Make Your Kids Safe

If you’re not familiar with this term, you’re not alone. Most parents I speak to haven’t a clue what this is. And again, therein lies the danger.

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit material such as photos and messages primarily between cell phones and the Internet.  Its primarily practiced by young adults and teenagers as young as middle-school age.

It’s becoming so prevalent that last fall, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy conducted a survey that discovered 39 percent of teens are sending or posting sexually suggested messages and 48 percent are receiving these kind of messages.

Just last week, Cynthia Logan and Internet safety expert Parry Aftab, the executive director of wiredsafety.org, (a terrific internet site that provides help and education for all types of Internet and mobile device dangers)  went on the TODAY show to talk about Cynthia’s daughter Jessie who committed suicide last year at the age of 18 as a result of “Sexting”.

Jessie had innocently sent nude pictures of herself to a boyfriend. When they broke up, he sent the pictures to other high school girls. The girls then harrassed her calling her names like slut and whore. This left Jesse feeling depressed and afraid to go to school and eventually led to her committing suicide.

Because of incidents like this, law enforcement is now involved.  Sexting is now against the law as it’s considered child pornography. A juvenile that sends, receives or possesses photos could be charged with pandering obscenity involving a minor, a second-degree felony. If over the age of 18, the charge changes to disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. In both instances, anyone found guilty would have to register as a sex offender for as long as 15 years.

So Make Your Kids Safe by speaking with your child now so they avoid the potential dangers, risks and humiliation relating to Sexting.

Dedicated to Helping You Protect Your Most Precious Investment,

Mark Luterman

About 10 days ago, as I was perusing through my local newspaper when I saw the following, “Tearful mother urges law against ‘cyberbullying’” .  Now if you’re not sure what cyberbullying (or as some spell it cyber bullying) is or how dangerous it has become, you’re not alone!

Cyberbullying is when another child using mediums such as the Internet, emails, mobile phones or other types of technology attacks a child. The attack can be in the form of a threat, harassment or humiliation.

It’s extremely easy and that’s why many experts believe that this form of bullying can be more dangerous than regular bullying that takes place at school because it can occur at anytime throughout the day. You see, with regular bullying at school, a child goes home and the bullying stops. With cyber bullying, a cyber bully can use text messages, instant messages, emails and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and You Tube to continue harassment repeatedly.

And at the end of the day, if your child is a victim, it can cause serious emotional damage.

That’s what happened to the mother in the newspaper. Her daughter was the victim of an attack by classmates who set up a public online profile on MySpace that used “very explicit and vulgar language” to describe her daughter.

The offenders got away with a slap on the wrist and now she is asking state legislators to outlaw cyberbullying.  And she may get her wish. There is currently a bill being drafted that would extend current law banning harrassment through email to other forms of online communication. The bill would make cyberbullying a misdemeanor crime punishable by a maximum of a year in prison and a $500 fine.

And as a parent and someone who has done a lot of research on this topic, a bill like this was long overdue!!!

Dedicated to Helping You Protect Your Most Precious Investment,

 Mark Luterman

At last, I have finally started what has been long overdue. And that is a site that will help parents keep their most precious and important investment, their children, safe from three very important subjects. But before I disclose these subjects, I want to refer back to the title of this blog called “Protecting Your Most Precious Investment”.

It’s so important because it is the one and most important investment in our lives which we can and should protect and can positively affect in perpetuity.  Can you say that about your other investments such as your stock and bond portfolios, the value of your house, the interest you receive on your checking and savings accounts, your overall net worth?

Unfortunately, we are in the greatest financial turmoil/crisis since the Great Depression and in my educated opinion, it will take years before we recover from the hole, we as a country have dug ourselves into. (I’m often asked about my opinion on how we got here, how long this recovery will take, how does one protect themselves in the future and what will be the likely outcome of this crisis. That will be left for another day although I will try to fit in my opinions over the next several weeks within the future topics on Make Your Kids Safe).

But let me get back to these three immensly important subjects. They are, in no particular order:

        A) Internet Safety

        B) Child Identity Theft; and

        C) Credit Card Debt

I mentioned above that it’s been long overdue because a sizable part of the “Make Your Kids Rich” system, which I developed last year and has been used by many many children , is teaching children how to become world-class entrepreneurs and leaders as 60% of all millionaires are entrepreneurs. (see www.makeyourkidsrich.com). However, after utilizing all my past experiences and successes as an entrepreneur to create this system, I discovered the potential risks and dangers that exist when:

                   A) Children utilize computers and especially the Internet.   

                   B) How child identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United

                      States and without proper monitoring by the parent, the child’s credit

                      standing  could be adversely affected well into their adult life. And

                      unfortunately they don’t discover this until they apply for a student or

                      car loan, financial aid or even a credit card; and

                   C) Credit Card Debt-The unknown epidemic leading our children to rack

                      up uncontrollable debt that cannot be repaid. And this happens

                      because we as parents do not properly educate our children

                      on how to properly budget and how to save money. 

Does “C” look familiar to you? It should. It’s one of the reasons for what I described above as the greatest financial turmoil since the Great Depression. We live in a culture of accumulating debt without having the proper financial resources or liquidity to pay them off. Look no further than a negative 1% savings rate over the past twenty years to realize why so many people are having financial hardships.

So, I want this site to be a resource for you to help you protect your most important investment and I hope together, we will garner a huge following so we can positively impact as many children as possible. I will commit myself to writing at least one educational and informational blog each week, starting next week, with a very important topic currently obtaining a tremendous amount of attention, “Cyberbullying”.

Stay Tuned for What Promises to Be a Wonderful and Interactive Experince!!!

Dedicated to Helping You Protect Your Most Precious Investment,

 Mark Luterman