Your Teen Magazine

Parenting teenagers today is challenging, but there is a perfect magazine and website that can help you learn more about today's teens and what is trending.

• Social media
• Dating
• Peer pressure
• School
• Colleges
• Driving
• Friends
• Technology
• Sex
•  and much more!

Order your subscription today!  Visit YourTeenMag.com

Give the Gift of Digital Literacy: Be Cyberwise

50% OFF! Last Minute Gift for Parents, Seniors, Teachers and more

Give the gift of Digital Learning with CyberWiseCert.com. Do you or your friends want to learn how to become more adept at using Social Media and digital tools? Wish your school, parent, grandparent or colleague would become more digitally literate?

Give the gift of Digital Learning: CyberWiseCert.com

Learn more at www.cyberwise.org.  

Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween

By Melissa Wardy

Containing practical, specific parenting advice; strategies for effecting change with educators, store managers, corporations, and more; and tips for challenging and changing the media, this essential guide gives parents the tools they need to fight back against the modern stereotyping and sexualization of young girls.

Activist Melissa Wardy shares tangible advice for getting young girls to start thinking critically about sexed-up toys and clothes while also talking to girls about body image issues. She provides tips for creating a home full of diverse, inspiring toys and media free of gender stereotypes, using consumer power to fight companies that make such major missteps, and taking the reins to limit, challenge, and change the harmful media and products bombarding girls.  

Redefining Girly provides specific parenting strategies, templates, and sample conversations and includes letters from some of the leading experts in education, psychology, child development, and girls’ advocacy.

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Stress Free Kids: A Parent's Guide to Helping Build Self-Esteem, Manage Stress, and Reduce Anxiety in Children

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By Lori Lite

Stress management solutions for you and your children!

Kids today are more stressed, overwhelmed, and struggling with anxiety than ever before. Children are not born with the coping strategies needed to navigate today's increasing demands of technology, bullying, academics, and family dynamics. You yourself might wonder how your own stressed-out lifestyle is affecting your children. Based on Lori Lite's award-winning series, Stress Free Kids provides relaxation techniques you can use to free your child from stress.

Lite shows you how to apply breathing, visualizations, affirmations, and muscle relaxation exercises effortlessly throughout the day. These parenting solutions to everyday stressors will reduce worries and anxiety while increasing self-esteem. You and your children will gain freedom as you live a more joy-filled life with less stress.

With this complete resource as your guide, your family will create your own collection of stress-free moments that add up to peace and confidence--for you and your children.

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Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral

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By Justin Patchin and Sameer Hinduja

"Just when you think no one understands, someone does. Words Wounds will open dialogue across the country and the world! Drs. Justin Patchin and Sameer Hinduja share their years of experience and research of the depths of cyberbullying, to give you concrete solutions and tools to navigate today's digital society. Every parent needs to purchase this book for their pre-teen and teen today. Especially in today's society, we need to equip our children with the knowledge and resources they need to combat the underbelly of the cyberspace. Words Wound offers teens helping teens and sound advice and information that other teens will relate to." 

- Sue Scheff, Parent and Cyber-Advocate

Cyberbullying happens every day. Harsh words and damaging photos exchanged through texts, email, or social media can result in humiliation, broken friendships, punishment at school, and even legal prosecution.

In some cases, online harassment has contributed to teen suicide. Faced with this frightening problem, parents, educators, and teens are looking for information and advice. Many books have been written for adults about what cyberbullying is and what to do about it, but nothing has been written specifically for teens to help them to protect themselves and their peers.

Written by the foremost experts in cyberbullying prevention and reviewed by teens, this book provides practical strategies for those who are being cyberbullied, seeing cyberbullying, or who just want to do something to help make their schools a safer and more respectful place. The book includes dozens of real-life stories from those who have experienced cyberbullying, including many who have risen above it to make a positive difference in their schools.

In short, "Words Wound" helps students to be the primary agents of change to "delete cyberbullying and make kindness go viral." Are you ready to join the movement?

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Please Love Me (A look into teen suicide)

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By Penelope Przekop

For as long as she can remember, 17-year-old Peyton Bound has struggled to remain strong despite being lost in the whirlwind of her emotionally disturbed mother’s life … then she finds Matthew Adler at a frat party. He’s the first boy who kisses her with open eyes; Peyton finally sees herself in their sparkling reflection.

She’s sure that her fairytale moment has finally arrived, the day when everything will magically fall into place, and the burdens of her disturbing childhood will begin to lift. But when everything goes wrong, Peyton can no longer run from the truth about herself. Something is missing, and no one can save her.

Artist and writer Penelope Przekop grew up in Louisiana during the 1970s and 80s. Despite fictional elements, Please Love Me is her memoir; she is Peyton Bound, a character she created as a young adult to understand how she fell into a destructive relationship that led to a suicide attempt, and violent public cry for help.

As she wrote the book, she realized it was about much more than first love gone wrong. It was about her dysfunctional childhood, her mentally ill mother, and her desperation to break free. Please Love Me gives a raw voice to some of the deepest issues contributing to teenage suicide. It is an honest look into the human spirit's need for love and truth in a world full of craziness, and just how far some will go to find it.

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Learn more here.

'The Little Dudes' Skool Survival Guide

By H.G. Sansostri

This book is 'The Anti-bullying Guide' that manages to deliver a witty, sarcastic and sensitive read, on how to deal with 'Your Bullies' it is also written by a child.

It's realistic and full of wisdom, considering the authors age (only 11 years-old).

The two book stars 'Billy and Ethan' bring the book to life with their different scenarios of 'Skool' life, that makes you feel you are there with them.

Billy and Ethan are two delicious characters who make you want to meet and know them again and again, they try their very, very best to get their message across on how to deal with 'YOUR BULLIES'.

Order today on Amazon.

Visit http://www.hgsansostri.com/ for more information on this amazing author and his book!

Privacy and Security on Facebook

Source: BestComputerScienceSchools.net

According to an early 2013 report from ComScore.com, Facebook still maintains the lead for American user engagement for a single web site — averaging a minute short of 6.75 hours per user in the month of Mar 2013. While this number is a decline from the same period in 2012 (with an average of nearly 7.25 hours per user), it’s obvious that American Facebook users spend a considerable amount of time on the site — more than any other social media site — revealing facts both mundane and interesting about their lives — facts that might be of interest to other people and companies, including those with ill intent.

In fact, according to a study by Alessandro Acquisti discussed in a TED Talk, American employers often judge job candidates who post to social media more harshly than equally skilled candidates who did not post — regardless of whether posts were negative or positive or not even relevant to the potential employer. How potential employers find your Facebook information about you is beyond  the scope of this article, but we do cover some relevant security and privacy statistics and offer some tips to guard yourself.

The Facebook Facts
Please note: All statistics below refer to U.S. Facebook users unless specifically indicated.

• 1.26 — Number in billions of monthly active worldwide Facebook users  (as of  Oct 2013).
• 83 — Number in millions of fake profiles (worldwide; as of late Jun 2013).
• 7.5 — Approximate percentage of fake profiles (worldwide).
• 128 — Number in millions of daily active Facebook users (mid Aug 2013)
• 6 3/4 hours — Approximate average amount of time Facebook users spent on the site in Mar 2013.
• 101 — Approximate number in millions of Facebook users on mobile devices (app and mobile web browsers).
• 128 — Approximate total number in millions of Facebook users on both desktop computers and mobile devices.
• 78 — Approximate percentage of Facebook users who access the site on a mobile device.
• 76 — Percentage of smartphone market that Facebook reaches with their app (primarily) or via mobile web browsers.
• 23 — Percentage of time spent on mobile apps that is attributed to Facebook use.
• 303 — Approximate number of “friends” a Facebook user (12+ years old; worldwide) has in their network. This number varies significantly by age group. Research estimates have suggested numbers of 500+ for Facebook users in the 12-24 age range, but much less (low hundreds) for those in older age ranges.
• 245 — The average number of friends that U.S. users have in their Facebook network, according to a Pew Research study in early 2012.
• 600 — The approximate number of people that the average person knows overall (Facebook or otherwise), according to a New York Times report in early 2013. Note that other studies suggest a figure of 290.
• 25 — Percentage of Facebook users (worldwide) who do not look at or ignore their Facebook privacy settings (according to a 2012 Velocity Digital report).
• 71 — The number of countries whose individual governments made requests for user data to Facebook in the first six months of 2013.
• 25.6 — The approximate total number in thousands (actual: 25,607) of requests for data made to Facebook by various world governments in that six-month period.
• 11 — The number in thousands of data requests (minimum) that were made just by the U.S. government.  (U.S. data is reported as a range: 11,000-12,000.)
• 43 — The approximate percentage (actual: 42.96) of all data requests made just by the U.S. government.
• 38 — The approximate total number in thousands (actual: 37,954) of Facebook user accounts covered in those requests by all governments.
• 20 — The number in thousands of Facebook account data requests (minimum) made just by the U.S. government.  (U.S. data is reported as a range: 20,000-21,000.)
• 53 — The approximate percentage (actual: 52.70) of total account data requests made just by the U.S. government.
• 2.5 — Number in billions of photos uploaded to Facebook in a single month in 2010
• 30 — Percentage of photos in a study by Alessandro Aquisti in 2010 (taken of students on a college campus) that were identifiable by off-the-shelf facial recognition software. (Using data mining techniques, the researchers were also able to determine part of identified students’ Social Security numbers.)
• 10 — Percentage of anonymous online dating profiles identified via facial recognition software in another study by Aquisti.
• 43 — Percentage of employers (in a study of 2,100 hiring managers) who did not hire a job candidate after researching the latter’s social media profile.
• 600 — Number in thousands of Facebook logins (worldwide) that are compromised daily (late Oct 2011).
• 25 — Percentage of consumers whose online data has been breached who later become a victim of identity fraud.
• 2.78 — Percentage of homes in the U.S. (1 in 36) that will likely be burgled in 2013, according to an FBI 2012 crime report — with or without the help of social media tracking.
• 1,657 — Average loss in dollars per break-in.
• 25 — Percentage of teens who claim to have been stalked on Facebook.
• 55 — Percentage of teens who have given out personal info to strangers on Facebook.
• 24 — Percentage of teens who have had compromising information made public without their permission.
• 2.5 — Number of billions of new daily Facebook posts (worldwide).
• 67 — Percentage of teen users who know how to hide their online activity from parents.
• 10 — Percentage of children worldwide who experience cyberbullying.
• 52 — Percentage of teens not telling parents about being cyberbullied.
• 34 — Percentage of parents who check their children’s social network sites.

Top Five World Governments Requesting Facebook User Data
The following five countries made the most requests to Facebook in the first six months of 2013. (Note: United States data is reported in ranges. In the table below, only the minimum value of U.S. ranges is reported.)

Country	Minimum Requests	Minimum Accts Requested
United States	11000	20000
India	3245	4144
United Kingdom	1975	2337
Germany	1886	2068
Italy	1705	2306

6 Threats to Your Privacy and Security
Using Facebook incorrectly can expose you to a number of threats. Here’s an incomplete list:

1. Bullying — You think that your kids are safe at home from bullies? Unfortunately not, and some reports suggest that cyberbullied kids are 2-9 times more likely to commit suicide.
2. Stalking — Let’s face it; there are lots of creeps out there and one of them may be  stalking you or your children — which is made easier by the fact that more than half of teens give up personal info to strangers on Facebook.
3. Burglary — While the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics suggests home burglaries have declined since the 1970s, while make their efforts easier? Some burglars do monitor social media to determine which homes will be unoccupied for a long enough period for them to get what they want. Sometimes they do this by hacking accounts; other times they simple make friend requests to people who don’t know them. From there, it could be a simple matter of monitoring posts for location data and extended and absence.
4. Identity theft — Are you revealing too much info in your Facebook profile? Potential victimizers can combine your Facebook profile info with your other social media profiles to get the data they need. Note that identity theft can happen to your children, too, and this might not be noticed until they’re 18 or older.
5. Career compromise  – Given two equally qualified candidates, new research shows that if a potential employer checks social media profiles, they tend to have a bias against those who post anything to social media – regardless of the topic or tone; even worse if you say something compromising or have photos of questionable behavior. This may not be surprising given that while most U.S. universities and charities are on Facebook, the percentage of Fortune 500 companies with a Facebook page is considerably less (60% as of Jan 2012).
6. Reputation damage — It might only take one tagged picture of you cutting loose, doing something one time that you wouldn’t normally do. If an acquaintance not in your Facebook network posts the picture, you might not even know about it — a potential problem if they’ve identified you in text.

Privacy and Security Features
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — who in late 2013 spent an extra $30M buying four extra nearby homes to maintain his real-life privacy — has in the past openly indicated that “privacy is over” and that if he were starting Facebook anew that user information would be public by default. That was nearly three years ago and the company doesn’t seem to have swayed much from that goal. He has also made comments suggesting that Facebook users don’t care about privacy.  Despite this attitude, there are legitimate reasons to maintain your privacy on Facebook and there are ways to do so.
This is not a comprehensive list, but possibly two of the most under-utilized features are “private profile” and friend lists. New Facebook accounts used to be private by default but have since switched to public by default. You need to manually change that setting. As for friend lists, they’re the digital equivalent of social circles. Friends can fall into multiple lists or just one.
15 Things You Should Do To Maintain Privacy on Facebook
According to various reports, teens and adults are being turned down for work due to certain things they’ve posted on their social profiles. To see how potentially embarrassing indiscriminate posting can be, visit weknowwhatyouredoing.com.
Younger children are at risk, too, given the growing number of underage Facebook users. According to figures by the Crimes Against Children Research Center, children in the 10-13 age range are at most risk from online predators — that age group makes for 22% of targets.
Here are some tips for maintaining your privacy and keeping your profile socially acceptable, as well as for protecting your children if they use Facebook.

1. Review your Facebook profile information to make sure that if you do have email addresses, employment history and phone numbers listed, that the information is only accessible by friends. Keep in mind that Facebook had a bug in June 2013 that caused the leak of email addresses and/or phone numbers of 6M users — not a large percentage of all users, but enough to potentially cause problems for those compromised. (If you have specific need to prevent someone from finding you, use an alias in your profile — and don’t post any photos of people associated with you. Better still, use a social media service that’s truly private.)
2. Create friend lists. Name them according to social circles such as family, friends, friends of friends, colleagues, college-chums, teammates, etc. Put everyone in your network on one or more lists. Every time you add someone, assign them to one or more lists. Hide your friend lists to protect your friends, so that strangers cannot see to whom you are connected.
3. When you post, use friend lists to control who sees your information. Set a default setting (e.g., Friends or Friends of Friends). If you want, you can change the viewability setting for a specific post either before (best practice) or after posting.
4. Pay careful attention not only to what you are revealing about yourself in something you are about to post, but also look at the icon indicating who can see the post once it’s published. If you see a “globe” icon, that means your post will be public. Make a habit of checking this before posting.
5. Review your recent posts and consider removing personal details in case you’ve over-shared.
6. Make sure that your location is not being broadcast. This is especially important if you’re using Facebook on a mobile device. Turn off the location feature.
7. If you use Facebook for work purposes, split your posts between your personal profile only available to friends and a “Personality/ Business” Page accessible publicly.
8. Review your friends’ posts if they tag you. Review your comments on friends posts that might be controversial, in case they change their post’s status to Public. Cover your bases by using Google Alerts [http://www.google.com/alerts] to get email updates for your Facebook profile name, and then take action if necessary.
9. Even if you keep your Facebook profile private, if you are using Facebook on a mobile device, be absolutely sure that you are using legitimate wi-fi networks and not “honey pots”. If you get on such a network by accident, change your password immediately. If your Facebook profile includes your email address, change your email password.
10. Change your password regularly — once a month or more often — and don’t repeat any previous password for at least a few months — preferably never.
11. Use different passwords for different websites and services. Try not to reuse your Facebook password anywhere else — especially for email addresses listed in your Facebook profile.
12. Pay attention to any privacy setting changes that Facebook announces. You never know when they will affect you or your children.
13. Make sure your profile name is unique. If there are other people with the same name as you, don’t take chances that your profiles might be confused by someone.
14. Check your overall privacy settings on the Facebook Privacy Settings and Tools web page [https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy].
15. Check the settings on your photo albums. Each album and photo can have custom settings.

Check the Facebook Privacy page [https://www.facebook.com/help/445588775451827] for more details on privacy settings.
6 Additional Tips For Protecting Your Children
If you think your child will not join Facebook until they’re older, consider that an Oct 2013 study by Commonsense Media shows that 38% of children under 2 have used a mobile device (smartphone or tablet). By the age of 8, that number jumps to 72%. Kids are comfortable with mobile devices, so the chances of them joining a social media site such as Facebook as a mobile user increases. When you then consider that, as mentioned above, 10-13 year-olds make up 22% of the targets of online predators, and that there are millions of underage users, it’s better to guide your children into proper use of Facebook and other social media than to hope they’ll “be good” and not use such services.
In addition to the general tips above, here are some additional tips for protecting your Facebook-using children.

1. If your children are not on Facebook, agree to show them how at an agreed-upon age. Let them know early on what you will expect from them in terms of usage behavior. Better you introduce them and know they’re more likely to trust you as a “friend” if you teach them early and trust them.
2. Implement usage schedules and rules for your children. E.g., can only post to Facebook between 7pm-9pm, from home, when a parent is home to monitor, if necessary.
3. Discuss privacy and security with your kids and make sure that they understand what dangers lurk online. With underage Facebook profiles increasing in number, have this discussion as soon as possible.
4. Require at least your under-age children to friend you (possibly using a joint family profile that one or more adults can use to monitor posts.) If you are not on Facebook and your children are, that’s a very good idea to join. Just don’t embarrass your kids with awkward comments on all of their posts.
5. Review recent posts by your children and teach them to understand what is acceptable and what is not. Ask them to edit out any personal info as necessary. E.g., they may not realize they’re revealing too much when they post about an upcoming family vacation and how long you’ll be away.
6. Ask your children to regularly submit a list of Facebook groups they’d like to join so you can review the groups.

Also make sure that your children are not doing any of the things in the following list.

10 Things You Shouldn’t Do on Facebook
It can be easy to forget how your security and privacy gets compromised on social media. Of course, if you’re doing “bad” things and posting about them, don’t expect to have your privacy maintained. Even if you’re just under suspicion of having done something illegal, Facebook and other social media sites give access to profiles to crime fighting and government agents in certain circumstances — which you cannot prevent. However, to keep other people from knowing your social business, here are tips for what not to do on Facebook

1. Don’t use Klout.com and similar services if you want to maintain a private profile. It’s not clear in the Klout.com UI who can or cannot see your “Klout moments”, but given that your private FB posts do appear in Klout (because you had to have given permission in the first place), it’s probably not a good idea.
2. Don’t use FB apps or mobile apps that “want to post for you” if you’re concerned.
3. Don’t publicly post that you are away for an extended period of time or imply such — especially if your address is easy to find online or in the white pages.  Some U.S. insurance companies are changing policy rules to exclude claims if they can prove you revealed too much on social media and were burgled as a result.
4. Don’t give away too much info about your current whereabouts. Turn off “location,” don’t mention you’re away and for how long. This includes multi-day conferences, even if you’re near by.
5. Don’t publish your full home address contact details anywhere online, including your Facebook profile. If you have a home business, use a P.O. Box or use a service that gives you the equivalent of a physical suite number and signs for packages for you.
6. Don’t post photos of your children, or at the least do not identify and tag them — especially under-age children.
7. Don’t post or tag photos of your friends doing “questionable” things. Ask them to check with you as well before posting. Similarly, don’t post pictures of your bad habits. Make sure your friends are not doing so either. You would think all this would be commonsense, but friends of friends might be posting photos of you.
8. Don’t post “insider information”, especially for publicly-traded companies. You might have family, friends or acquaintances that become sources of such information for you. Carefully consider what you’re revealing before posting about any company or the legal repercussions might be worse than losing a job.
9. Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know – especially if they have very few friends in their profile. At least with LinkedIn, you know how they’re connected to you.
10. Don’t use short, simple passwords. Use longer passwords, some uppercase letters mixed with lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation. Use multiple unrelated words if it makes it easier for you to remember. It’s particularly important to protect your account if re-use this password for other online services — especially common ones such as email addresses, banking, etc.

 

Stop Bullying

Heroes are born every day. Reblog if you’re committed to being someone’s hero when it comes to bullying.

http://stopbullying.tumblr.com/post/64803654310/be-someones-hero

Learn more at www.stopbullying.gov

Truce: Cyber Kindness

A group of Marin Co teens have started TRUCE to promote Cyber-Kindness.

We support kindness in general, but cyber-bullying is so hard to look away from, so we started TRUCE:

T: Tolerance
R: Respect
U: Understanding
C: Compassion
E: Empathy

An Unimaginable Act by Erin Merryn

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"An Unimaginable Act is a wake-up call to society on a silent epidemic one brave confident woman refuses to stay silent about. Through the trauma and obstacles she has faced in her life, Erin takes readers on a remarkable journey of resilience, faith, courage, and forgiveness. She shares how she turned tragedy into triumph, which has led her on an unstoppable crusade to give children the voice she never had as a child through a very important law that will protect children for generations to come."- Actress Julianna Margulies 

By Sharing her personal struggles through the pain she has suffered at the hands of her perpetrators, author Erin Merryn proves that one person can make a difference. Simply by speaking out and bringing the subject of child sexual abuse to the forefront, she has created a wave of change.

An Unimaginable Act follows Erin on a remarkable journey in rousing America from its dormant stance on sexual-abuse education through her self-proposed mandate known as Erin's Law. This thought-provoking book serves as an extension of this law by providing victims, parents, families, and educators with the knowledge they need to stop and prevent this silent epidemic.

Inside you will find

*A list of key organizations that offer essential support for victims and caregivers
*Crucial warning signs that an abused child might display
*Seven steps to protecting children (Darkness to Light)
* Recommended reading to aid in healing

Erin recounts how she suffered in silence as a childhood victim of rape and molestation, and her struggles with a rare brain disorder. Bravely, she rebuilt her life through sheer determination, faith in God, and using positive outlets. Finding her voice at last. She transformed herself from a struggling frail victim to the 2012 Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year. Her ongoing mission to assure the passing of Erin's Law in all fifty states has garnered her the attention of politicians and celebrities across the nation.

Kindr: The App that Pays It Forward with Kindness

It's Bullying Prevention Month and a perfect time to download a FREE app that brings kindness into your daily life!

Recently I was thrilled to be able to ask Matt Ivester, the creator of Kindr, this amazing app, a few questions about this latest creation:

1.  What is Kindr, and what inspired its creation?

Kindr is an iPhone app that makes it fun and easy to send compliments to friends and family.  The compliments range from range from hilarious to light-hearted to sentimental. “You’d have a real shot at winning America’s Next Top Instagrammer, if that were a thing,” and “You always pick the best songs when riding shotgun” are two of my personal favorites.

Also, through a partnership with the Huffington Post, the app also provides a “Good News” feed featuring the inspiring acts of kindness that take place all over the world.

The inspiration for Kindr really came from thinking about cyberbullying, and asking ourselves “What’s the opposite of cyberbullying?”

We think the answer is kindness, and we’re excited about using the same technology that has enabled cyberbullying to become so pervasive to now make kindness go viral.

2. Your press release describes Kindr as “a technology company dedicated to making the world a kinder place.” Creating a kinder world is a very ambitious goal. Aside from creating the app, how do you envision making that happen?


At this point, we’re not sure what will come after the app. But our work with the app is far from over.  Building version one was the easy part.  In order to actually achieve our goal of making the world a kinder place, we’ve got to get a lot of people using the app.  We’ve got to get feedback from our users about what aspects they like and which could be better.  We’ve got to make it work outside the US.  And we’ve got to make it super viral.  We’ve had tens of thousands of compliments sent in just the first couple weeks here, but we want millions.  So for now we’re going to keep fine tuning it, listening to our users, and thinking up new ways to facilitate kindness through the app.


3. Increasing kindness online is obviously important to you. Some would say that compassion is even more important. Do kindness and compassion mean the same thing to you?


Kindness and compassion are certainly closely related, but to me they aren’t the same.  Compassion is the ability to empathize with others, understand that we all fall short sometimes, and that bad things can happen to good people.  Compassion is the emotion we feel when we see someone who needs our help.  Kindness is the action part that follows compassion – it’s what we do in reaction to that emotion.

That said, I’m a big believer in everyday kindness.  We don’t need a reason to be kind.  Sometimes the best kindness is kindness for its own sake.  There’s a great video called This is Water, which is derived from a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace.  You’d have to watch it to really understand, but basically, it likens fish swimming in water to us living our lives.  It points out that our “water” is made up of all the everyday situations we encounter like grocery shopping, waiting in line, driving in traffic, etc.  Kindr isn’t about any particular event, group of people, or period of time, that triggers compassion in us and leads to kindness. Instead, it’s about making every day better – to make the water a little more enjoyable to swim in.

4. Kindr is currently an iPhone app. Will you be creating a version for other platforms as well?
We would love to have an Android app (and Blackberry and Windows apps, too).  But with such a small team it just wasn’t feasible for launch.  It would be great if some big company heard about Kindr and offered some help to get us up on those platforms.  Barring that though, it will probably be a few months before we are available on any other platforms. It’s definitely a high priority for us, and in the meantime, everyone can always read the compliments sent to them, regardless of platform.

Order today!

Thanks Matt!

Matt Ivester is also the author of lol...OMG: What EveryStudent Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying

National Bullying Prevention Month: STAND the Anthem - willUstand

The music video for Stand the Anthem united youth across 17 states & 6 countries. Performed by Charleigh and Justin Gere "Stand" http://www.willustand.com Help us share the message of Stand with schools all across the nation and worldwide during October's National Bullying Prevention Month. Use hashtags #willUstand and #StandtheAnthem, please share generously.

Our hope is to get Stand the Anthem screened in schools nationwide. You can help us with this goal by sharing the video using hashtags #willUstand and #StandTheAnthem

Visit www.willustand.com.

The 5 W's of Special Education

We all have certain inalienable rights, help represent your child, even if they’re different.
Source: Special-Education-Degree.net

The 5 ‘W’s of special ed

Or, why special needs treatment is a right.

Who?
People…
Of households with children
23% Have a special needs child
77% do not.[1]

Make that a lot of people…

That’s 11.2 million children with the following disabilities:[1]

In the Following Categories:
1.) Physical– Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Asthma, Epilepsy, etc.
2.) Developmental–Down syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia, Processing Disorders.
3.) Behavioral/Emotional–ADD, Bipolarism, Oppositional Defiance Disorder
4.) Sensory impaired–Blind, Visually Impaired, Deaf, Limited Hearing.
5.) Other health impaired–A child whose strength, endurance, or stamina cannot keep up with school activities.

What?

Deserving equal opportunity
Requiring the following treatments:[1]
76% Prescription Meds
42.1% Extra Services
31.8% Emotional, Behavioral, Developmental therapies
23.5% A limitation in what the child can achieve
21.5% Physical, Occupational, or Speech therapies
With most special needs children included in normal classroom activities, just with a few accommodations.
38.5% Daily activities moderately affected some of the time[1]
27.1%Daily Activities consistently affected a great deal
34.4% Daily Activities never affected

When?

When everyone needs help. WHEN THEY’RE CHILDREN.

Identifying Developmental Delays is KEY:
Check for:
Motor skills
Sensory and Thinking Skills
Language and Social Skills
At 3,6,12,and 24 months

Early detection and intervention is A MUST because:

Lesser deviation from normal child behavior
Brain Plasticity is greater when younger

Where?
Diagnosis: Doctors, Psychologists, Teachers, School Nurses, Therapists
[% health providers who notified parents as to their child's condition]
7.9% Psychiatrist
8.7% Multidisciplinary Team
12.4% Neurologist
14.7% Developmental or Specialist Pediatrician
18.3% Other Health provider
18.5% Psychologist/school psychologist
19.5% Generalist
Essentially: School, specialists, support groups, conferences, consultations, therapists.

Why?
1.) (1776)Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
2.) (1973)Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act:
–Prohibits schools from discriminating against children with disabilities.
–Requires schools to provide accommodations for disabled students.
–Students with impairments that substantially limit a major life activity can qualify as disabled (learning and social development deficits too).
3.) (1990)The IDEA Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act):
–Students with disabilities must be prepared for further education, employment, and independent living.
–If a child’s strength, endurance, or stamina cannot keep up with school activities, they can qualify for “other health impaired” special education status.
4.) (1990)Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA):
–Schools must meet the needs of children with psychiatric problems.

National Bullying Prevention Month: How Cyber-Gossip Can Lead to Bullying

In today’s internet age, gossip can be spread at lightning speed to hundreds, thousands or millions of people. The new “party line” is cyberspace where millions of people can all access the same information instantaneously. Just get on your computer, iphone, ipad or blackberry and let the rumors fly.

Here are 10 ways people (including kids) can us new technology to rapidly spread gossip in (in no particular order).

1. Email – One way to spread a rumor quickly is to send an email to all the contacts in your account, except the one the rumor is about, of course. Then they can forward it to all their contacts and on it goes from there. You better hope they delete your name when they forward it, or you might get blamed for starting it.
2. Facebook – Post your gossip on facebook and all your friends will know about it instantly. If they “like” it, comment on it or repost it, all their friends will see it too. Pretty soon you’ve got the rumor spreading quickly.
3. Myspace – Another social networking sight great for gossiping is Myspace. Post that rumor on a bulletin or your group’s message board and watch it spread like wildfire.
4. Twitter – You can tweet a rumor and all your Twitter followers will know your juicy gossip in 140 characters or less. They can re-tweet it to all their followers and in no time the gossip is flying through cyberspace.
5. Blogs – Some people love to spread gossip through their blogs. Even unintentional rumors are sometimes started by bloggers.
6. Website – You won’t believe some of the stuff you find posted on websites, and you shouldn’t either. There are whole websites put on the web just for the purpose of spreading misinformation. Always remember to check their sources.
7. YouTube – If you have a registered YouTube account you can upload an unlimited number of videos. If you have a video of someone doing something dubious, this is the best way to spread that rumor to millions of viewers.
8. Comments – A great way to anonymously spread gossip is to post a comment on a website, blog or YouTube video. You can log in under an assumed username and say all kinds of outrageous things without revealing your identity.
9. Chat rooms – Another anonymous way to spread rumors are internet chat rooms. You can start with an offhand comment and embellish it as you go.
10. Texting – If you see or hear something juicy to gossip about, you can send a text message to all your friends. That will get the thumbs flying as the rumor gets spread.

The new social media available has taken gossiping to a whole new level. Unfortunately this can lead to cyber bullying and be very traumatizing to vulnerable people. Celebrities and politicians are easy targets for internet gossip and careers are ruined by unintended tweets. Everyone should use the new technology responsibly, but many abuse their newfound privileges. Be careful what you put out into cyberspace or it may come back to haunt you and always check the sources of what you see or read. Chances are it’s just more cyber-gossip.

Source: Internet Providers
Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

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Technology Being Used for Good

Stories about young people doing good things online rarely make headlines.

So, to showcase some of that good, a Platform for Good an infographic highlighting the amazing ways Millennials are using technology to make a difference.


By Christian Brink 

Christian is the Project Assistant at the Family Online Safety Institute. As a believer in technology as a tool for positive change, he hopes to empower parents, teachers, and teens with the resources they need to responsibly navigate the digital world and make a difference.

 Infographic credit Platform for Good

National Bullying Prevention Month

Charleigh and Justin Gere "Stand" http://www.willustand.com Help this message reach schools all across the nation and worldwide during October's National Bullying Prevention Month. Using hashtags #willUstand and #StandtheAnthem, please share generously.

The Bully Text: DoSomething.org

The Bully Text’ utilizes SMS to educate young people on how to step up to bullying in their community

DoSomething.org and The Wireless Foundation announce the launch of The Bully Text, a unique mobile experience that allows young people to walk through a day at a virtual high school to explore the ways that they can step up to bullies in common bullying situations. With an estimated 160,000 kids skipping school each day to avoid being bullied[1],  DoSomething.org developed The Bully Text to educate students on how to stop bullying in their schools.

The Bully Text is a text messaging game set during an imaginary first day of school. In the game, participants experience different bullying situations and are given options on how they can react. Depending on how the participant reacts in the different situations, they walk down different paths that each offer unique endings. The SMS education experience is meant to emulate common bullying situations, show different ways to react and offer an example of the impact of their actions. 

For the second year of The Bully Text, DoSomething.org found a natural partner in The Wireless Foundation and their mission: bringing organizations, people, and technology together so wireless innovations will continue to enhances lives in communities across the United States.  Last year over 68,000 young people took part in the campaign, and 89% of participants reported having a better idea of how to stop bullying in their school after playing the game. This year, young people who participate will be entered to win a $3,000 scholarship.

The Bully Text is part of DoSomething.org’s proprietary mobile gaming model – through which they built their mobile subscriber list to over 1.3 young people. With the average teen sending 3,339 texts a month and texts having a 99% open rate; SMS is a powerful tool to effectively engage young people on issues they care about.

“We all remember that moment, that feeling. You see something you don’t quite agree with in school, something you know is wrong. But do you act? It’s hard for young people to know how to deal with those situations first hand” said Greg Thomas, campaign manager at DoSomething.org. “Through The Bully Text, we’re providing young people with a chance to understand what it’s like to experience bullying through different roles, and reflect on how they can change their behavior to help them step up to bullying in their school.”

For full campaign details, visit www.dosomething.org/bullytext or text BULLY to 38383.

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[1] National Association of School Psychologists (http://www.nasponline.org/)