Talk to Them

…parents are the number one influence in a teen’s life?

…when you teach your child about the facts of life, that child is less likely to become sexually active as a teenager?

…one third of teens say that they have never had a meaningful conversation with their parents about sex?

You CAN influence your child’s life, and the sooner you start talking with your child, the better chance there is that your child will live up to the standards you set. It is never too soon to start teaching your child about respect, love, and friendship.

With incidents of STI/STDs (sexually transmitted infections/sexually transmitted diseases) on the rise, and teen pregnancy a very real problem, it is important that you use your influence as a directing force in your child’s life to help him or her make good decisions about sex. Get informed about what your child faces. Because if your child isn’t learning about sex from you, you can be sure that someone else will be happy to do the teaching.

Kids who are NEW to the internet

The vulnerability level of youth who are new to the internet is extremely high. Their gauge on how things operate is likely very vague and dangerously misconstrued. Youth, at firsthand, may not think that people online lie. They can have a sense that everything online is true and without fault. Another serious boundary that they may cross is the injection of personal information on the internet. They may not know what and what not to share on the internet. And if they find out that they shared too much information or may have done something wrong, it is possible that they will try to hide their online mistakes.

For more reasons than one, this proves that knowledge and proper use of the internet needs to be understood by parents first. By doing this, it will eliminate the possibility of some threat, harm, or circumstance that it would have created. The internet is a powerful tool that can be used to further educate, teach, and shed light on topics that many have not gotten the chance to see or study. But in the wrong hands, the same tool can be formed into a weapon. Let’s work together to use this tool to help our future generations to stay safe from internet threats.

Online Learning

Teens are searching for answers daily so that they can continue to grow. When the information they are seeking is not available, they go to what they know to use and often times it’s the internet. We currently live in the “Google It” age. When someone doesn’t know the answer to a question they are quick to pull out their phones and look for the answer. The same is true, if not more, for our youth.

Research shows that adolescents believe that the education they are getting from school is insufficient on the topic of sex education. Along with this, they often feel that their parents are unwilling to answer questions and give more insight on sex. This pushes them to turn to the internet. Teens going to the internet with questions about sexual activity is a very dangerous problem. We know that the media portrays sex and things of similar topics in a way that is not approving. So then educating our children would be a step in the wrong direction. Things like “Teen Vogue” teaches our kids to have a perspective of sex that is improper. This is why talking to our kids is so critically important. If we teach our children the correct viewpoint of what sex is, we can keep them safe from making choices that could cost them their future.

Flirting With Technology

Nobody knew that texting, social media, and other media interactions would result in misconduct. More and more cases are being found on how social media and texting are allowing inappropriate communication between teens. When emoji’s were introduced, they were harmless faces and objects that didn’t seem to cause any problems. Nowadays youth are using certain emoji’s to communicate inappropriate messages. Flirting can now occur more prominently on the internet. Because of this new sort of communication with emojis, in particular, a simple smiley face can be taken out of context. This generation has developed a culture in which technology is being used in a way in which it has never been used before. And because these things have never happened before, parents will need to implement new standards for monitoring internet and social media use. By staying a step ahead, parents have a better chance of maintaining healthy use of technology.