babybloomr

OK, you’ve heard of LG Mobile Phones, right?

Well, they launched this great program for those of us who live with text-messaging teens– they describe it as “designed to provide parents with with the know-how and the resources they need to promote responsible mobile phone usage among their text-savvy children.” Which is a fancy way of saying, “You parents need to get your head out of the sand and find out what your kids are doing!”

They did a lot of research on the subject and discovered all kinds of cell phone abuse going on out there by teenagers– scary things like ‘sexting’ (sending explicit photos or texts), harassment, gossip, bullying, and forwarding inappropriate images just to name a few. It’s enough to give a mother a migraine just thinking about it. Their research also showed that many parents are completely in the dark about a lot of this stuff. So they put together an advisory council of experts and started a campaign to educate parents and offer them some helpful strategies on how to deal with their teen’s texting behavior– which is actually a tremendously  good idea.

They also selected some mommy/family blogger-types to participate in the program as “LG TextEd Ambassadors”– and I’m one of them!

(Feel free to refer to me as Madame Ambassador from now on. *practices Queen Elizabeth wave* I sincerely hope there is some kind of sash involved. Or perhaps a small tasteful tiara.)

Here’s the deal: If you have a teenager in your life who communicates by text messages (and trust me, they ALL do!), this is a great resource. Please go and check out their main page– the latest topic is called “Mobile Meanness” and some of my favorite bloggers have written posts that contain some important and eye-opening information in it. Feel free to join the discussion and add your comments. ( And yeah, I’ll admit it, I kinda want to show off what incredible readers I have!) I’ll be contributing a post in the next few weeks and will keep you guys in the loop when it’s coming up.

This is a campaign I truly believe in, and I’m excited to be part of it.

(Do you know any parents or teens that could use a little straight talk about texting?)

Someone in this house recently started driving.

(In the interest of privacy, I will not reveal his/her name, but it rhymes with Schmatty Prose.)

He/she is actually a really good driver– careful, conscientious, responsible, and focused. Displays consistently good judgement. No texting, answering a cell phone or driving around with a carload of teenagers. We are very proud of him/her.

However.

According to every parent I talk to, apparently there is a rite of passage that is just about inevitable with a relatively new driver that is known as Their First Wreck. Thankfully, our child’s initiation into the world of fender benders did not involve another driver. Actually, it involved the side of the garage which luckily for all concerned does not happen to have legal representation or a penchant for litigation. Our poor child was just horrified, but as Russ later pointed out in a text he sent to him/her, “I forgot to warn you when you’re backing out,  those sneaky garages can jump right in front of you!” Also, he/she was not remotely injured– thank you sweet Jesus. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for that, I am not even kidding.

However.

It was my car. *sigh*

And in related news: anybody know a good, reasonably priced paint and body shop in the Nashville area? We’ve decided to bypass the insurance company on this one…

I would love to hear some ‘first accident’ stories from you guys– inevitability loves company, you know!