Tangerine Times

Is Facebook to Blame for Teen’s Murder?

Posted by admin on March 10th, 2010 in Education, Facebook, Technology

NO. And those adults and parents who are railing against social networking sites — especially Facebook — are focusing their energy in the wrong direction. Sometimes I think parents would prefer to take the easy way out and have social networking sites do all the parenting work for them. Facebook already HAS great protections and settings (and hopefully they will continue to evolve) they could not have possibly prevented this type of stalking.

Don’t know what I’m referring to? Here’s a link to the story - the crime took place in the UK.

The Guy Was a Predator and Sex Offender

Even if a social networking site did a cross-check of the sex offender’s list, they would not catch most online predators. Why? Because they don’t have to use their real names for one. And, let’s face it the best protection our children have is between their ears. That is true when we are teaching our daughters how to walk the streets alone as it is online. Teaching our kids to make a habit of checking their privacy settings and guarding their conversations from people who are “fringe” friends is the best protection our kids have from online danger.

Child predators go where kids are. That’s a known fact. They are coaches, music teachers and our family members. I believe parents are best served educating our kids to protect themselves in ALL environments and that includes the online environment. Do you know your teen’s settings on Facebook? Have you talked to them about “fringe” friends?

OK…I’m off my soapbox now.

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Listening to Julie Metzger Talk About Risk-Taking and Teens

Posted by admin on March 10th, 2010 in Communication, Parenting

Today I had an opportunity to hear Julie Metzger speak. I have enjoyed her presentations before and always learn a lot. I appreciate her speaker “style” because as a speaker myself, I know how tough it can be to provide information to an audience of parents and also be lighthearted and approachable. She accomplishes that…in spades. In fact, she can be downright funny. Always a good thing in my book and something I struggle to convey in my own presentations. She jointly runs a program called “Good Conversations” with Dr. Robert Lehman in the Seattle and Palo Alto area.

Today’s topic was risk-taking behavior and how parents can facilitate our teenager’s social and developmental decision-making growth. She cited work by Deborah Tannen (comunication/linguistics research), John Gottman (relationships) and a Stanford study about how adolescents develop decision-making skills.

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