Did you Think It’s Safe for Your Teens & Tweens to Use Instagram? Think Again!

My two oldest girls have an Instagram account, and are complete social butterflies.

They take pictures of themselves, their friends, and food; you name it, and they share it with their friends.

I’m able to monitor their accounts because I see every picture they post.

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Internet Dangers for Kids – Parents You Better Read This One!

I wanted to do an experiment.

I was curious about not only the real life sexual dangers of socializing via social networking but also the ease at which our kids could have access to potential negative sexual situations online.

I started a MySpace (yes, it’s still around) and Facebook page as a minor. I set my page appropriately and found 1 single stock photo of a “teen girl”. Not a supermodel or web-cam girl or someone that may already be at risk of these sexual dangers. Not an overly promiscuous or sexually suggestive picture, as a matter of fact it was not even a provocative picture.

I described myself as a “normal teenage girl” and gave myself some basic “likes” when it came to music, movies and all things available.

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Why do Parents Abuse Their Children?

My 14 years old daughter is a normal teen.

By “normal”, I mean that she doesn’t talk to her mom (myself) a lot.

Here’s a typical mother-daughter talk:

1. I’m asking her something, she mumbles back.

2. I’m trying to understand what she said.

3. She gets angry and swears that she’ll never speak to me again.

4. She turns her back and storms away, end of conversation.

5. I’m completely and utterly puzzled as to what just happened.

From time to time though, no prior notice, she opens up to me and we share those special moments in which I get a short glimpse of what’s really going on in her world.

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An amazing story of a child abuse survivor

I’ve been neglecting my readers lately:  Summer, kids, you know, nothing personal:)

I admit – this summer has pushed me back into my comfort zone.

I sent my third / smallest child – 6 already (when did that happen), to first grade today.

Had to remind myself repeatedly that eventually it will all be ok. That she’ll be fine, my baby.

Not a baby anymore, is she.

Why is my heart-broken?

Anyway, that’s not what I planned to write about:

I planned to write about child abuse, and about a very special person.

Mommy, Is this a Gay Pedophile?

I don’t have a lot of time to post these days, but this question above has kicked me out of my comfort zone.

I’ve been rambling to you quite a lot about my tween, haven’t I?

The last days it became clear to me that I need help adapting to my new role:

A Mom to Tween, experiencing lose of control in an ever-changing-fast-technological world, where kids are exposed to info that is difficult even for us grownups to absorb.

Listen to this: There was a lecture in my daughter’s school, by a police figure handling computer crimes.

Is my Tween Video-Chatting with Strangers???

I didn’t post a lot lately, being engaged in my new parents site, http://www.parents-space.com .

It’s coming up nicely I think! 60 Contributors already.

The variety of contributors results in discussing many topics, some are fairly new to me. I bet that I’m not alone here.

A naive parent I am,  a species that cannot survive for long in the 21 century.

Calling all parents

To all you parents out there:  My newborn, 1 month old  www.parents-space.com ,  is already becoming a great resource of information for parents.

(If I sound proud, it’s because I am!)

An amazing group of contributing authors (which I can’t thank enough) have gathered together to write in PS  ; some of them are counsellors, some are parents sharing their daily challenges, and all are there for you.

Help required!

Hi all,

To the many of you who read my scary world post and to the new followers of this blog,  I’m taking a short break from the new parents site I’m working on,  to post a comment just received in “the scary world”:

***** Hi! Thanks for writing. I have a 14-year-old who has talked about suicide, even was away from school for a month with depression. It’s very scary to ransack the house to find all medication and hide the bottles because I can’t take a month off work. She spends a lot of time on line. What are good, supportive sites for her? *****

Need your advice on this one. No, really!

Lately, without noticing,  this blog has become a space of great support for me.

The fact that people I don’t know care to read, share and comment on my posts, makes me realize daily that I am not alone, and that goes for heavy stuff, as well as for meaningless thoughts that I am hesitating if  to share at all.

Share this:

A powerful, brave and well written document. Thank you.

zoloftlife.

Reactions from people are varied when they find out that I cut. From the, “Did it really get that bad? They’re not little cuts. Why do you cut? Why would you do that to yourself? Doesn’t it hurt? You’re just attention seeking.” All the way through to the begging, pleading you to stop. Getting angry at you for doing it again. And again. And again.

I’d put it down to several things. Curiosity. Fear. Love. Caring. Compassion. Lack of education, or experience, of mental illness. Ignorance.

Especially ignorance.

I’ve wanted to write about cutting for a long time now. The way my head analyses the cutting, anyway. I’ve never been sure how to start.

Well.

I guess I start here. Did it really get that bad? Uh, yeah. It is probably still that bad. Apart from the obvious that you have to be pretty screwed up…

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