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

October is National Cyber Safety Awareness Month. It is a perfect time to review some great tips for parents, teens, kids, small business owners and everyone. The Internet today is our new information highway. It is important that we are educated on the power of the Internet as well as the pitfalls of it. The World Wide Web has been considered an educational tool, however like with many things in life; there can be a dark side. Take the time to become aware of tips to keep you and your family safe in cyberspace. I will be bringing tips through this month from different sources; all are targeted to helping you be more secure while online. Here is some advice from Nurse Practitioner Schools : Internet Things Your Child Should Never Know Strangers online are okay. Remind them that a stranger on the internet should be treated like a stranger in real life. If ignoring them doesn’t work, they should tell a parent. Check out NetSmartz for more. Posting a picture is okay in certain situatio...

Vanessa Van Petten continues to bring valuable information for parents with today’s teens. This week she has dedicated to helping prevent cyberbullying. Partners for CyberBully Awareness Campaign : Thank you to everyone who is already offered to join and spread the word about our anti-cyberbullying campaign here at On Teens Today : Angeline of MomStyleNews Vivien Bruss of Cool Moms Rule Brenda Preston of Safewave Sue Scheff of Help Your Teens Myrna of TangerineTimes.com Tara Paterson of the Mom’s Choice Awards and Just for Mom Karen Pease

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 behavior and even mor...

Source: Internet Law Business Services Bullying and, in particular, cyber-bullying is becoming a frequent practice among the American youth. Incidents are reaching such daunting results that state legislatures are rapidly adopting measures. For instance, Florida Legislature adopted an anti-bullying, including cyber-bullying, law on April 2008. The law is called "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act" (Fla. Stat. section 1006.147), named after Jeffrey Johnston, a 15-year-old boy who committed suicide after being the object of bullying, including Internet bullying, for two years. This new Florida law prohibits bullying and harassment of any public K-12 student or employee, and requires public schools to adopt measures to protect students and employees from the physical and psychological effects of bullying and harassment. The Florida Senate, quoting to a report by SafeYouth.org, stated that "bullying behavior can involve direct attacks, such as hitting, threatenin...

By Connect with Kids “All of these kinds of social worlds helps develop their ability to interact with people, and particularly, to do things like post a comment that might be a little controversial for example, and see what kind of reactions they get.” – Larry Rosen, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology Like many teens, Matt has tons of friends online. “My buddy list is full. It over 200 people in there. And it’s just all these people that have the same interests as me that I would have never met, if I just, you know, that don’t go to my school. They’re just around the country.” According to a recent online survey, one in four kids say their internet friendships are equally or more important than friends met in person. “Yeah, I mean, like. Cause of the internet, I’ve, you know, that’s where I found my social group, and I really kinda found out about myself,” agrees Matt. But are these relationships healthy? Experts say, on one hand, they give kids an opportunity to try out different person...