Why your teen should not be expected to respond immediately to parents’ texts and calls Bonus link to a guide for grooming your child for cyber safe use of smart devices One of the main reasons parents decide to equip their child with a mobile phone is the belief that instant communication with them will keep them safer. Nevertheless, while equipping kids with mobile devices makes us feel that our children are safer, if we are not careful to educate and train them about the purpose-driven use of the mobile device it actually poses new risks.

Texting and driving is a natural response to a very compulsive temptation. There is science behind the fact that cyber powered communications inspire the same addiction as drugs or alcohol. A recent article shared by a Banana Moments contributor, Erik Wood, President of Otter App, a text life management app, describes how adults are doing when we expect teens not to do. Texting while driving is not a teenage problem; it is a human problem with all drivers of all ages. Wood developed OtterApp after his three-year-old daughter was nearly killed by a woman who was texting while driving. “She looked like a pillar of the community and she was completely oblivious to what she was doing behind the wheel,” Wood said. “And so I realized this was going to be a serious problem. We needed to find a better way to manage the texting tool so we can be safe.” OtterApp enables the user to quickly set “driving mode” which sends automatic replies to texts saying you are driving and will get back to the person texting you. The app also enables you to establish times when the device goes into silent and auto-reply for doing homework, dinner hour, etc.

...The voices in this edition offer practical perspectives and ways to demonstrate good faith with our children dealing with the modern issues growing up in a cyber-powered world including maintaining open parent-child communication, overcoming distraction and learning issues, recovering from risky choices, bonding in single parent households and blended families, and empowering children to create a peaceful society.

No LOL. New research shows that safe teen driving is about training for competency and state driving laws are structured differently. New drivers 18 years or older are not required to receive the training and provisional licensing, and they are less safe that younger teens with learner’s permits. Dr. Kelly Browning is the Executive Director of Impact Teen Drivers, a Sacramento non-profit dedicated to promoting a safe teen driving culture through awareness and education. “Turning 18 years old is not a magic number,” Browning said. “Parents need to understand that they are the ones ultimately who determine what is right for their child. And each child may be different.”

It is true that under the right circumstances and the wrong thinking, we are any of us capable of anything. In the network, this couldn’t be truer. As one teenager put it, “Everything is situational.”

April is Distracted Driver Awareness Month and a couple of weeks ago Allstate and the National Safety Council sponsored an event at the Jean Runyon Theater in Sacramento to help parents understand their pivotal role in teaching teens to be safe drivers. The event featured Second City comedy skits and helpful insights from John Ulczycki, Vice President of Strategies for The National Safety Council... ...The anticipation of Google Glass inspired preemptive legislation in West Virginia to make it illegal to wear the Google fashionable mobile device while driving, as reported in Hands Free Info a few days ago.