of reasons: too much screen time, too often, too late at night, too violent – the list goes on. But they probably have never given much thought to a scenario like this one before.

18-year old Le Van Luyen of Hanoi, Vietnam confessed in August to the triple murders of a shopkeeper, his wife, and his 19-month-old daughter (inexplicably, he also cut off the 9-year-old daughter's hand) in order to pay for his online gaming habit

.Luyen was sentenced this month to 18 years in prison for murder and armed robbery. He took jewelery and gold worth around $100,000 after the crime was committed. He told authorities he needed the money to play Kiem The, a particularly violent online game.

Which way does your teenager prefer to communicate? Sexting and texting, or face to face?

Most parents would guess “technology.” But even in a world where teenagers seem glued to glowing screens… face-to-face still rules. Ericsson, the cell phone manufacturer, just did a study where they asked young people, “Which method of communication would you miss the most?” The answer should be encouraging to many of us who are worried about our teenagers’ growing dependence on technology. “Meeting in person” was the number one answer.

Do you ever wonder about the impact that excessive technology might have on us as a society? Probably no one is more concerned than parents of teenagers, because teens are much more likely to text, be sexting, play games online, and use social networking all the time.

Though scientists are still forming conclusions about the effects of a digital lifestyle, one new study suggests that frequent texting may lead to shallow patterns of thought and behavior in young people.

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with our child’s favorite online games. Sure, they encourage hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, team play, and friendships with peers. But we also worry about child predators, cyberbullying, online game addiction, decreased performance in school, and exposure to violence and other adult content. And did you know your child’s gaming frequency might be an indicator of how they feel about you as a parent?

In a study of 500 middle school students conducted by the University of Michigan, results showed that kids who played more online games were more likely to report a negative relationship with their parents than kids who rarely or never played. Heavy game-players were more likely to describe their parents as “nagging” and “providing less supervision.”