Advice and resources to help parents meet the challenges
of raising and protecting children in a dangerous world.
By Steve Cross
It's the Wild West on the Internet, and as a parent you are responsible for keeping your kids safe “out there.” Scammers, sexual predators, cyber bullies, and every type of hack are lurking on the Internet, in a very real sense.
If you are the parent of a girl, you probably think about what name she is using in chat rooms and for instant messaging (IM), and you are wise to be concerned. How can you protect your daughter if you are unaware what web sites she visits, what chat rooms, who she chats with ... Read More >
By Steve Cross
As a parent, you’d probably rather not leave your kids home alone, but when both parents are working, there are times when it can’t be avoided. In a hectic household, work, school, extra-curricular activities, daycare, occasional babysitting problems, and the “unexpected” all conspire to upset schedules and make leaving the kids on their own the only option you’ve got. Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can take to both protect your kids and give them guidance — even when you can’t be there ... Read More >
By Brad Peppard
Do you know your daughter’s name?
Do you know how old she is?
Of course you do. But on the Internet, things are not always as obvious as they might seem. Identities become “mutable,” and reality can be distorted – sometimes for fun, sometimes for more sinister reasons.
As the father of three teenage daughters, I certainly thought I knew my daughter’s names and ages. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that my youngest daughter was actually named “sexyblonde18” — as in sexyblonde18 ... Read More >
By Gregg Turner
We all cringe when we hear that an Amber Alert has been issued, knowing that a child has been abducted and could easily become another painful statistic, a victim of some deranged, deadly predator. The sexual abuse and killing of a child is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and despite preventative efforts by law enforcement, vulnerable and defenseless children remain easy targets for the sexual predator ... Read More >
By Martin Ledbetter
Talking to your kids, especially teens, can be frustrating and emotionally draining, but you know you’ve still got to do it. There are no pat solutions or formulas for success, and each encounter has its own unique “challenges.” Before you attempt your next adventure in cross-generational communication, consider the suggestions below ... Read More >
By Steve Cross
A man named Bill Belsey is generally credited with coining the term “Cyberbullying.” Here’s how he defines it on his web site (www.cyberbullying.org): “Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and page text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal web sites, and defamatory online personal polling web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others” ... Read More >
By Anh Vazquez
As we drop our children at their classrooms, or watch them hop on the bus, or out of our minivans, thoughts race through our minds… will they eat a healthy lunch, did we spend enough time on their homework… are they making friends.. are we budgeting/saving enough for their future education… and so on. A recent survey from Little Grad, the Saving for College company, asked parents about the things that stress them out at back to school time ... Read More >
By Gregory Keer
Benjamin loved his school. He loved his teachers, friends, math challenges, science lab, and reading groups. He loved soccer at PE and student council with the older kids.
So, we ripped him from everything he loved to put him elsewhere for third grade.
We struggled to avoid this decision for years ... Read More >
By Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman
“What did you learn in school today?”
“Nothing.”
“Anything interesting happen?”
“Nope.”
“Did you like it?”
“It was OK.”
Does getting your kids to offer information about school seem more difficult than pulling teeth? Do you ever feel like a lawyer cross examining your child in an attempt to find out what's really happening ... Read More >
By Dr. Michele Borba
Half of American kids surveyed the past six months said they or someone they knew have been victimized on the Internet.
Mom and Dad, wake up: If you assume your child is using that fancy home computer to stimulate his brain, think again. The hottest new trend has kids using those keyboards to send vile, hateful and highly slanderous messages about their peers through the Internet. Once confined to playgrounds, bullying has hit cyberspace, cell phones and pagers, and it’s both serious and sophisticated ... Read More >