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

Collaboration committed to educating kids, parents and teachers about responsible and safe Internet use Memphis, Tenn. and Palo Alto, Calif. – June 10, 2010 – Today, National PTA and Facebook announced a formal collaboration to promote responsible and safe Internet use to kids, parents and teachers. Together, National PTA and Facebook will establish a comprehensive program that will provide information, support and news to encourage citizenship online, reduce cyberbullying and advance Internet safety and security. The partnership is founded on the belief that awareness is essential to supporting safe and responsible Internet use. Thus, in addition to creating comprehensive and engaging resources, PTA and Facebook are committing to aggressively promoting Internet safety information to their respective audiences. National PTA will use its Website (www.pta.org), and actively reach out to the 24,000 local PTAs across the country with a goal of reaching every American public school. Fa...

If you don't receive Sue Blaney's 2 Minute Tips , you should subscribe. She always offers sound and reliable advice on raising our teens today. By Sue Blaney My tip this week is – Link Freedom and Responsibility - Listen now. I received a query from a mom of a teenager asking for my input on curfew times for her teen. New curfews and questions about updated rules are relevant now as a new school year begins. As they go up a grade teens may have expectations for additional freedom; and they will likely be making some new friends and opportunities for new social activities could be on the horizon. So let’s talk about curfews in the context of additional freedom for your teen in general. What kind of additional freedoms are appropriate as your teen grows? More on Link Freedom and Responsibility - 2 Min Tip #69

Criminal Activity: A Teenage Phase? Criminal Activity and Your Teen For many kids, adolescence is a trying phase of life. Body changes, school pressures, and personality changes can be very overwhelming to your teen when occurring all at once. Because of these pressures, adolescents can be more susceptible to things like peer pressure. Whether it’s out of a desire to fit in or stand out, your normally levelheaded teen can be easily pressured into committing dangerous and illegal acts they might never otherwise consider. Sometimes, these activities are relatively harmless, and can include things like dying their hair a bold color, or cutting a class or two. But often, many teens find the desire to fit in so strong they are willing to compromise their own morals to be part of the ‘in’ crowd. They may be more likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol, or commit other criminal activities, all for the sake of ‘fitting in’. Though there are many dangers your teen may encounter, this site de...

This article definitely reminds me of when I was raising my teenagers and struggled with their sleeping patterns. I think many parents will gain some valuable information from Sue Blaney (Author and Parenting Expert) as summer is here and schedules become more flexible, read more about the importance of sleep and your teen. June 10th, 2009 by Sue Blaney If your teenager is one of the few who actually gets the required nine hours of sleep, you can stop reading this now. For the rest of you, new research has highlighted some facts you need to know about. Lack of enough sleep in teens has been linked to an increase in signs of depression and thoughts about suicide as reported in a research study on 15,000 teenagers conducted through Columbia University. The study looked specifically at the bedtime parents impose on their teens… those who allow teens to stay up until midnight on a school night, vs parents who impose a 9pm or 10pm bedtime. The later bedtime is linked to teens with 25% more ...