Learn Family Mobile Safety with Me, My Kids, & AT&T

If you read my blog you know that I think family safety is important. This goes for the internet, computers, television, and mobile phones. Kids are susceptible to inappropriate content from a variety of sources, and they need to be protected.

Not too long ago my kids and I were chosen by AT&T to get the word out about mobile family safety. My 9 year old girls had some good advice based on what I have taught them about using their phones.

And now I am working with AT&T to teach other parents about mobile family safety. You might wonder what you need to watch out for. Here are some things that come to mind:

1. Internet Browsing – The most innocent Google searches can sometimes bring up inappropiate content. We don’t want little eyes seeing things that they should not. This might lead to a convo that Mom or Dad is just not ready to have!
2. Texting While Driving – Both teens and adults are guilty of this bad habit. Your life is more important than replying to that text message. Encourage your teens to wait to reply to their text messages when driving.
3. Sexting – Teens are naturally curious about their sexuality. While this is a natural occurrence, as parents we want to protect them for as long as we can. While it might be time and perfectly innocent for your daughter to have a boyfriend at 15, you still want to make sure that she is not engaging with older men, sex offenders, or someone that does not have her best interests at heart via text messages.
4. App Purchases – Unprotected app accounts can rack up a ton of money if kids are allowed to purchase. There were stories on the news not too long ago about parents receiving bills for hundreds of dollars because their clueless little ones were happily playing games and clicking “Buy Now” when prompted to add more fruit, zombies, or whatever to their games.

These are just some of the issues that may be presented once your children reach smartphone age. As parents we want to be educated on how to prevent these problems. Depending on your carrier there is software that you install directly on the phone that can allow you to monitor and control usage. Some carriers even allow you control access right in your account via the web. Check with your carrier for more details. And stay tuned to this blog for more tips coming up soon.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by AT&T. All opinions are my own.