Windows PCs and Macs have pretty good parental monitoring features, but they are just the first steps...

If your children are spending too much time on the home computer screen, your can gain some control of their computer usage by using Windows’ and Mac parental monitoring features. Those features provide a good first step, but aren’t the entire solution. Many parents are aware of threats to their children online (cyberbullying, sexting, online predators to name a few) but few know the different ways they can help keep them safe.

Windows 8: 

After the frightening night-time incident (see Cyberbullying - A Mother's Story, Part 1,) Bud became understandably paranoid. He would no longer leave the house unless we drove him to his destination, even if it was just around the corner. He and his friends used to walk all over town and now he was getting so little sunshine that he was eventually diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency.

During the week that followed, one of Bud's friends texted him and told him to check out G's Facebook wall. G had a public and completely open Facebook page--anyone could see it whether or not they were his friend. Bud called me over to see what G had posted. Right there on G's wall was an invitation - " bud morris, come over to my house... I have a bottle of bud and a freshly dug grave in my backyard for you..." "I want to grow my hair long so I can strangle bud with it."

Did you miss Bullying Prevention Awareness Month? If you are a busy parent, it may have been easy to miss all the work that was being done to raise awareness about bullying. After all, you want to spend your extra time connecting with your kids, which doesn't always leave room for everything else.

But the need for anti bullying awareness goes beyond a single month, especially when it comes to cyberbullying, which can take place at home and throughout the year, even when children are supposed to be taking a break from school.

The trend to send sexually explicit text messages and photos (also known as sexting) is something that is seen as harmless by many upon first consideration. In fact, many who read this may have engaged in this type of activity themselves at some point. However, there are some things that those who engage in sexting, are considering doing so, or are the parents of someone who falls into the first two categories should consider. 

When Dr. J and I talk about our core values Service, Safety, or Sustainability on air or off air; we are looking for the authorities and true experts on these subjects so we can help others. That is when I discovered Dr. Logan, an expert on cyberbullying, and invited her on www.TheSocialNetworkShow.com where she talks about this serious topic and how to help kids.

You can listen to Dr. Logan by visiting the archives on our website listed above.

Young children are online throughout the day by using their Smartphone. This means that a parent will need a way to ensure their child's online safety. This can be done by using a social network monitoring solution.

An article on the Calgary CTV News website has various strategies that can be used for social network monitoring. The goal is to ensure that your children are kept safe when using various social media sites available online.

You may not have thought about it a lot, but the company that covers your homeowners insurance is very concerned about cyberbullying and liability issues that could arise with a lawsuit. As the world moves quickly toward establishing dual identities in both the “real world” and online communities such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube or gaming systems like Xbox 360, new legal liability issues are escalating.

Cyberbullying incidents are reported to be quickly on the rise, and the insurance industry is scrambling to determine risk for an issue that did not exist ten years ago. While personal injury riders do exist as a part of standard homeowners or umbrella coverage, cyberbullying is still considered to be a “gray area” of coverage by most companies while the courts have already begun to sort the issue out.

Our son, Bud, loved cyberschool. During his sophomore and junior years his grades got better, his attitude improved, he started hanging out with friends again. Towards the end of his junior year, Bud decided he wanted to go back to public school for his senior year. We were all very excited about his progress. Some of Bud's friends from junior high had taken a wrong turn in high school and started taking methamphetamines. Bud had no use for that and stopped hanging out with them, although they all parted on good terms.

The problem was that G, the younger brother of one of these boys, had looked up to Bud as a protector and was very resentful when Bud stopped hanging out with G's brother and friends. G is a troubled child -

These days, all kids have a presence online. They have Facebook, Twitter, Sims, and a host of other social media and and online games that they interact with multiple times a day. As a parent, you worry about keeping your child safe from cyberbullying and Internet predators. But with Internet available at home, at friends' houses and on mobile devices, how can you be sure you're keeping up with your parental monitoring duties?

The best way of keeping your kids safe online is to talk to them. Ask them questions like:

• "What sites and games do you like to look at online?"

• "What kinds of information do you think it's safe to post online?"

Hurtful names. Repeated harassment. Extreme embarrassment. As adults, we’ve learned to recognize the signs of bullying, but when it comes to cyberbullying, parents need to be extra vigilant. The widespread availability of the web and mobile phones have created a rich environment for cyberbullying (defined as using of digital media to repeatedly harass another person). Often it happens without any knowledge of school staff and/or parents.

Although it's difficult to watch your child try to deal with bullying, they don't have to go through it alone. You can offer support and help your child through this difficult situation using a variety of strategies. 

I was recently invited to be a guest blogger at uknowkids.com and I am honored, inspired, and grateful. Once I recognized the genius behind uknow.com and uknowkids.com, I immediately saw the urgency, importance, and inspiration of this powerful company to help kids. Knowledge is potential power but action is power.

A growing trend in the online world is cyberbullying.  As a natural result of the wealth of social networks and technology-based communication platforms, cyberbullying has taken center stage for many children dealing with its effects.  Catching this at an early stage is integral to protecting children from dangerous consequences.

Unfortunately, the news has demonstrated the darker side of online bullying.  Much attention has been given to teen Amanda Todd, who committed suicide after being harassed by online bullies. Jon Ferry adds that a U.S. study found that cyberbullying victims are twice as likely to commit suicide as those that haven’t experienced this type of treatment.  In Canada, it is being studied by the government and could attract its own law.

While some of these stories are extreme, they paint a picture of the potential severity of cyberbullying.  And even in smaller doses, it is clear that cyberbullying can have a significant detriment to those that

uKnowKids is extremely pleased to announce the release of our first ever eBook entitled “10 Essential Things Parents Need to Know About Cyberbullying.”  We were inspired to write and produce this eBook because October is National Bullying Awareness Month, and it is our mission to educate parents about the often overlooked topic of cyberbullying.   

There are lots of ways to bully someone online, but social networks are the most effective and most devastating way to go about it. And Facebook, the most popular social network of all, is a prime favorite for cyberbullies. Does your child know what to do if bullied on Facebook?

93% of teens who have witnessed cruel behavior online say that most of the harassment took place on Facebook. If your tween or teen has a Facebook account, they should know these 4 things to do if they become a victim of Facebook bullying. 

43% of kids say they've been bullied online and kids say that 93% of the cruel behavior they see online is on Facebook. Your child's first line of defense should be unfriending bullies or blocking them – but which is most appropriate, and what's the difference between the two? 

Did you know that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month? 2012 marks the ninth year that the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Department of Homeland Security have teamed up to educate the American public – and that includes your kids – about staying safe online. Here's what you can do.

Bullying is a really hot-button word, guaranteed to grab you (especially if you have kids of your own) by the collar and make you pay attention. I'll admit that headlines with the word “cyberbully” almost always catch my notice. Bullying both scares parents and mystifies them. Let's clear things up a little.

Parents – myself included – are apt to shrug off cyberbullying as just another iteration of the bullying you or I might have endured as kids. We turned out all right in spite of it, didn't we? But the truth is that cyberbullying is very different from anything we knew.

When you became a parent, nobody handed you an owners' manual.  From health to education to socialization, raising chidren today is hard enough without the spectre of cyberbullying looming over your heads.  The old days of classroom taunts and playground insults have exploded into the technical age, and today's children have a lot more to worry about.

In a world where cyberbullying is commonplace behavior and online rudeness is par for the course, here are 3 simple arguments for your teen to avoid being negative online and be more positive in his posts and texts.

1. Negativity Makes You A Target