So, one of the things that has always concerned me the most about parenting are the consequences of letting my kids be out in the world. And technology has made that even more concerning, especially in regard to sexting. Have you heard of it? Children take pictures of themselves and send them out into the world where they’re forwarded and passed on. Nothing ever dies on the internets, heroes.
Quite frequently, the pictures are pornographic. There have been cases of teens being charged with sex crimes because of it. If you have a child, you need to talk to them about this and make sure they know how serious it is. In the meantime, please take a look at this infographic on the subject, courtesy of the good people at BestCollegesOnline.com.
Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to warn their kids about sexting.
I as a father will never let my daughter text to someone they don’t know. Sometimes I inspect their phones for security and that is our agreement.
Pat we have the same agreement with our boys. It’s harder to enforce than you might think though, as they can delete texts. The best I can do is put limits on as much as possible, teach them what to do, and learn myself to trust them as they’re able to take on more responsibility. I can check the records and see who is sending texts when, but unless I want to pay out huge bucks for smart phones, I can’t see the texts if they are deleted. Did you pass notes in high school? Did you ever show them to your parents? I sure as heck didn’t.
We’re trying to balance well on this one, but only time will tell if we’ve gotten it right.