“7th-12th graders report spending an average of 1:35 a day sending or receiving texts. (Time spent texting is not counted as media use in this study.)”

1. Delay it as long as possible.  It is easier to delay Extra phone. They don’t need a smart phone.  You can set their texting in a way that they cannot receive pictures and I would recommend doing this.
2. Another problem with children having cell phones is that friends and peers have complete and constant access to them.  It was once the norm for boys to call girls and not vice versa.  Wow, doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago?  The Father fashioned men to pursue women.  Young men don’t have to worry with that today.  They have 10 girls blowing their cell phone up before they finish a snack after school.  He then decides which one it will be today.  We simply were not designed that way.  The truth is still that the girls who have their own life and interests are the ones who are interesting to a young man.  Sure he will take what he can from the girl offering it, but in the end, it will be the young lady with a head on her shoulders and something going for her that he will pursue.
3. Off the phone during dinner and at a certain time each night.
4. Kids will say things in text messages they would never say face to face.  We have a list of texting abbreviations that you will want to know.
5. Sexting…every time we talk to kids about sexting almost without exception…a young lady will come up to us and confess that she has sent inappropriate pictures to a boy and often the girl is much, much younger than you would think.  Talk about the scenarios. 
6. Important to teach good eye contact, handshakes and social interaction.  It is becoming a lost art.

When you do decide to allow your child a phone or iPod, here are a few TIPS:

1. Both the iPod touch and iPhone require an iTunes account for set up and to allow the user to download music, movies, apps, or other content from the iTunes Store. I recommend setting this up immediately with a password that is private to you, and not shared with your child. This way in order to download anything; whether it be a song, or an app, your child will have to approach you to plug in the password, allowing you to have full knowledge of what they are adding.
2. A passcode is a great way to protect an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. It’s a security code that you or your child will have to enter every time you want to use the device. This is helpful in case your child loses the device–you wouldn’t want a stranger to get access to any family information, pictures, or phone numbers. Make sure to use a passcode that both you and your child can remember, and that you both know.
3. Install age appropriate apps.  The app store has lots of fun programs that are so helpful for entertaining kiddos when you’re traveling, need some distraction, or are looking to interact with your kids. 
4. Uninstall apps that come with the iPhone that may be inappropriate. I would disable Safari.  There is no built-in content filter on the Apple devices, and none on this web browser. Here are two web-browsers that have parental protection and filtering.  K9 Web Protection Browser,  by Blue Coat Systems, Inc.  and it’s free!  :) And, Mobicip Safe Browser With Parental Controls.  This is $4.99 and had positive reviews. If you want to customize the filtering you have to pay for a subscription service at $9.99 per year.
5. Here are two programs that will allow you to see the phone calls and text messages your child is sending: Mobile Spy and My Mobile Watch Dog.  

Tomorrow, I will be sharing with you more about how kids are using social media and popular apps that are preying on our kids.  

My love,