Talking About Texting

Parents often wonder, how can I talk to my children about cell phone safety. A good starting point to begin a conversation with kids, is simply saying most cell phones now a day are just like computers. Any information that is on the cell phone even if it gets deleted can still be accessed by law enforcement with their special equipment.  Kids today have been around computers before they were born so they are familiar with computers. Explaining how some cell phones are very similar to computers today will help kids understand a little bit better what it means to text.  Talking with kids how texts or pictures can never be completely erased will at least make some kids think twice about sending a rude comment or unfitting picture.

Connecting

The best use of any parental monitoring software is open communication between the parent and child. Sit down with your child and create a master contact list of all calls, texts and emails. Don’t dictate to your child who should be on the list, decide together with your child, letting your child take the lead and the parent confirming or discussing why you don’t agree with your child will help continue the connection with your child.

Sexting Led to Level 2 Sex Offender

Every time I read another story about teens becoming victims of sexting, I can’t stress it enough how important it is for parents to continue to talk to their children about the hazards of meeting people online. This time the 20 year old wrongdoer was posing as a girl to another boy and made threats to the boy if he didn’t send nude photos. The 20 year old told the boy that “her” dad was in the FBI and “she” would tell “her” dad that he was threatening “her”. So the 13 year old boy started sexting “her”. The threats continued from “her” and the boy agreed to send “her” six phone numbers of his friends from middle school. One of these parents found out and the wrongdoer was convicted as a level 2 sex offender.  All I can say, is at least one of these parents knew what to do and helped get this wrongdoer convicted.

Sexting and Legislation

Some interesting statistics have come out from The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. They recently surveyed adults across the United States about under-aged sexting and the sexting legislation. Just to bring everyone up to date, right now there are 17 states that already enacted laws to address youth sexting and another 13 states have pending legislation in 2012 that focuses on sexting.

Here are the findings from the poll:

• 81 percent of adults think an educational program including counseling is an appropriate consequence.
• 75 percent of adults support requiring community service.
• 76 percent of adults think schools should give all students and parents information on sexting
• Only 20 percent or less of adults think sexting should be treated as sex crime and prosecuted under sexual abuse laws.
• 93 percent of adults believe that parents should have a major role in addressing sexting, followed by teens and thirdly school.   

Sexting

Do parents really understand what tweens and teens are doing with their cell phones? Do the tweens and teens actually comprehend what it means when they send a nude photo or a photo of inappropriate behavior on their cell phone?  Once the send button is pressed, there is no erasing. At the moment, the tween or teen is consenting to send his or her photo with promises up and down from the receiver that it won’t be shared. Well, unfortunately maybe in 6 or 12 months, these promises are forgotten and the photos are shared. The internet is not just your block or community or city but it is worldwide thus worldwide web. I think this is too often forgotten and tweens and teens think it is only in their small community.

Parents Contract to Yourself

As a parent, if your child ever does encounter something that is wrong online and they come to you to let you know. Remember not to blame your child. Discuss the situation they encounter openly so if something bad happens again online, your child will tell you again. Also, as parents we need to remember not to completely ban the computer and internet from your child. These are tools for your children to learn from and completely banning the internet will only hinder your child’s future in learning about all the magnificent opportunities that are found on the internet.