How To Know If Your Kids Are Sexting

My parents really had it easy with my brother and me. All they really needed to worry about was making sure we got home in time for dinner and that we kept our grades up. The parents of today have so much more to stress about, all thanks to smartphones.

It absolutely scares me when I see how much time my teenage nieces spend on their smartphones. When I was there age, I had to use the family phone which was up on our kitchen wall, to communicate with my friends. Smartphones have changed the ballgame. Texting is now the preferred means of communication amongst kids. It is quick, convenient but not very personal at all.

Even scarier for me is the increasing sexualisation culture amongst teens and the so called “sexting”!

This list below which was originally published by KTXL, shows just how scary it has become. So if you happen to get hold of your child’s cell phone and notice one of these, alarm bells should be going off!

1. IWSN – I want sex now
2. GNOC – Get naked on camera
3. NIFOC – Naked in front of computer
4. PIR – Parent in room
5 CU46 – See you for sex
6. 53X – Sex
7. 9 – Parent watching
8. 99 – Parent gone
9. 1174′ – Party meeting place
10. THOT – That hoe over there
11. CID – Acid (LSD)
12. Broken – Hungover from alcohol
13. 420 – Marijuana
14. POS – Parent over shoulder
15. SUGARPIC – Suggestive or erotic photo
16. KOTL – Kiss on the lips
17. (L)MIRL – (Let’s) meet in real life
18. PRON – Porn
19. TDTM – Talk dirty to me
20. 8 – Oral sex
21. CD9 – Parents around
22. IPN – I’m posting naked
23. LH6 – Let’s have sex
24. WTTP – Want to trade pictures?
25. DOC – Drug of choice
26. TWD – Texting while driving
27. GYPO – Get your pants off
28. KPC- Keeping parents clueless

Scary isn’t it? If you allow your kids to use a smartphone, you need to know what they are using it for. There are some ways you can monitor their activity without invading their privacy and there are two options:

1. Your first step would be to investigate with your mobile carrier. Every one of them should offer some kind of tool or app that will allow you to track your Childs locations, allow you to block downloads, keep them from texting while driving or limit the amount of data or time spend on their phone.
2. Your other option would be to visit the iTunes or Play stores and explore the many monitoring tools available. These apps should allow you to monitor how many hours your child spends on the phone, it will allow you to set up schedules where you can turn it off during school hours or bedtime, track telephone calls, texts etc. You must also look for an app that will allow you to monitor which apps are being downloaded and limit the amount of time spent on them.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to monitoring your children’s activity over his or her smartphone. Every family will need to figure out what works for them.