The Best Way To Monitor Teen Online Activity (COLUMN RELATED)

Aside from actual education and conversations with your kids, and having constant access to their devices, profiles and passwords (read my July column here:https://jrc-pa.pageflip.site/editions/CKJ62779#page/4 ) there probably isn't a better way of seeing what your kids are actually up to on the internet or how to keep them safe, but these things might be of some help...

According to PC Mag (and I really like their suggestions on many things computer/software related, this is their top 2018 recommendations.

Parenting.com has ideas for how you can spy on your child as well as some texting abbreviations you should know.

Want to know where you child is? This is an app my son's friend's mom uses. I found out one day, because I texted her that I was on my way to her house to drop him off after a sleepover and she said, I know! And I was surprised to see a picture of a map, where I was and a photo of her child on the map in a little circle. It was so cute!

Want to know how to find out if your kids are sexting and more on Snap Chat, try Money.

Books to discover:

Screen-Smart Parenting

Some more selections...scroll to the bottom for 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Digital Read for the tech savvy parent: Why Are You Always On the Phone? A book which is supposed to help us understand so that we can talk about it with our kids.

Sites to visit:

Common Sense Media is a great site for help, resources and research. (Scroll to the bottom too)

Smart Social teaches parents a lot about social media and cell phone practices.

HOW OLD KIDS ARE WHEN THEY GET THEIR FIRST PHONE AROUND THE WORLD?

Back to School Anxiety: Bullying

Download “School Boy Being Stressed” by David Castillo Dominici via freedigitalphotos.net I recently wrote about how to help your child if they’re struggling with going back to school because they were bullied. My biggest most important tip was to listen, because I honestly could not write a ‘How-to-make-them-not-afraid’ column. Frankly I thought that was absurd. Fear is sometimes real. Anxiety is sometimes truly there, and for a good reason. Our job as parents isn’t to try to make it go away, it’s to try to find out the true source of those worrisome feelings. If you’d like to read more, click here. And if you’re child is struggling to find excitement about the new school year, don’t deny it, just accept it and move forward gently. Here’s some more on bullying: Family Matters Links: A Touching Story/Song Bullying: A thing of the past A Peace Poem By My Teenage Daughter A Deeper Insight into My Thoughts on People Who Bring Harm to Others Other Links: Stop Bul

6 Ways to Support Teens and Mental Health (Column Related)

Enjoying a trip to see family and exploring the outdoors. May was Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s over now, but it shouldn’t be. I’m not a medical professional or anything even close, but I am convinced that every person on the planet (no matter age, economic status, profession, race, or gender) is vulnerable to events that can alter their state of mind. If you’re not sure about this, just research the increase in the amount of people seeking psychological help due to the pandemic, then try getting an appointment with a therapist or counselor that doesn’t require weeks or months on a wait list. There are so many things damaging our mental health that we don’t even realize. Add underlying issues not yet detected and undiagnosed…it’s a bad situation made worse, and the need for support more urgent. Many teens are struggling with mental health issues right now and many of us don’t even know it. How could we? Not too many teens feel comfortable talking to adults about ‘their stuff’ a

Green Punch Buggy....!!!!

Green Punch Buggy...No Punch Back! As I was writing this blog post, my son came to me showing off his Lego creation. And don't you know I got hit at least five times since on my computer screen was displaying at least five different punch buggies, of five different colors thanks to Google Images. (Bad timing I'm thinking...) How can we possibly have world peace with these silly cars in the world!? ;) Don't the owners of these cute-but-obnoxious-cars understand that driving these things around town promotes violence!? ;) Anyhow.... The original purpose of this blog was to ask parents everywhere this question: Do you find yourself saying 'PUNCH BUGGY *BLANK-COLOR*! ' to yourself, even when the kids are not in the car??? I do! Isn't it funny how those games we used to play as a child are still around? I bet our parents say the same thing.... HAPPY FRIIIIIIDAAAAYYYY! P.S. I got hit at least ten more times, since as my son stood beside

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