Internet Safety and Teens

Teens will explore the Internet.
 
The ready availability of virtually anything and the generally unrestricted access the Internet provides is an irresistible draw to any teenager looking to explore. As a parent, you need to do what you can to keep them safe. Clever teens will get around nearly any form of parental control placed on the computer. It’s better in the long run, and much easier in the short term, to teach your teens to use the Internet safely.

1: Virus Protection.
The Internet is full of threats. Viruses show up all over the place, from e-mail attachments to embedded in downloads to fake programs. It’s essential that any computer your teen uses have adequate virus protection installed and kept up to date. It won’t stop a virus from being willfully — if accidentally — installed, but it will help eliminate most threats.
2: Safety Add-Ons. 
There are a number of utilities that can help make browsing technically safer. Spybot: Search & Destroy has an excellent immunization feature that blocks known danger pages from ever loading. Adblock+ is an add-on for most browsers that removes advertisements, including those embedded with malicious code. A good firewall can also help keep threats out.
3: Safe Browsing Habits.
Even the most sophisticated protection in the world won’t stop dedicated human error. It’s best to educate your teens on some safe browsing habits. Some good lessons include “if the virus scanner stops the download, don’t download it again,” “don’t download e-mail attachments from anyone you don’t know,” “learn to recognize advertisements pretending to be legitimate content,” and more.
4: Withholding Information.
The most dangerous thing a teen can do online is give out sensitive information to someone willing to misuse it. Teach them never to give out sensitive information. This information includes passwords, full real names, social security numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, usernames and other identity information. Anyone who has a legitimate reason to need some of that information can get it in other ways. No one will ever ask for it through e-mail unless they’re trying to steal it.
5: Complex Passwords.
Bad passwords are easy to guess, easy to brute force break and easy to steal. Good passwords are harder to remember, and people tend to write them down or set them to input automatically, which can be just as dangerous. Teach your teens to use good passwords and remember them. It doesn’t have to be a messy combination of letters, numbers and symbols. A good password might simply be a long phrase with capitalized words, a number and some punctuation. Such a password is easy to remember and hard to guess.
Accidents will happen. Everyone steps outside their boundaries at some point in their life. With some education and some safe browsing habits, your teen will learn firsthand after a major virus, and not identity theft or something more dangerous.

Special contributor: Paul Taylor

Author Bio:
Paul and his wife Julie both spend quite a bit of time coming up with ideas, blogging, and researching all things related to childcare. They take care of all the necessary information related to “babysittingjobs.com/”. He personally thinks his blog will help finding information on all things related to a babysitter.

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7 Common Ways Students Cheat

It’s no secret that students cheat. 

On exams, on papers, on projects: no matter the assignment, someone out there has figured out a way to cheat on it. And the statistics are alarming: two out of three college students admit they have cheated on homework, and 19% have cheated on exams, according to a recent study.

View slideshow: Back to School: Common cheating habits

Whether it’s because of shifting morals or access to technology, it’s clear that cheating is as prevalent as ever. If you’re a teacher who wants to crack down on cheaters or a student who wants to take the easy way through school (shame on you!), these are the most common ways students around you are cheating.

1. Looking at someone else’s answers during an exam happens, but it’s much more common for students to copy a peer’s homework routinely. Many students don’t even see it as cheating. Not only is it unfair to the student who is actually doing the assignments and being taken advantage of, it hurts the person doing the copying as well. By copying homework, students don’t practice what they’ve learned and perform worse on exams. One study found that copying homework can cause a student to score two letter grades below those who completed their homework on an exam testing the material. Remember, practice makes perfect, and practicing cheating won’t help you in the long run.

 

2. Some cheaters are learning one thing: you get what you pay for. There is a world out there that honest students can’t even comprehend — the term paper market. Academic papers (and grades) are bought and sold like any other good. There are many different options for finding a term paper to turn in (besides the obvious, do-it-yourself option), some free, some a little pricey. Free term paper sites, like OPPapers.com and BigNerds.com, have a small selection and lower quality. Sites with papers for purchase, like AcademicTermPapers.com and PaperStore.net, sell term papers with a per-page price and actually earn students B’s frequently. And some wealthier students even hire someone to custom-write their essays. If you fall into any of these camps, you better cross your fingers that your professor doesn’t ask you any follow-up questions about what you’ve "written."
3. Smuggling a cheat sheet into a test is so common that you’d think teachers would’ve figured out how to spot it by now, but students keep getting more and more creative. If they would put as much time into studying as they do into imagining ways to cheat, they’d probably do just fine. Students have come up with ways to hide cheat sheets in their pen caps, wallets, ID badges, gum wrappers, Band-Aids, and basically anything you can think of. But if you’re trying this, you better be sly. It’s hard not to look suspicious when continuously checking that piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe.
4.Cellphones have made it much easier for students to cheat; instead of passing obvious paper notes during an exam, they can discreetly text a friend for answers. More than a third of teens with cellphones in 2009 admitted they had used them to either store information for a test or to text a friend during an exam. In the same 2009 study, researchers found that almost 25% of students didn’t even think that was cheating. Maybe if a teacher sent them a text message defining cheating it would get through to them.
5. The camera technology in cellphones has also presented a challenge to teachers and education officials. Even if a student isn’t using his cellphone to text the answers to a friend, he could easily snap a photo of the test questions and send it to a friend taking the test later or post it on the Internet. Earlier this year, California encountered this problem on a major scale regarding its high school exit exam. Hundreds of photos of the standardized test popped up on social networking sites; some were innocent, like students posing proudly with the exam booklet, while others were clearly taken for the purpose of cheating.
6. Writing papers isn’t everyone’s strong suit, but that’s not a good reason to copy and paste your writing from someone else's work. With the Internet, it’s easier than ever to find brilliant words that fit your assignment, and you can just use the handy copy-paste function to transfer paragraphs in seconds. But the Web also makes it easier for teachers to catch cheaters. A quick Google search of suspicious phrases can quickly locate sources you do not cite, and Turnitin.com has become a favorite for discovering how much of an assignment was plagiarized.
7. Some studies find that sorority and fraternity members cheat more than other American students. This could be a result of the easily accessible test banks many fraternities and sororities maintain. The organizations keep tests from certain classes and professors on file, and current members just add to the collection as they take updated tests, different courses, or new professors. This isn’t necessarily cheating if the professor knows that his test is being distributed and changes it every term, but many courses use the same test questions for years without knowing the answers are stored in a Greek system’s test bank.

Source: Online Degree Programs

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10 Things Every Parent Should Know About Over-the-Counter Medicine Abuse

Drugstore medications can be dangerous!

Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines like painkillers and cold medicines are generally safe when used as intended. But if your teen takes them in large doses to get high, they can be dangerous and even life-threatening. Many young people abuse cough medicines containing dextromethorphan, among other drugs. Get the facts on this disturbing trend.

1. The statistics are frightening:
Government surveys show that 3.1 million people age 12 and older have misused OTC medications in their lifetime—with nearly 4 percent of misuse among those younger than 18. Nearly 6 percent of 10th graders and roughly 5 percent of high school seniors report abusing cough or cold medicines, particularly those containing dextromethorphan.

2. Dextromethorphan goes by many names:
Pharmacists may call this medication DXM. On the street, it's also known as dex, poor man's PCP, CCC, rojo, skittles, triple C, velvet, or robo. Abusing it is often called robotripping, skittling, or dexing. You can find DXM in more than 125 over-the-counter products, including Robitussin, Vicks, and Coricidin HBP.

3. The dose makes the difference:
Fifteen or 30 milligrams of DXM three to four times daily quells adults' coughs with few side effects. Teens who abuse it sometimes take 250 to 1,500 milligrams at a time. Too much DXM and mixing it with other drugs can cause medical emergencies, such as overdose or even death.

4. Abuse leads to highs—and lows:
Depending on the dose, the effects of DXM include feeling either overexcited or lethargic. Low doses may be mildly stimulating. The more teens take, the more likely they are to experience hallucinations, euphoria, and a feeling of being outside of their own bodies.

5. The health dangers are real:

In the short term, abusing DXM can cause nausea, vomiting, numbness, abdominal pain, slurred speech, dizziness, paranoia, and increased heart rate. Long-term risks include dependence, high blood pressure, and problems breathing because of nervous system effects. Teens who abuse DXM suffer from impaired senses, which may lead to life-threatening accidents.

6. Some teens create deadly combos:

Over-the-counter products with DXM often contain other ingredients, including acetaminophen and the drug guaifenesin, which relieves congestion. These drugs have their own dangers at high doses, including liver damage and rapid heartbeat. Mixing DXM with other drugs intensifies the risks—for example, DXM can be fatal when taken with antidepressants.

7. Many teens have easy access:
Liquids, capsules, and tablets containing DXM are readily available at drugstores, supermarkets, or convenience stores—as well as in parents' medicine cabinets. Some teens order high-dose DXM powders online or visit websites that have "recipes" for more potent drug combinations.

8. DXM isn't the only drugstore danger:
Young people also misuse laxatives, emetics, and diet pills. They may begin by trying to lose weight but gradually become dependent on ingredients such as ephedrine, caffeine, and phenylpropanolamine. Like speed, these substances stimulate the central nervous system and can be fatal.

9. Abusers often leave telltale signs:
Talk with your teen regularly about the dangers of abusing OTC drugs, and watch for red flags. Be concerned if he or she takes large amounts of cold medicine. Keep an eye out for missing medicine from your own cabinet, as well as drug packaging in your child's backpack or bedroom.

10. With help, teens can stop misusing drugs:
A support team can help your family face—and overcome—OTC drug abuse. If you suspect your child has a problem, talk with a school nurse, doctor, or other health professional. Other sources of information and support include school counselors, faith leaders, other parents, and community anti-drug organizations.

Source:  Healthgrades.com

Teen Drug Use: 10 Warning Signs

Parent denial is very common. Not one parent wants to admit that their own child may be drifting off in a negative direction. However if you ignore the obvious signs, you are no better than condoning this substance abuse.

Tips to help prevent substance abuse:
 
1. Communication is the key to prevention. Whenever an opportunity arises about the risks of drinking and driving or the dangers of using drugs, take it to start a conversation.
2. Have a conversation not a confrontation. If you suspect your teen is using drugs, talk to them. Don’t judge them, talk to them about the facts of the dangers of substance abuse. If your teen isn’t opening up to you, be sure you find an adolescent therapist that can help.
3. Addict in the family? Do you have an addict in your family? Sadly many families have been effected by someone that has allowed drugs to take over their lives. With this, it is a reminder to your teen that you want them to have bright future filled with happiness. The last thing you want for them is to end up like ____.
4. Don’t be a parent in denial. There is no teenager that is immune to drug abuse. No matter how smart your teen is, or athletic they are, they are at risk if they start using. I firmly believe that keeping your teen constructively busy, whether it is with sports, music or other hobbies they have, you will be less at risk for them to want to experiment. However don’t be in the dark thinking that your teen is pulling a 4.0 GPA and on the varsity football that they couldn’t be dragged down by peer pressure. Go back to number one – talk, talk, talk – remind your teen how proud you are of them, and let them know that you are always available if they feel they are being pressured to do or try something they don’t want to.
5. Do you know what your teen is saying? Listen or watch on texts or emails for code words for certain drug lingo. Skittling, Tussing, Skittles, Robo-tripping, Red Devils, Velvet, Triple C, C-C-C-, Robotard are some of the names kids use for cough and cold medication abuse. Weed, Pot, Ganja, Mary Jane, Grass, Chronic, Buds, Blunt, Hootch, Jive stick, Ace, Spliff, Skunk, Smoke, Dubie, Flower, Zig Zag are all slang for marijuana.
6. Leftovers. Are there empty medicine wrappers or bottles, burn marks on their clothes or rug, ashes, stench, etc in their room or if they own a car, in their car? Teens (and tweens) either take several pills or smash them so all of it is released at once. Be sure to check all pockets, garbage cans, cars, closets, under beds, etc. for empty wrappers and other evidence of drug use. Where are your prescription drugs? Have you counted them lately?
7. Body language. Tune into changes in your teen’s behavior. Changing peer groups, altering their physical appearance and/or lack of hygiene, eating or sleeping patterns changing, hostile and uncooperative attitude (defiance), missing money or other valuables from the home, sneaking out of the house, etc.
8. Access to alcohol. Look around your home, is there liquor that is easily accessible? Teens admit getting alcohol is easy-and the easiest place to get it is in their home. Know what you have in the house and if you suspect your teen is drinking, lock it up! Talk to them about the risks of drinking, especially if they are driving.
9. Seal the deal. Have your teen sign a contract to never drink and drive. Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) www.saddonline.com provides a free online contract to download. It may help them pause just the second they need to not get behind that wheel.
10. Set the example, be the example. What many parents don’t realize is that you are the leading role model for your teen. If your teen sees you smoking or drinking frequently, what is the message you are sending? Many parents will have a glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage, however the teen needs to understand you are the adult, and there is a reason that the legal drinking age is 21.

Do you have a teen that you suspect is using drugs? Have you exhausted all your local resources? Take the time to learn about residential therapy, visit www.HelpYourTeens.com. Each teen and family are unique, there are many teen help programs, knowing how to locate the one best for you can be a challenge, however Parents’ Universal Resource Experts in can help, starting with a free consultation.

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