Below are a few texting tips for parents to help their kid’s text responsibly, courtesy of Predicto Mobile, the leading online and text message based survey company:

• Check the school’s cell phone policies.
• Speak with their teachers about what they are doing to limit text use and find ways you can work together to combat the issue if it becomes a serious problem
• Talk to your kids about the dangers of sexting.
• Find out who they are chatting with and look at the cell phone bill to see what time of day they are texting the most
• Encourage good academic behavior. Find out when their exams are, offer help with studying, etc.
• Make them work for it. If texting during school gets out of control and you see a spike in your bill, ask your child to get a part time job to cover their text message cell phone plan.
• Don’t text them when they are in class. Occassionally you may need to get in touch with your child during school hours, find out when your child has breaks in between classes or what time they take lunch and use that time to send texts
• Petition your cell phone provider to offer a way to limit cell phone text message service during school hours.

“Kids have pioneered text usage and it’s become somewhat invasive in a classroom setting,” says Eyal Yechazkell, CEO of Predicto Mobile. “Many schools have already banned cell phones, and we’ve all heard horror stories about kids sexting in school or using the service as a way to cheat. Parents need to take a tougher stance and talk with their kids about texting in the classroom to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the learning process.”

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Below are a few helpful tips from Predicto Mobile , the leading online and text message based survey company, for parents looking to successfully integrate into the texting community:

1) Learn the lingo: There are pre-established acronyms like LOL, TTYL and BRB. Not every sentence is meant to be written using only the first letter of every word.

2) Don’t invade their tech space: Don’t text your kids until they text you, otherwise your kids will think you’re a poseur.

3) Use but don’t abuse: Don’t be the next of victim of text addiction.

4) Make it all inclusive: Make sure you have an all inclusive rate plan so you aren’t like “OMG” when your cell phone bill arrives

5) Just Say No: “Sexting” is inappropriate at any age

6) Don’t text and drive: Texting accidents are becoming increasingly common. Recent studies have shown that drivers who text are four times as likely to crash.

“Texting is an appealing way for parents to reach their kids while simultaneously boosting their “coolness” factor,” says Eyal Yechazkell, CEO of Predicto Mobile. “But parents also need to be careful they don’t over do it. Kids are pretty astute and can sense when their parents are trying too hard.”

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from the  Teen Summit on Internet & Wireless Safety presented by Cox Communications

Want to improve the lines of communication with your children? These ten tips will help you get started immediately.

1. Listen

Listen to what your child is expressing and try to understand what’s going on with them internally. Don’t make assumptions.

2. Don’t Interrogate

Ask open-ended questions but avoid excessive questioning. Use general conversation starters like “How is it going?” or “What’s going on?” and then be silent. Most kids will tell you what you want to know if they don’t feel bombarded.

3. Be Honest

Practice honesty and respect. If a child asks something and you don’t know the answer, be honest. Say you don’t know and then find out. Conversely, if you do something inappropriate or make a mistake, be willing to apologize and admit it.

4. Keep Calm

Avoid yelling, making threats or using “labels” to describe your child or their friends.

5. Skip the Lecture

Don’t lecture your child or repeat the same thing constantly. Those tactics usually cause kids to tune you out.

6. Pay Attention

When your teen is talking, give them your complete focus. Stop whatever else you are doing and use eye contact.

7. Be Gentle

Avoid power struggles. You might hold the power, but you lose ultimately when you break your kid’s spirit.

8. No Judgements

Express your opinions without being judgmental. Remember to be concise so your comments don’t turn into a lecture.

9. Use Positive Reinforcement

Don’t dwell on your child’s mistakes. Focus on their accomplishments to demonstrate support and build self-esteem.

10. Take a Walk

Create situations that allow you to communicate with your kids. Whether it’s riding together in the car without playing the radio, running errands together or taking a walk after dinner, this one-on-one time will strengthen your relationship.

If you do not have a good relationship with your teens/tweens that is the place to start. The saying goes “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” is very true. Take some time over the next week to get to know your teen/tween, get on their level. At first don’t talk about the issues that divide you, focus on building them up. Talk about what they like, what they are good at. In my 20+ years of working with youth I see so many parents that don’t even know their kids, and it is sad.  Yes, it takes time, parenting takes time. The benefits of taking the time to get to know and build up your kids are huge.

Spend time with you teen this week. In the next few weeks we will talk about television and the media, cell phones-texting and sexting, social media and more.

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