Too much personal information – According to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 74 percent of social networking users reveal personal information, including their email addresses, names, and birthdays which can lead to identity theft and/or threats to their safety. Case in point: a student included her real name and birthday on her Facebook profile. Another student used that information to access her iTunes® account, change her password, and purchase music from iTunes, then iPods® from the Apple® Store.

Revealing pictures – A common mistake children make on social networking sites is posting revealing pictures of themselves or friends on their pages, which, when combined with too much personal information can cause serious reputation problems. In the Midwest recently, a teenage boy in Wisconsin posted pictures of his nude girlfriend on his MySpace page. He was arrested for his efforts.

Fake profiles – A group of teenage boys created a MySpace page of a fictitious 15-year-old-girl hoping to cheer up a friend who had broken up with his girlfriend. Before long, a 48-year-old man sent inappropriate messages to the fictitious girl and tried to meet her. The boys turned him in to authorities. In another case, a teenager was arrested after creating a fake MySpace page featuring one of his teachers.

Party time – In England, a sixth grade girl announced a party on MySpace. Intended for a few friends, the announcement was hacked and several hundred people showed up and trashed her parent’s house while they were out of town.

Texting while driving–Recently, as a teen was texting his girlfriend while driving, his car crossed the centerline and collided head on with a cement truck. He survived but suffered permanent injuries. A recent study by the Allstate Foundation found that almost 10 percent of teens don’t think that texting while driving is distracting and another 10 percent think it’s only "slightly distracting." Hmmm. If your teen has a cell phone and a car, perhaps a conversation is in order.

Texting in class–As any teacher can tell you, children texting in class is a real problem, too. Obviously, it distracts them from learning and it can lead to other problems including cyber bullying, and passing test answers. A math junior high teacher recently noticed that almost half her class had given the same wrong answer to a test question. The answer had been disseminated in a text message.

Texting in the dark –Sometimes, the desire to text is greater than the desire to sleep. Children have been known to text in bed after the lights go out. Usually all they lose is sleep, but sometimes they lose more. In one case, a teenage girl texting at night was lured into a sexual relationship with a 34-year-old internet predator, who is now under arrest.

Social Networking – Ask to see your children’ social networking profile and page. Make sure it doesn’t include revealing personal information or pictures. You can also Google your child’s name and see what comes up. Remember, your child can easily create one “clean” profile for your eyes while maintaining a second, more personal MySpace page. That’s why the conversation about personal information and online safety is likely more important than your personal inspection of their accounts.

Texting – If your children have cell phones, you should know where, when, how often, and with whom they “text?” If asking them doesn’t answer those questions, your cell phone bill will. You can see with whom they text and when. If you don’t like what you see, consider curtailing their phone use and/or blocking inappropriate numbers.

Plagiarism – Teachers have access to Web sites that help them detect plagiarism. You don’t have to go that far. If you see something in your children’ research reports that doesn’t sound like they wrote it, ask them about it. Also, a Google search on a suspect phrase, sentence, or paragraph will usually turn up the source of plagiarized text. Remind your children before they begin a paper or research project of the importance of turning in original work. Most schools have serious punishment such as suspension for anyone found to be plagiarizing their work.