Free Parent Workshop Takes a Look at Sexting, Snapchat & Selfies

Today’s teens are online all the time. And by the time you’ve figured out which social network they’re using, they’ve already moved on to the next, newest thing. Keeping up with your teens and their technology is confusing. So, too, is figuring out the potential risks of all of these services.

Luckily, help is available – from both a local expert and the teens themselves, who will speak at a free parent workshop. "Sexting, Snapchat & Selfies: What Parents Need to Know About Teens Online," will be held on Thursday, February 27 from 7:00 to 9:00pm in the second floor project room at Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School. The event is free and open to all members of the community. Refreshments will be served.

The workshop is targeted at parents of children in grades 5 through 12, and will offer an overview of the most popular social networks being used today, including Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Student leaders from Melrose High School will present information about the social networks used most often in the school, and will answer questions from audience members. Sophie Godley, Clinical Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, will discuss the dangers lurking in cyberspace and offer tips for parents who need to guide their children through confusing and potentially dangerous situations. As Godley explains, “If parents and other caregivers don't guide a child through cyberspace, with its vast trove of sexual content, someone else -- such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna or Justin Bieber -- will.”

“One of the biggest issues with social networks at the middle school level is that children use them as a means to be cruel to one another. It is far easier to say something mean online than it is when you are looking at a person in the face,” says Molly Magee, an 8th Grade Guidance Counselor at MVMMS. “Kids don't realize that anything they put on the internet never truly goes away and is therefore very hard to take back. It is important that parents are familiar with the various social sites so that they can better monitor how their children are using the sites, and support them in using the Internet positively and safely.”

A follow-up workshop will be held on March 25, with Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and ADA David Solet, head of the Middlesex DA’s Cyberprotection Division. This workshop will focus on the legal issues involved with navigating cyberspace, and will include a discussion of real-life cases from Middlesex County.

These parent workshops are being sponsored by the Safe STEPS for Teens Project, a partnership between the Melrose Alliance Against Violence and the Melrose Public Schools to promote healthy relationships. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact MAAV at (781) 662-2010.