Sexting

Sexting is the intentional use of a camera phone, to send explicit photos of ones self or someone else's nude photos to another's phone. One in five teens say that they have sent partial nude or nude photos of themselves to their friends. Sexting sharing can lead to anyone seeing what you might have only wanted one person to see because, most teens won't keep those photos to themselves they will more than likely post them on their facebook page or on my space.
Teens are like the teens of yesteryear, in that boys would tell their friends what they had done with their girlfriend over the weekend whether or not it was true. With sexting there is no protecting your reputation, it is no longer one's word against the others.
What most teenagers don't realize is that they can be charged with child porn and facing a felony. In Utah they are trying to pass HB14 that would make the crime a misdemeanor for 16 or 17 year-olds and from a class A to a class B misdemeanor for younger youth. If photos are exchanged by teens or they have nude photos on their phone they could be charged and sent to prison. The following are examples of the seriousness of sending, receiving or forwarding nude photos of others: one is from Rochester, N.Y. where a 16 year old boy is facing up to seven years in prison for forwarding nude photos of his 15 year old girlfriend to his friends. A 15 year-old in Pennsylvania is facing child pornography charges for sending nude photos of herself to other kids. In Florida a 19 year old was thrown out of college and now is a registered sex offender for 25 years because he sent nude photos of his girlfriend to other teens.
They don't think! We have all been there in their shoes, by doing stupid stuff, we can all understand that you have to learn by the mistakes that we have made or by the mistakes that our peers had made. But it is also our responsibility to tell and teach our teens. The real difference between teens and us is that we know better. Teenagers don't necessarily understand the repercussions of their actions. They just act.

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THOSE KIDS SAYING?

Internet lingo what your kids know, and what you now know. Some of these are nasty but you should know what they mean.
AFK = away from keyboard
ASL = age/sex/location
ATM = at the moment
BBL = be back later
BBS = be back soon
BF = boy friend
BRB = be right back
BTW = by the way
CUI = cracking up inside
CUL8R = see you later
CTN = can't talk now
FYI = for your information
G2G = got to go
New lesson in internet lingo
PAW= parents are watching
PIR= parents in room
LMIRL = lets meet in real life
420 = Marijuana
NALOPKT = not a lot of people know that
WYRN = what's your real name
c-p = sleepy
FOAF = friend of a friend
143 or 459 = I love you
next lesson
GF= girlfriend
HW= homework
ID= i don't care
IDK = i don't know
IMO = in my opinion
JAS = just a second
JIT = just in time
JK = just kidding
JW = just wondering
KOTC = kiss on the cheek
LOL = laughing out loud
ROTFL = rolling on the floor laughing
LYL = love ya lots
LYLAB = love ya like a brother
LYLAS = love ya like a sister
NM = not much


8- it refers to oral sex1337- it means elite
182- it means I hate you
1174- it means nude club
ADR or addy- Address
banana- it means penisCD9- it means Code 9 = parents are aroundDUM- Do You Masturbate?DUSL- Do You Scream Loud?FB- F*** Buddy
GNOC- Get Naked On Cam (webcam)GYPO- Get Your Pants Off
IIT- Is It Tight?
IMEZRU- I Am Easy, Are You?IWSN- I Want Sex NowJ/O- Jerking OffKFY- Kiss For Youkitty- it means vaginaKPC - Keeping Parents Clueless
MOOS- Member(s) Of the Opposite SexMOSS or MOTSS- Member(s) Of The Same SexMorF- Male or FemaleMOS - Mom Over ShoulderMPFB- My Personal F*** Buddy
NIFOC- Nude In Front Of ComputerNMU- Not Much, You?P911- Parent AlertPAL- Parents Are Listening
POS- Parent Over ShoulderPRON- PornQ2C- Quick To CumRU/18- Are You Over 18?RUH- Are You Horny?S2R- Send To Recieve (pictures)SorG- Straight or GayTDTM- Talk Dirty To MeWYCM- Will You Call Me?

Summer Curfew Hours

Curfew hours means those hours during the period ending at 6:00 a.m. all days of the
week and beginning at 12:00 midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 1:00 a.m. on Friday
and Saturday.
Minor means any person under 18 years of age. Furthermore, the term "minor" is
synonymous with the term "juvenile."

Teens, cell phones and the internet

Although the increased independence that a cell phone might offer a child can be good, it can also be a negative thing. Consider that with a cell phone, your child will simply have another way to communicate with the outside world that you will have little supervision over. Cell phones may even be a distraction to kids. We all know that they are a distraction for drivers, but one study has also shown that cell phones can be a big distraction for kids crossing the street and could lead to more accidents and injuries. Cell phones allow kids to keep their contacts secret and can facilitate contact with bad influences. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has reported that some teens are using technology and the Internet to get drug information, and cell phones provide instant access to information and sources of drugs.



What you can do about it.

Know your children's cell phone contact list.

Be specific about cell phone use and set up specific rules about how and when the phone will be used. Set a limit on how much time children can use each month and how many text messages they can send and receive.

Emphasize and enforce the rule that teens should never use a cell phone while driving.

Establish rules of etiquette, such as never using a cell phone within 20 feet of another person.


Carriers offer some options for parents to limit what their kids can do with their Web-equipped phones here are some of them:

If your child's phone has Internet access, check with your service provider to find out how you can block adult sites. The provider might do it for you, or you might have to do it on the phone.

Cingular cell phones give adults an easy option to block adult sites, allowing parents to block or filter content.

And if your children figure out a way around your password and changes the filters, Cingular sends parents an email letting them know the content blocking feature has been bypassed.

Verizon Wireless added new parental controls for cell phones last year. Users can choose from three levels of settings that will filter the content available on the phone based on a rating system that takes the age of the user into account. The most restrictive setting, aimed at kids between the ages of 7 and 12, blocks access to e-mail, instant messaging, social networking sites and chat groups. The free service also filters Verizon's V CAST multimedia player that plays video and music according to the setting chosen by the parent. To sign up, Verizon customers can visit the Web site or call customer service.

AT&T Inc. has this plan Smart Limits plan for $4.99 a month. The plan lets users limit the number of text and instant messages sent and received.

Parents can block content that may not be appropriate for younger users, like chat rooms and dating sites, on AT&T's home page called MEdia Net, which comes with most of AT&T's basic cell phones. Or they can block access to the Web entirely.

T-Mobile USA Inc. offers a free service called Web Guard that filters mobile Web sites that might be inappropriate for younger users. It automatically blocks the search and browsing of several categories of sites, including dating, gambling and sex . The company says the service works on most phones, but may not work at certain times and in certain locations.

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s free service is called Web Access and limits Web browsing to about 100 preselected sites that are considered safe for all ages. Parents can turn on the service from their profile on the Sprint Web site or from their child's phone. All other sites are blocked. E-mail, instant messaging and access to mobile chat rooms can be blocked only by turning off the Web features on the phone itself. free service is called Web Access and limits Web browsing to about 100 preselected sites that are considered safe for all ages. Parents can turn on the service from their profile on the Sprint Web site or from their child's phone. All other sites are blocked. E-mail, instant messaging and access to mobile chat rooms can be blocked only by turning off the Web features on the phone itself.

Teens that gather in groups

It is a part of society that young people will congregate in public. It is both inevitable and socially necessary. Congregating is part of the rite of passage of sorts from childhood to adulthood, allowing youth to socialize and bond with their peers, out of their parents' view.

Young people's self-identity and self-worth are profoundly shaped by how they believe their peers perceive them, and gathering in public provides opportunities to see, and be seen by, others. Group settings provide a relatively safe context for teenagers to flirt and pair up with one another, supported and protected by their friends.

But they often do not always see how their gatherings affect other people. It can often make people feel afraid or apprehensive regardless of their behavior when most people see such a gathering they automatically see them as a gang.

Such gatherings can become disorderly depending of their conduct such as cursing, blocking sidewalks and streets, playing games in the streets, playing music loudly, drinking, fighting, littering, making offensive remarks to passerby and vandalizing property.

Young teens usually are looking for a place where they can hang out with each other without excessive adult supervision. In England, the police arranged for their teens to help an architect design a public youth shelter.

Some of the following can help problems from occurring:

Employ youth where businesses are negatively affected by disorderly conduct, it can promote a sense of responsibility among youth. Make sure that youth have adequate transportation to and from events this removes the risk of them being on the streets. Give teens a place to gather where they will not be complained about. Install closed-circuit TV where problems exist. Rules of conduct need to be established and made known to area teens if they wish to be in that particular place.

Mediating conflicts between youth needs to be a factor in helping teens know that there are other ways of handling situations. And that they must be held accountable for their actions.