For best parenting practices, nix frequent cellphone texts

During most of my early parenting, cellphones weren't so common and texting was virtually unheard of. Though I've had a mobile device for about 12 years, I still don't have a texting plan. In parenting, I can think of few good outcomes and lots of negative ones from frequent cellphone texting. I'm not referring to business cellphone use, but casual chat.  This isn't multitasking--it's an accident waiting to happen. Here's why texting and parenting don't mix. For best parenting practices, nix frequent cellphone texts 

There's Solidarity with Mom Who Choked Facebook Bully

When first reading about Debbie Piscitella, the Florida mother who ABC News Blogs says choked a Facebook bully in her 14-year-old daughter's defense, I was inclined to pontificate. According to the article, the kid wrote on Facebook that Piscitella's daughter was a "fat (deleted) whale and didn't deserve to live because she is so nasty that he wouldn't even rape her." That makes the mother bear in me want to disassemble the kid like a jigsaw puzzle and leave few pieces out. Read more at There's Solidarity with Mom Who Choked Facebook Bully

Facebook is Right to Nix Teen Photo Competitions

Concerned parents have succeeded in getting a "Most Beautiful Teen in the World" Facebook page pulled. Kids were uploading photos of themselves, sometimes scantily clad in sexualized poses, for the approval or disapproval of the Internet masses, ABC News reports.

Now there's a recipe for disaster: Nubile youths throwing their images into cyberspace to be critiqued by who knows who. I'm bothered by kids splashing images of themselves about to start with. Mix in some shirtless or bikini-clad photos and that just escalates my concerns. Those photos of bare-chested boys with thin arms and concave chests are pitiful. It gets worse; there are "most ugly teen" contests too. Read more at Facebook is Right to Nix Teen Photo Competitions