More and more children are receiving their first mobile device each year, making internet safety a hot topic and concern for parents and educators. June is Internet Safety Month, and I am excited to share with you how Sprint is providing tools and resources to help parents manage their child’s technology use, from Internet safety to using a wireless phone responsibly. I hope you’ll be able to take advantage of some of these valuable resources.
4NetSafety
Sprint’s 4NetSafety website provides parents with tools and information from Sprint, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The website offers tips and tools related to many online-safety topics, such as cyberbullying, gaming, online predators, privacy, safer use of smartphones, sexting, social networking and Web cams.
If you’re worried that your child isn’t going to fully grasp the responsibilities that come with owning their first mobile phone, establishing some ground rules can be really helpful. To give you a little help, your friends at Sprint have put together a parent-child mobile phone “contract,” or agreement, that includes a list of rules you might want your child to follow, such as situations and times of the day when they shouldn’t use their phone, providing you, their parent, with their password, and more.
Some of the rules might seem great, and some might seem like they’re not quite the right fit for your family. But don’t worry, it is a customizable contract. Parents can simply remove, edit or add your own rules so that the mobile contract you and your child sign and agree to is everything you want it to be.
Online Activities for Teens
Sprint has also partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide online safety education to Middle School Educators through the NetSmartz Workshop. One of the many great resources is a web site for teens called NSTeens.org where tweens and teens can get tips for online safety through fun online games and videos. I love this resource. It truly reaches out to kids on a level they can relate to. If you have tweens or teens, I encourage you to check this site out.
Sprint Guardian
Sprint is also safely connecting families with Sprint Guardian and Sprint Drive First services. Sprint Guardian is a mobile application bundle that can help parents enforce responsible phone usage and keep families safe. Apps within the Sprint Guardian bundle allow parents to: lock their child’s phone on demand or schedule locks, locate kids on a map and set up automatic location checks to get notified that kids made it to school safely and on time (Family Locator), and automatically lock teenagers’ mobile phones when they’re driving (Drive First). For more information about these services, check out my recent review of the Sprint Guardian and Drive First services.
disclosure: Press materials provided by Sprint. As a Team Sprint Ambassador I receive products and services from Sprint. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
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Kudos to Sprint for helping parents control their child’s use of cell phones.
I can see how this would be useful for phone curfews and punishments (if needed).
I know I couldn’t take calls on our home phone after 9 p.m. when I was growing up.
So glad Sprint is doing something to help, Internet safety is so important, especially for teens.
I’ll have to check this out since I have Sprint!
THanks, we are currently ATT customers.
I love that they are doing this.
This is great. I hope this becomes the new “thing” for all carriers.
I need to do this for my son who is 12.
Online safety is very important.
My 10yr old has been bugging us about getting a cell phone or tablet. Kudos to Sprint for providing parental controls. Our contract with a competitor is coming up for renewal; we will definitely take Sprint into consideration.