Chapter 1 of Rosalind Wiseman‘s update of the best selling book Queen Bees & Wannabes explores the role of technology in the lives of parent and child relationships. It’s worth a read for that chapter alone! Ms. Wiseman offers actionable tips for parents on how they can use technology to keep up with tech savvy teens. In the section “Using Technology for Reconnaissance” Ms. Wiseman advises parents of teens to have them take a camera phone picture of where they are when they are checking in. For a “very sneaky kid, make her take a picture that includes something to indicate the date and time,” according to Ms. Wiseman.

Parents can further take advantage of the technology to fill in the “information vacuums between parents” by befriending other parents using social networking sites like Facebook. According to Ms. Wiseman teens will sometimes exploit the lack of parent-to-parent communication to mask where she is or with whom. It’s an age-old trick — “Jenny’s mom is taking us to pizza and a movie.” Facebook friending and having Jenny’s mom’s cell phone number can seriously reduce that information fog.

Are your online accounts and information safe? You should first ask yourself whether you know how to avoid getting “phished.” Phishing is when cyber crooks trick you into giving them your online username and passwords by masquerading as your online bank, email provider, social network etc.

Phishers send you an electronic communication, usually an email, that you would swear is from your bank, mortgage company or webmail provider. But it’s not. The message tells you that there is great urgency to log in to your account to avoid some problem such as your service being shut down or your bank account being closed. The email links you to a Web page that, again, you would swear belongs to your bank etc. But it doesn’t. It’s fake. When you type in your username and password you have actually just given it to the phishers who are using the fake site. You’ve been phished.

The best way to avoid being phished is to learn the signs of a phishing scam. There are a lot to look for and we recommend playing games to learn how. Both the Federal Trade Commission’s OnGuardOnline.gov and our friends at Carnegie Mellon University have created games to help users learn how not to be phished. Take a moment and play the below games. Who knows, it may save your sensitive personal information.

• FTC’s OnGuard Online Phishing Scams Game

• Wombat Security’s Anti Phishing Phils Training Game (developed by Carnegie Mellon University Researchers.

For more GetNetWise resources on recognizing secure Web sites watch the following GNW How-To Video Tutorials:

• How-To Recognize Secure Web Communications in Internet Explorer and Firefox Browsers

• How-To Send Securely Sensitive Information Over a WiFi Network

We’ve certainly discussed the topic of web video and your family, but today the New York Times lays out some more good advice for how to address sites like Hulu.com and YouTube with your kids.

It’s that time of year again – time to start research on the Web for that perfect family vacation, weekend getaway or beach trip! the Internet is so much apart of our daily lives, it’s hard to imagine how we ever got by without it. Gone are the days of the “National Lampoon’s Vacation”-style family getaway…now we can plan ahead for that trip to Walleyworld and find out well in advance if the park’s going to be closed. Or if that hotel we pass by will take a personal check.

Here are a few helpful sites to help plan this year’s amazing vacation with your family.

Travel with the Kids at About.com

One-Tank Escapes for Seven Cities and Family Travel Ideas from BudgetTravel.com

Fodor’s Plan Your Trip Online, Frommer’s Trip Ideas and Travel Services & Ideas from The Lonely Planet

Weekend Getaway Deals from Amtrak.com

Flight Status & Delay Reports and National Traffic and Road Closure Information from the U.S. Department of Transportation

If you have a smartphone, don’t forget to download some helpful travel apps as well to take with you on the go at Blackberry App World,  iPhone Apps and the Nokia Ovi App Store for starters. Let us know where you’ve done research on the Web to plan your family’s vacation by leaving a comment. Have safe and happy summer travels!

As a parent or guardian of a teen or tween today, you’ve probably heard ad nauseum about “sexting” and the dangers associated with this risky behavior. What you don’t hear much is practical advice for preventing it and how to talk to your kids about it. Resident experts on youth online safety issues have come to your rescue at ConnectSafely.org with these insightful points on both what sexting is and how to talk about it with your children.

A printable PDF version of the webpage is available along with some thoughtful dialogue on the issue from online safety experts, Anne Collier – “Sexting overblown? – yes and *no*” and Larry Magid – “Teen sexting – troubling but don’t overreact“.

If you’ve been looking for an interactive way for your kids to access the wealth of fun, educational and age-appropriate content on YouTube, check out Kideo Player – a new “family safe YouTube” interface. Kideo Player is a parent-created resource that is easy to use, even for the littlest ones. Videos are accessed by pressing the spacebar and are generated randomly – don’t’ like the video showing now? Just hit the spacebar again and up comes the next one.  It’s also ad-free!

The “Poke” button at the foot of the player takes you to the site for the company that helped develop Kideo Player in case you’re interested in sending feedback or seeing what others have to say about the resource.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy announced last week that they are opening their free electronics recycling initiative to all of their nationwide stores. This was cause for joy in my household, where there are currently two out-of-date laptops, one dilapidated desktop and no fewer than four old cellphones lounging about taking up precious space. Did I mention this is a free service? There are a few notable exceptions to what they will accept (nothing with freon) and there is a $10 fee for monitors, TV’s and CRT’s. But they are offsetting that fee with $10 gift cards in exchange. Not too shabby!

Spring cleaning is almost upon us, so this is a great time to take an inventory of those old CE products you have that need to be recycled. Also, take a look into other options for recycling and additional resources for where you can drop off at www.MyGreenElectronics.org. This site also offers important advice on how to protect your privacy by deleting information off of your old hard drives and cellphones.

Here are a few other notable green campaigns to check out:

Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program (recycle cellphones and accessories for victims of domestic violence)

AT&T’s Cell Phones for Soldiers (turn your old cellphone into a prepaid phone for our troops overseas)

Apple & the Environment (iPod and cellphone recycling)

This weekend presented a couple of interesting articles regarding teens and their habits for using MP3 players and cellphones. No surprise for any parent (or acquaintance for that matter), teens listen to their MP3 players louder than adults and are rarely using their cellphones to talk but rather to text. While these issues are not directly related to one another, it is always a good time to reflect on how our kids are using their electronics and how we can use these reflections to set boundaries for safe habits.

Time.com featured an article on CNN this morning about preventing hearing loss from MP3 players. While this article mentions the iPod specifically, I think it’s better to relate this to ALL MP3 players and personal music electronics, including cellphones – many of which are now being used in place of a separate MP3 player. The Consumer Electronics Association has a great reference guide for parents concerned about this issue at their site, DigitalTips.org, “The Safety of Your Ears is in Your Hands”.

The Washington Post ran a piece in the Sunday Technology section, “6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost?”, regarding a local mother and her surprise about the number of text messages her 15 year-old daughter sent and received. It used to be that parents would be taken by surprise at the physical cost associated with texting, not having an unlimited texting plan with their carrier. The concern in this article was related more to the potential toll of always trying to resolve life’s problems in 140 characters or less. As someone who, though not in the same demographic, also prefers to text over talk, this piece made me stop and think about my own habits. For some great information regarding wireless kid safety, check out these tips from CTIA – the Wireless Association. Food for thought!

Safe Eyes Mobile is a new product announced two weeks ago by InternetSafety.com of Atlanta, GA. It’s an internet safety tool for the iPhone. With the new Andriod app store on the horizon, it will be interesting to see more apps like this being developed!

More info about Safe Eyes Mobile is available at www.safeeyes.com/iphone.

GetNetWise is a partner of the new GetGameSmart initiative from Microsoft – visit their website at http://www.getgamesmart.com/. We are thrilled to be apart of this much needed coalition to educate parents and caregivers about becoming more informed about what kids are watching, surfing and gaming.