Keep Your Teens Safe on the Web

Teens these days can’t get away from the computer. It’s how they socialize, relax, entertain, comunicate and in some cases work. But, as is becoming more and more obvious, teens are having a hard time determining what information should be kept private. How To Deal With Teenagers offers 11 tips for parents, my favorites are listed here:

1. Your computer should be a in common area. Children should never have their own computer in their room. Put it in the living where you or your spouse can monitor the usage.

2. If your child is acting sneaky or anytime you walk by they are minimizing the screen chances are they are hiding something. Don’t hesitate to get on and find out what they are up to.

3. Know who your teens are talking to. Monitor their instant messaging and who is emailing your children.

4. If your child has MySpace (you may not even know they do) be sure to check it. Only allow actual “friends they know” on their page. Encourage them to NOT add people they do not know on their page. Keep their user name and password handy so you can get on to check. Eric knows part of letting him have a MySpace page is that I always have the user name and password. Create a MySpace page yourself so you can monitor your child from that as well.

Don’t let tragedy be your wake-up call.

Handling Scissors

When it’s time to hand the scissors across the craft table to your child it’s important to remember several safety tips.

To start, give your child kid-size, blunt-tip scissors that open and close easily. Place his thumb through the round top hole, his index finger under the bottom oval hole, and his middle and ring fingers through that bottom hole. Have him pretend the blades are an alligator’s mouth biting the paper as they open and shut — and tell him to keep his other fingers out of the way.

Head over to Parenting.com for a list of fun activities your child can do to improve his/her new skills.

Car Seat Installations

When I was pregnant with my first son I attended a class on how to install a car seat. I will always remember the personal story the instructor told us. Even though they had the car seat installed correctly, the straps were too loose for their 3 month old child. They found that out the hard way: they were in a car accident and their daughter flew out the top of the car seat and was killed.

If there isn’t a class you can take in your area, be sure to look at the hints from newsanchormom on how to get your car seat professionally installed.

Tines Down

My husband and I used to argue about how utensils should go into the diswasher - points up or down? With the addition of our sons and this tip from Lifetips.com we’re unanimous now. (And just for the record… I won!)

Imagine a 9 month old pulling himself up using the open door of the dishwasher for balance. If he or she grabs at those shiny utensils, which part is tips up? Can the basket be re-located to the back? Try loading at least the knives sharp edge down. Using this great advice will save many unnecessary “boo-boos”!!