Blackberry Pranks

One of our favorite Role Mommies - Tamara, founder of How is My Nanny admitted to us this week that her BlackBerry had been pranking my cell phone. Unbeknownst to her, the BlackBerry had a mind of its own and just started making calls! I told her she's not alone - because my trusty PDA has pretty much called my office 30 times without my approval...what is up with that anyway? As much as I love my BB, I can't understand why, out of all the keys on the contraption that it decides to use the phone button and call me incessantly - leaving me to think I have tons of messages but in reality all I have our garbled conversations with my friends and my kids that are recorded each day...is that a government conspiracy or what?

Does your BlackBerry play tricks on you? Sound Off and share your story!

NEW PARADE.COM POLL ABOUT LOWERING THE DRINKING AGE STIRS CONTENTIOUS DEBATE

It turns out the debate about lowering the drinking age remains a contentious one. Last week, the August 12 issue of PARADE magazine raised the important question: Should the current legal drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18? Parade.com conducted a poll on the matter and, after 12,500+ votes, the poll is at a dead heat, 50%/50%. The Parade.com message board was flooded with more than 530 reader comments, reviving the age-old debate. One Parade.com reader writes in, "If we are old enough to die at 18, then we are old enough at 18 to drink. What we need is proper education and responsibility on when and how to drink. Cultures that have drinking (under 21) don't have the types of problems the U.S. has. Keep an open mind and think outside the box."

Another counters: “The issue here is whether anyone who drinks alcohol at any age is sober and safe enough to operate a motor vehicle in a manner consistent with public safety on our nation's roads and highways. If a person is 18 or 68 years of age, I do not want to be a passenger in that person's vehicle if that person is drunk where my life would be endangered. If one wants to drink booze, whatever the age, that person is going to have to reap the consequences for whatever actions result from the drinking.

A poll conducted in 2005 found that 78% of the public opposed a lower age. In the last three years, legislators in Vermont, New Hampshire and Wisconsin have introduced bills to lower the age (though only for military personnel in Wisconsin and New Hampshire). None of the bills became law.What do you think?Join the hot debate at Parade.com: http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_08-12-2007/Teen_Drinking

Scary Stats About Kids & the Internet

I know that I go on and on from time to time about my kids' excessive obsession with Webkinz and Club Penguin, but now I have to be concerned about a new poll that was conducted by Symantec, the leader in Internet security,which recently conducted a poll by Harris Interactive® that revealed a significant digital divide between parents and their cyber-savvy children. According to the June 2007 poll, parents of children under 18 who access the Internet think their child is online three hours a week, on average, but children ages 8-17 admit to spending an average of seven hours online a week, and nearly a quarter (23 percent) report doing things online that their parents would not condone.

These startling statistics were used as the basis for Symantec’s first-ever Norton Connected and Protected Town Hall, which was held in partnership with Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson, whose personal platform is protecting children online, and Giant Campus’ Cybercamps, the nationally-recognized leader in technology summer camps for youth. During the August 2 Town Hall in New York City, more than 75 youth and parents participated in interactive discussions on Internet safety lead by Symantec’s Internet Safety Advocate Marian Merritt. The Town Hall explored the role the Internet and other technologies play in children’s personal, school and family lives, as well as encouraged kids and parents to keep an open dialogue about cyber safety, cyber security and cyber ethics.

While parents have much to learn about what their kids are doing online, Internet safety is a top concern for them. According to the June 2007 Symantec poll, nearly nine in ten parents (88 percent) express concern about keeping their child safe when he/she is online and about three in four (76 percent) are specifically concerned about their child being approached with inappropriate content or solicitations online. As part of the same poll, youth reported the following:

· Twenty-one percent of children have reported having an experience with inappropriate material via the Internet that made them feel uncomfortable
· Eighteen percent of children have had an experience with cyberbullyng or cyber pranks (such as receiving messages, images or videos intended as a joke or prank)
· Twenty-three percent of children have had an encounter with a stranger on the Internet, including seven percent of children who reported having met someone in the real world from the Internet
· Twenty percent of children wish their parents were more interested in using the Internet

So now it's time for you to Sound Off! Do you let your kids go on the net all the time and don't monitor what they're doing? I know that I've been finding myself curbing my kids' Internet surfing - you never know when they could wind up on the wrong page!