A new celebrity backed prepaid debit card, called SpendSmart,recently launched and is aimed to attract tweens, teens and their parents. I wrote a column critical of the bank card because it had penalty fees and it was endorsed by teen idol, Justin Bieber. The CEO of SpendSmart asked me to take a second look, which revealed how the penalty fees could be avoided, and clarified that Justin Bieber is the ambassador, and that SpendSmart was not a “celebrity card” like the scorned Kardashian card of 2010. I will be publishing the second look in the Sacramento Cyber Safety Examiner column later this week after a conversation with a Sacramento-based banking professional who is also a parent of teenagers.

Nevertheless there remain concerns about children being targeted for commercial exploitation in the network. Below is a preview of the second look and my thoughts about the importance of helping children recognize personal motivation to purchase products or services, especially financial instruments.

Blind spots are the stuff about our children’s lives that we cannot experience or know unless we are open to receiving data about our children, from sources other than our own children that in most cases does not conform to our expectations.

There always have been blind spots in parenting.

However, the advent of the Internet and the mobile phone transformed the dynamics for communications with societal implications that leveled hierarchies at work and home; the model for formal authority that was once tied to social structure (position) carries less significance than it did for previous generations. Titles like “president”, “teacher” or “parent” carry less inherent authority. In a flat world, where hierarchies are traded for networks, authority is more related than ascribed.

This Tuesday, our guest will be Marie Hall, Executive Director of BeMoneySmartUSA, a non-profit in Carmichael that offers free financial literacy training for youth and employment opportunities through their Farmer’s Markets. Their “Head start to finance” trainings start Feb 9 and continue every Saturday through May 25 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

More than ever, girls need to know they are valued, have a sense of validation from a main man (father figure), and that know that their worth cannot be found by seeking attention from strange men. If the father is not available, then an uncle or a big brother can provide the fatherly spirit of love and acceptance.

How can girls experience genuine fatherly love?

CyberParenting Topics on TheFish103.9FM Tuesdays.

Are you and your children having conversations about the things in life that really matter?

Children need to believe that rules and boundaries exist because their lives are important; because they are precious and loved. And most importantly because their personal liberty is a product of honoring the correct boundaries.

The correct boundaries reflect God’s love which respects the individual and holds the individual accountable. God has given us the …

So in order to be secure, our children must first be resilient.

Resiliency involves accepting the things they cannot change about themselves and circumstances, and then having the confidence, courage and the wisdom to change the things they can.

In this regard, parents who love children who are different demonstrate how to build resiliency in our children.

Our children are raised in a network culture that rejects boundaries and limits. What I love about Peggy’s book is it illustrates how allowing children to be entitled is actually disabling them. In today’s consumer culture where parents have become first and foremost consumers, and then “friends,” it is so important that as we provide for a modern lifestyle that also includes the blessings of discipline and character.

In this context of the global network culture amplifying all things changing and uncertain, the American Republic is a model of authority that empowers us to confront the bully, or the insecure side, which for the founding fathers was simply defined as tyranny.

Social media network contacts are superficial at best – and deceitful and dangerous at worst. The real relationships are not simply connections. Below are some ways in which there can be confusion.

CyberParenting Topics on TheFish103.9FM Tuesday mornings.

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The cyber technology is incredibly seductive and encourages folks to “let it all hang out”. The impulsive nature of a point and click environment (i.e., who is going to stop me?), needs to be countered by the reality there is no privacy on-line and there are real-world consequences for inappropriate conduct.

So the role of the parent on Facebook is that of a guardian, much like a lifeguard, …