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

Especially at the holidays, teenagers can feel blue just like some adults.  Know how your kids are feeling.  What are their Facebook status saying? "Forgive me." "When will this end?" "I hate my life" RED FLAGS and parenting.  Know them! Facebook is the social hangout of the internet for all ages, but it is particularly true of teenagers. Teenagers often are much more open about what they are thinking and feeling in this cyber environment than most older adults. Since teens experience many emotional ups and downs, it can be easy to dismiss most of their dramatic postings as nothing more than normal teenage drama. However, there have been too many instances in recent years when parents had wished they’d paid more attention to what their teenager had posted as their ‘current status’. Here a few status updates parents should watch for and investigate further. I can’t take it anymore. Although, this could mean anything from homework overl...

Depression.  Obsession.  Addiction. Are these three adjectives that surround social networking ? Social networking is on the rise, a recently released  study from The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that 22 percent of teenagers log onto their favorite social media sites more than 10 times a day, and that 75 percent own cell phones. This level of engagement online increases the risks of cyberbullying, “ Facebook depression ” (a new phenomenon where “de-friending” and online bullying lead to symptoms of depression), exposure to inappropriate content, and sexting. What can parents do if they suspect their teen or child is heading down a dark road? Looking at Facebook to begin with, is your teen age appropriate?  You have to be at least 13 years-old to be a member. On Facebook's help center it clearly states:  Facebook requires individuals to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account.  Facebook even takes it a step fu...

Is your teenager sharing too much of their information online? In a recent survey on TeenVogue.com, 94 percent of readers polled said that teenagers should be more concerned about privacy on the Internet. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, has become a go-to site for college recruiters as well as employers .  Does your teen know the consequences of posting their party pictures, or language they should only be using privately (if using at all)? Do you recall a recent Examiner article, Employers now asking for your Facebook link when applying for a job ? Although it can be nearly impossible to control or monitor everything our teens do, it is imperative you stress the importance of the lasting effects that an innocent photo or a questionable action that is posted on your Facebook page can result in - years from now. Many kids are not able to grasp that two to five years from now is really not a long time.  Like many kids, it seems like forev...

Me, me, me! It's all about me!   Yes, Facebook college students and many others love promoting themselves virtually , however when does it cross the line into being narcissistic? A revealing new study out by the researcher, Mehdizadeh, showed a statistically significant correlation between narcissistic students, and the number of times Facebook was checked per day as well as the time spent on Facebook per session. Psych Central , Dr. John Grohol just published an article on the details of this research,  Narcissistic College Students Spend More Time on Facebook . Facebook is currently the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. More than 50% of Facebook’s active users log on to Facebook in any given day, while the average user has 130 social connections (what Facebook calls “friends”).  Since Facebook has expanded into Fan Groups, Charities and much more, there are more users and more reasons to sign up for Facebook. Having self-est...

As the World Wide Web grows at an ever expanding pace, it is up to us to keep up with the changes as well as keep our lives safe virtually. Being virtually safe can literally lead to being physically safe . Chat rooms are dangerous places for adult, not to mention children. Meeting people online can be fun, but it can also be misleading. Keep in mind when online the following tips, consider it Social Networking 101 crash course . Use privacy settings. This is a no-brainer. Keep the strangers out of your profiles and photos. Don't make yourself an easy target for predators and for bullying. Check your privacy settings weekly to be sure they haven't changed. Think before you post. In the same respect, think before you hit send. Imagine a teacher, a parent, a family member, college admissions, potential employer seeing this post and consider whether it is appropriate or not. Trust your gut. If someone is bothering you, block them. If you have suspici...

As today's generation is definitely the surf the waves of cyberspace, where do we draw the line? Should teachers befriend their students? Should student befriend their teachers? With the growth of Facebook while MySpace is still alive more and more people are signing up for social networking. Whether you Twitter or Facebook, chances are you will run into your kids and your kids may run into their teachers - virtually speaking. As parents should be the monitor for their child's online safety; Should the teacher be part of their off-line - off-campus life? Although there may be some teachers that are comfortable with befriending their students, many would prefer to keep their private lives just that - private. Teachers, as well as many others that either own a business or are employed, like to keep their business lives separate. However there are many that prefer the mix. Depending on your personal comfort level, you will know where you fit in. Learning to respect each ...

Part 1 of a 5 part series for a "virtual make-over" in 2010! As quickly as the holiday's have come upon us, New Year's is literally weeks away. What will your resolution be as a parent? Parenting teens today is extremely challenging. With all the technology, cell phones, i-Phones, i-Pods, and much more, how can parents keep up? As many times as we hear we need to be ten steps ahead of our kids technically, it seems almost impossible. Here is part one of a five part series. As a parent you need to consider this New Year's resolution and take the time to make a difference in your child's life - technically speaking right now. "Time" is the key word, and you never know what you will learn from your child in this process. This is a resolution every parent needs to consider, and honestly can't afford to ignore in today's hi-tech society. Part 1 - Sit down with your child, and especially those with teens, and review each others social ...

Today part of parenting is learning about all the technology our kids are using. This is not an easy task and for many of us that didn't grow up in "cyberspace" it can be daunting. Recently I posted an article for parents, Social web tips for parents , today take the time to read, print out, and discuss these tips with your teen. Tips from Connect Safely : Be nice online. Or at least treat people the way you’d want to be treated. People who are nasty and aggressive online are at greater risk of being bullied or harassed themselves. If someone's mean to you, try to ignore them - often that makes them stop. Use privacy tools to block them from viewing your full profile and contacting you. Think about what you post. Sharing provocative photos or intimate details online, even in private emails, can cause you problems later on. Even people you consider friends can use this info against you, especially if they become ex-friends. Passwords are private. Don't share you...

Sarah Newton's Blog and Podcasts at Gen Y Guide has some great parenting information for parents today and the technology our kids are using! We need to try to stay ahead of our kids - it is summer - check this Blog out - I am sure many can relate! Sick of your child sitting in front of the computer all day ? By: Carol McNaughton via Sarah Newton (check out the Gen Y Website!) Let’s face it, there is always plenty to do during the summer holidays. That isn’t the challenge. It is finding something our kids, especially teens, would rather do than sitting in front of the computer. When every suggestion is met with, “Boring!” what can a parent do? With two teens and a nine year old at home I know exactly where you are coming from and how difficult this can be. Is there a solution? Definitely! Let’s take a quick look at our children’s generation, Generation Y or The Milleniums, to see who and what we are dealing with. Research has shown that Gen Y are: • Technologically brilliant • Mo...

By Sue Scheff In today's society, the Internet has made its way into almost every American home. It is a well-known fact that the web is a valuable asset for research and learning. Unfortunately, it can also be a very dangerous place for teens. With social networking sites like Myspace and Friendster, chat rooms, instant messaging, and online role-playing video games, our children are at access to almost anyone. Sue Scheff , along with Parent's Universal Resource Experts ™, is tackling the dangers of the web. Keeping tabs on our teens' online habits doesn't just keep them safe from online predators. More and more parents are becoming wary of the excessive hours their teens spend surfing the web, withdrawing from family, friends and activities they used to enjoy. Internet Addiction is a devastating problem facing far too many teens and their families. While medical professionals have done limited research on the topic, more and more are recognizing this destructive behav...

Source: Examiner By Heather Marlman As more and more teenagers are taking part in social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace, it’s becoming more and more important for parents to take an active role in helping to protect their teens online reputation. There are steps that all parents can take to make sure their teenager is playing things smart when they go online both in the text and photos that they post on these social profiles. By taking an active role parents can be certain that the online reputation of their teenager isn’t tarnished. Talk to your teen This is a good time to have a conversation with your teenager about their online “image”. Most teenagers are fairly self conscious about their reputation among their peers, however many of them fail to recognize that what may bee seen as cool or funny to their friends is viewed as suggestive or irresponsible to other adults. Remind them that a growing number of college admissions staff and employers are looking at the online p...

Tangerine Times is a great website of articles and insights on parenting! It is definitely one of my favorites. What do teens want???? Can we as parents ever win? Since my kids are young adults now I can say, yes, eventually it does get easier. Patience..... Source: Tangerine Times For parents of teens, it’s an everyday experience to see the rapidly evolving use of technology by teenagers. The shifting can happen whether there is a new, hot product out our not. Many times it is simply teens finding a new application or use for an existing product or service. Marketing firms are scrambling to pin-down this potentially huge market but it’s like hitting a moving target. Well… now you know how it feels to PARENT a teenager!! Tina Wells, chief executive of Buzz Marketing Group, says: “Technology is starting to define what’s cool in a way that fashion used to define what’s cool.” For teens, “as long as it’s technology, it’s what’s hot”. Translation: the geek is not necessarily the un -coo...

Unique Blog Helps Parents Connect with Their Teens through Pop Culture and Technology By: Jennifer Wagner Connect with Our Teens Through Pop Culture and Technology Connect with your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology created a unique blog niche that did not yet exist by combining a parenting teens blog with a keeping up with pop culture and technology blog. There are many blogs on the Internet that offer advice to parents on dealing with their teenagers. There are even more blogs on the topics of pop culture, entertainment or technology. However, until recently there have not been any that combine them together to offer parents a fun way of bonding with their teens. Connect with your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology has created a unique blog niche that did not yet exist. Where can parents find the answers to these questions and more? What is the best television show to watch with my teenagers? Are there any new book series that can fill the void left by the end of Harr...

Great article for all parents with teens/tween on social networking sites. Source: The Vancouver Sun Deciding when to be a cyber-parent Finding out what your kids are up to in cyberspace can be touchy, but experts say parents must try Julianne Doctor doesn't bother sneaking around cyberspace to see what her teenage daughter Hayley is doing. Instead, in the cyber-parenting version of having all the kids welcome to hang out in your rec room, Doctor wanders in and out of her daughter's cyberspaces and knows who she is hanging around with and what they're up to. At a time when the first reaction of adults to this week's story about the Facebook "hit list" is to unplug the modem, or at the very least rush off to buy the latest cyber-sleuthing software for parents, Doctor's approach probably isn't the norm. In a week when news broke of a Templeton high school student accused of having a Facebook hit list naming 117 people, I've heard of a worried mother...

Vanessa Van Petten is always keeping parents up to date through her valuable website called OnTeensToday . I love getting her latest articles, they always educate us as to what our kids may be going through in today’s generation of life as they live it. Here is this week’s blast of news for you - and the topic is one that every parent needs to take the time to learn about. Digital Kids! 5 Code Cracking Perspectives on Digital Kids I post a lot about kids online and Growing Up On line Series. Recently, after going on my media tour with Symantec on their new Parental Control Software , my mind was opened to a bunch of new issues and their solutions…please read on: 1) Curiosity vs. Obsession Many parents have found their kids on a porn website and pro-anorexia site and has freaked out. Before breaking out the handcuffs and throwing the computer out the window, I think there needs to be a distinction between what is simple adolescent curiosity and what is a real problem. I am just going t...

Today more and more teens are joining Facebook as well as the other Social Network - however Facebook seems to be growing. Why? I honestly don’t know, but I do know parents are enjoying Facebook as much as many kids are. Recently I stumbled over an article on Tangerine Times written by a parent helping us navigate our way through the Social Cyberspace. This topic is critical - as keeping your child’s privacy is important for many reasons. Help your kids stay safe with Social Networking - read this valuable article. Source: Tangerine Times How to Help Your Teen Use Privacy Settings on Facebook Many parents tell me they are frustrated with their teens’ use of Facebook. Here are some of the comments I hear frequently from parents: “They know more than I do about how to use it and set it up, so how can I control it?” “My kids are using it when I am not around, so how can I possibly know what they are doing, who they are talking to and if they are being safe with their information?” “I fe...

The news today? Teens floating photo's of themselves in their birthday suits, well, more or less. It seems more and more teens are not thinking about the consequences of sending questionable photos through email, texting, social networks etc. Parents need to explain to their child that placing such pictures may potentially cause them "not" to be accepted at a college or not get a job. More and more college admissions offices and potential employee's are Surfing the Net to find out more information on applicants. What you post today, may haunt you tomorrow! With all the discussions around the nude pictures - it brings up another concern - does this mean your teen is being recognized as a sex object? Does it say he or she is "easy"? Many people will ask, "where are the parents?", however it is almost impossible to monitor your teen 24/7, especially Online. As parents and adults everywhere, we need to tell our kids how this can harm them in the futur...