The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Make time to chat offline with your teens about online safety. Did you know that spending 15 minutes a day listening and talking with your child can help build the foundation for a strong relationship? It can also provide support for your child to come to you with a problem, such as bullying or cyberbullying. It's true - we live in a fast paced society.  Most families either have both parents that are working or have a single parent household, so it can be difficult to even find 15 minutes of quiet time (time without interruption of digital devices) to have face-to-face conversations. This is why we often hear experts talk about side-by-side conversations - referring to chatting in the car.  Turn-off all gadgets, including the radio.  Chat on your way to their activities.  Talk to your child about their digital lives as frequently as you would ask how their day at school was.   Read more from my Family Online Safety Institute article .

As PEW Research study said that 92% of teens are online daily in their recent report , it also said 24% of teens admitting they are on constantly . It also gave us insight to their cell phone usage.  88% of teens now have or have access to smartphones or cell phones.  90% of them text on a regular basis with an average of 30 texts per day. With all this digital life, offline parenting is keep to helping teens make better online choices.   Recently Signe Whitson wrote an excellent piece in Huffington Post about how to help kids and teens use their smartphones safely and prevent cyberbullying. She offered ten strategies from having rules to netiquette.  Which is about your child's digital citizenship. In reality, we live in a society where a digital footprint can literally determine your future. Keystrokes and the way you use them matter. Read the entire article here .