Another big thanks to the SafeSoundFamily team for pulling together the 25 best family safety articles this week from many great sources--online, TV and print! We highlighted them last week, and were so impressed with the articles that made the list this week, that we had to share them with our readers. SafeSoundFamily is free resource for home security information and alarm systems. Check them out!
As part of an on-going blog series that began two weeks ago, we have interviewed some internet safety experts, parenting experts and industry leaders and are pleased to present our findings. Our questions centered around 'digital parenting' and what people thought were the biggest issues regarding this subject.
uKnowKids is pleased to announce that we have released our most important eBook yet! Entitled "Understanding Digital Parenting: The Essential Guide to Raising Connected Kids", this eBook is free of charge and jammed full of important information for parents of digital kids! Unlike previous generations, today’s parents struggle with trying to bridge an ever-growing information gap between what their child is doing online and what they can see their child doing at home. This eBook will help parents raise connected kids in a safe and trustworthy way.
Cyberbullying has emerged as a new and pressing problem for schools and parents alike. The internet allows young people to participate in a world utterly removed from adult supervision: a world where bullying thrives and intimidation and harassment go unnoticed and unpunished by authority figures.
Cyberbullying can take many forms – all of which can be potentially devastating. Cybullies may use threats of physical violence to frighten a child but, more often, they will use intimidation to cow and torture a child. They may either threaten to or actually post derogatory information about a child on popular social networking sites, like Facebook or Twitter, and they may use mobile devices to keep in constant contact with their target.
Cyberbullying, regardless of the form it takes, can be exceptionally harmful. Children and young adults are very susceptible to the emotional damage bullying and cyberbullying can cause, and, as Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. argue in their paper “Cyberbullying and Suicide,” cyberbullying can make young adults significantly more likely to consider suicide. Hinduja and Patchin find that this particular kind of adolescent peer aggression makes its victims twice as likely to attempt suicide compared with those who have not experienced it.
Keeping your kids safe on the internet can feel overwhelming and exhausting. Between time spent researching safety tips, monitoring your kids' digital whereabouts, and arguing with them about online restrictions, a significant amount of your family time can be spent dealing with digital parenting issues. Several online websites can put a little fun back in to the process by teaching your kids digital safety while they play games and learn valuable lessons about staying safe online. As a bonus for parents, it allows you to say to yes to an online experience, instead of always saying no; take those brownie points where you can get them!
Many people have been asking me if there are any laws or legislation in place to govern cyberbullying. I have pulled together a list of the states laws on bullying and what they mean in a short blog post below.
Spotlight: A special thanks to Erin Raub and the SafeSoundFamily team for pulling together a weeks worth of great articles! The Web publishing team at Safe Sound Family consists of highly-skilled writers and editors who are passionate about and experts on family safety issues. Their team is dedicated to providing great advice and useful tips and information on home security and overall family safety topics. This week they included two articles from our parenting blog and we're excited about the posibitily of working with them in the future! Enjoy!
As part of an on-going blog series that began last week, we have interviewed some internet safety experts, parenting experts and industry leaders and are pleased to present our findings. Our questions centered around 'digital parenting' and what people thought were the biggest issues regarding this subject.
This guest post is from Tina Kehoe, a stay-at-home mom of three wonderful kids and a frequent writer on digital parenting topics.
A little girl named Marie, who happens to be in eighth grade, recently received an anonymous text that reads “we are going to have sex next Friday after the dance. Or else." The little girl trembles in shock and fear as she ponders whether she should go to an authority figure or just live in fearful suspense, wondering if the sender is telling the truth. Another sixth grader in New York is plagued by the school bully, so he retaliates via text that “You and your sisters and mom better watch your backs. My dad has a gun."
We were shocked and horrified to see that beautiful Kaitlyn Collins, a former Green Bay Packers cheerleader, was the victim of cruel and malicious bullying on Facebook when a picture of her was posted to an opposing teams fan page. If this can happen to an NFL cheerleader, someone seemingly immune to this behavior, think of how many regular children and teens this is happening to day in and day out. Tim Woda has created some tips that every parent should follow that will help prevent cyberbullying from devastating a child in their family.
Understand the technology that your child is using. Be familiar with all the functions of the sites your child is using including social networks, gaming systems, mobile phones, chat sites, etc. Some of these could have messaging or photo-sharing options that you might not even be aware of.
We know we have been blogging a lot about sexting lately, but it is a serious issue that we want all parents to be informed about. Here we discuss the perils associated with the sharing of nude or semi-nude photos, and tips to stop your child from making a big mistake from what they think is a seemingly innocuous action.
When it comes to digital parenting, then, is that this new and exciting technology is often difficult to keep up with. For example, what can we do about sexually explicit text messages, or "sexting?" How do we keep our kids safe?
First off, know the technology. It seems like kids will always know more about technology than their parents, but in this case the parents really need to do their homework. Know what safeguards are available for the child's phone, including the ability to turn off or block texting and sending pictures.
Next, it is vital to keep the lines of communication open. Talking to our kids is always good, but in this case, it's necessary.
Set up rules about what sort of information and pictures are appropriate.
As part of an on-going blog series that begins today, we have interviewed some internet safety experts, parenting experts and industry leaders and are pleased to present our findings. Our questions centered around 'digital parenting' and what people thought were the biggest issues regarding this subject.
In today's day and age, bullying is not only done in person, but via the Internet as well. Physical altercations are just as harmful to a child as verbal ones, and a greater deal of harm can be done online, where there is a large network available for these bullying teens to put down their victims. They aren't just picking on them at school in front of a few others, but they are writing horrible things to them or about them on the Internet, spreading like wildfire, doing damage to the bullied child's reputation and psyche.
It seems like children are getting cell phones at younger and younger ages today. As a parent, you're probably asking yourself, "Is my child ready for their first phone?" While only you can answer that question for your child, there are a few things to keep in mind when making this all-important decision.
I am the mother of three little boys, ages six, four and ten months old. My two older children each have their own tablets, know how to unlock Daddy’s iPad, often ask me to text their friend’s mothers for a play date, and know how to Skype. It amazes me that children at such young ages are so proficient in technology, although I shouldn’t be that surprised since they are constantly surrounded by it, both at home and in school.
When I was their age, I was playing with Barbie Dolls, dressing up, and relying on the world of pretend to entertain myself. Kids are definitely growing up faster these days and it is really scary as a parent. I see eleven year olds with Facebook pages and I wonder, don’t these kids see each other at school everyday? Do they sit in the lunchroom and text each other even though they sit next to each other? Are we allowing technology to take over our children’s lives?
We’ve all come across people who exaggerate their physical attributes online. Usually, this is harmless e.g., when someone uses a profile photo from five years ago when they were much slimmer or pretends to be a couple inches taller than they really are. However, the scenario changes when someone makes up a completely fake identity and interacts with people online using that identity, a deception which is called “catfishing.”
We’ve heard quite a bit about how Facebook is a forum for cyberbullying and how the mental health of teens can be affected by it. Added to this is the fact that there are sexual predators out there, looking to prey on children or teens through Facebook. These are issues that have received quite a bit of attention but there are other issues, not currently in the forefront, that can have an equal impact on a child’s life in the long run. It may not occur to your teen to consider these issues but you can help them out with some digital parenting.
One of these issues arises when teens are applying to schools. They may not realize it but admissions officials routinely check out applicants’ Facebook pages nowadays. If they don’t like what they see, it may prejudice them and cost the teen his/her admission to that school. So it’s necessary to consider the teen’s Facebook page as one of the components of the college application, just like the SATs, the academic recommendations and the application essay. In some ways, the Facebook page can even carry more weight because admissions officials feel that they are getting the uncensored version of the story. A student may be able to present himself/herself well in a college application but his/her Facebook page may tell a different story, especially if it goes back a few years.
This is a blog post from Cory Eridon at HubSpot about the newest Facebook feature Graph Search. We thought you all might enjoy! Stay tuned for how this will affect Facebook monitoring and our parental intelligence system.
Well folks, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. Facebook announced its big news today -- the stuff we've all been sitting at the edge of our seats for, the release we've been pontificating about (read what some of our ideas ... and your own were ... about Facebook's big reveal)! So ... what the heck is it?
Well, we were right! Kind of. It's a new search engine called Graph Search! As Facebook puts it, the new search engine, which is
The citizens of the 21st century must boldly address both the benefits and the drawbacks of rampant technology. While a first glance will yield the digital age's many advantageous capabilities for modern life, a deeper examination will uncover some of the more problematic circumstances that the technology likewise creates.
No demographic is more eager to embrace today's remarkable technology than children. They are quick to integrate both the technology and its applications into their lives, but this age group does not always possess the common sense that should accompany such significant usage; as a result, parental monitoring is an essential concern for all parents.
uKnowKids is pleased to announce that we have released our eBook entitled "Understanding Sexting: Nine Things Every Parent Should Know"! This eBook is free of charge to the public and jammed full of imporant information for parents of digital kids! After downloading and reading this eBook, parents will learn:
