Back in June 2008, I posted a blog on “SEXTING…” which the Urban Dictionary defines as: “The act of text messaging someone in the hopes of having a sexual encounter with them later; initially casual, transitioning into highly suggestive and even sexually explicit.”I linked it to the website www.netsmartz.org, which included articles of teens and nude cell phone photos.

The Sunday, August 31^st Fargo Forum entitled “Many teens sharing pornographic images,” is the reason I bring this topic to your attention again.  I rarely read the newspaper anymore, as like TV there is minuscule good information coming through these media sources.  This article concerns me GREATLY!  I don’t have children of my own, but I have a niece who is a freshman in High School and has her own cell phone.

This article is one in a vast array of “Teachable Moments” you can pass onto  your child during the car ride to school or the mall, don’t miss this opportunity to inform, protect, and chat with them!  We may live in the Midwest but the kids under our protection are not immune to the risks and dangers they place themselves in while they chit chat on-line or text when not supervised by a caring and concerned adult.  You have the authority to disconnect certain services on your child’s cell phone (the camera option is one of them as is the texting)!

- Lora M. (MSC Staff Member)

Peers vs. Parents…Who do teens listen to?

Ask anyone who has parented a teenager in the past few years what they worry about – most times they’ll tell you it’s the dangers our kids encounter every day. We can’t be naive and think that we can ignore these dangers or that the issues of drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. will never affect our family.

Don’t count on society to take care of it. Often the messages that our kids get from the popular culture are not designed to protect them. Some messages are designed to create discontent in them…to create a false image of what will give them fulfillment…to encourage them to get all that they can right now and that it won’t affect their future. Often we hear only the negative media — but there’s a great deal of positive that hasn’t made its way into mainstream media.

Like…the majority of North Dakota student’s grades 7-12 say that abstinence is an important message for them at this time in their lives. Two out of three adolescents who have been sexually active report that they regret it and wish that they had waited. And, don’t believe that ‘everyone is doing it’. Results from the 2005 ND Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that 41.2% of North Dakota students reported ever having had sexual intercourse. Obviously, the flip side of that statistic is that well over half of North Dakota students have not! This is great news because…abstinence from all sexual activity is the only 100% effective method of protection against sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy. That is a fact!