Have You Had The Talk?

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

Is The Talk about online safety replacing the Sex Talk at the top topic in the WTF-do-I-know genre? Some are calling it just as difficult and just as complicated. (And when we say online safety, I think we’re focused on sexting and bullying.) What do you think?

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Laying Down the Law, Text Message Style

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

Last week I posted this on BlogHer as part of the LG TextEd texting awareness campaign. In case you missed it – find out how my friends and I set the text rules. Read on, and share your ideas!

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The Rules on Texting Are IN

Got teens and tweens? Then you have texting. The question is, do you have rules? We do. Check out mine and others this week on BlogHer. It’s part of LG’s TextEd campaign to educate parents on texting. You *might* learn something you didn’t already know!

Make sure you leave a comment – for every one, LG will contribute $.50 to DoSomething.org.

Why Don’t You Ever Text ME?

The other morning at breakfast the kids were mercilessly teasing their dad (I don’t know where they get it from…) about his lack of tech-savvy. He doesn’t text. Not even a little.

“Dad, I text you ALL the time,” my son said. “And you, like, NEVER answer.”

I was late to the joke, however. “You text him? You never text ME!”

“Mom, chillax.”

“No, I will not chillax. I can’t believe you don’t text ME.”

Enter the family opportunist, the as yet phoneless opportunist. My daughter, who has has been angling for my old iPhone since I upgraded, says, “I would text you, Mom.”

She’s good, that one. We’re keeping an eye on her.

Check out what bloggers much fancier than I have to say in this week’s BlogHer LG TextEd Roundup.

Show Me the REAL Texts

This morning I asked my son about a friend of his, who happens to be a girl. He got all sigh-ful and rolled his eyes in response.

“So you’re not going to tell me anything? Ever?”

No response.

“I tell you stuff.”

He gave me an I-call-bullshit look and said, “Okay, let me read your text messages.”

“You want to read my text messages?”

“Yes.”

“You want to read MY text messages?”

“Uh huh.”

“YOU want to read my text messages?”

“See. Told you.”

I took out my phone and began to read a scintillating conversation I’d had (in full sentences) with a girlfriend. Perhaps he sensed that I did not read the part where we switched from professional pursuits to her out of town date. I’d left out my advice to “Wear sexy underwear.”

“Show me the REAL text messages.”

It might be fun to have something to hide. But I don’t, as confirmed by a quick sample of my incoming texts. If my son wrestled my phone away from me now, this is what he’d find:

• Can you give me directions to your house?
• Thank you for following me [less exciting than it sounds]
• Can you pick me up when your meeting is over?
• Any hotties at the Chamber?
• I have a weakness for petit fours.
• Make sure you bring your email receipt to prove you paid.
• So, I’m just finishing our pasta when my kiddo said pleeeese don’t put veggies in it this time, please just make it regular! Like we punish them with veggies. [we do]
• Ha.
• Thanks for the helpful advice, as always. [sarcastic]
• Mr. Snowman has found his purpose in life
• I’m laughing hysterically at myself in this toga!
• K
• I got a second interview :)
• Down girl.

The outgoing messages are another story. [wink]

It is just as boring.

Do me a favor, someone, anyone–please send me a text I need to hide from my kids.

Got Text? Read On, Momma

Hey all you mammoth multi-taskers ambidextrous texters, your kids are copying you. Do any of us really know what we’re doing? Sometimes I feel like the technology has outpaced the common sense, especially when it comes to kids. LG has launched a campaign to educate us all about the fast moving world of texting. It’s called TextEd – sexy, huh?

For some reason (I don’t know, maybe this post on texting?), I have been selected as an LG TextEd Ambassador. See that cool Jane Lynch badge over there on the right? Not just everyone gets one of those. Please check out the first topic of the campaign, “Mobile Meanness,” on BlogHer.

I’m sure you can expect to learn something from the others, but you know I’ll just mess around when it’s my turn. Because pretty much all I got is this: take your kids phone away when they go to bed at night. Trust me.

There are some great topics coming up, including:

• Talk the Talk: Decoding Your Teen’s Texting Lingo
• Setting Ground Rules for Your Teen’s Mobile Phone Use
• TBD – Teens and the Dangers of Texting and Driving
• Teens and the Dangers of Texting and Driving
• Sexting

I really hope you’ll have a look and get text educated. Don’t make me keep you after class!

I’ll Take Unlimited Texting Please

Recently I’ve discovered the joy of texting. In a world of ever faster, it really is faster. I’m tardy to the party, what’s referred to in marketing circles as a “late adopter.” I need but another form of instant feedback like I need another little black dress. However, I can think of nothing more fun. So as my texts racked up I worried about the potential overage costs. When I logged into my wireless account I found that while I was slightly under my plan limit of 200 texts, my son was up to 820. This was three weeks into the billing cycle.

I sensed a golden opportunity. His excess was just what I needed to institute the partial pay policy I should have started when we got him the phone for Christmas. I confronted him with the facts and told him that instead of making him pay for the overage, he was going to chip in $10 a month toward his phone bill. I swear he almost cried.

“What is wrong? You don’t want to pay?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because then I’ll have less money.”

I didn’t laugh. I did however take my platinum opportunity to ask for his phone– and read his texts. If I were a terrible person I would transcribe them here. Because they would make you laugh and reminisce over everything that was good and true and hasn’t changed about the summer before 7th grade. But I won’t. Because I am a good mother and because I am deliriously grateful about what I read there, in his private conversations with friends, both boys and girls. For now, for today–though he doesn’t realize it–my baby is as innocent as the day I brought him home wrapped in flannel and smelling like spit up. If only there were an unlimited plan for that.