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    Schools Don’t Seem Safe Anymore
    Child Control, Child Monitoring, Parental Monitoring

    What Parents Can Do When Schools Don’t Seem Safe Anymore

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    This is a question that I think parents ask in countries plagues by war might ask themselves everyday but not a country like the United States. Parents now legitimately are in fear of sending their kids off to school where they might be gunned down by someone who they might have known their entire lives. It is a sad sad situation where as a parent we must only strengthen our resolve and do everything we can to look after our children better. Gun violence in the United States of America is sad state of affairs and whatever the solution may be, the problem still persists. There are more deaths by guns and gun violence in the United States of America than anywhere else in the developed world. There have been over 20 incidents where a firearm has been discharged at a school premises in 2018 alone and bear in mind we are only three months into the year. There has been an average of 1.4 school shooting per year in the United States. The Sandy Hook incident and many others like it before left us shocked, horrified and ashamed that we allowed for such things to happen. The response from the government has not yielded any results. As a parent these circumstances are more than just troublesome. What do we do if the government or any other department cannot keep our children safe? Parents Need to Take Things into their Own Hands If you feel as if though there is no one that will ensure the safety of your kids, start doing it yourselves. Honestly, there is nothing more important you can do as a parent than look after the safety of your own child. But what exactly can you do? Well number one, you start by actually looking after them! Yes, actually look at what they are doing, who they are hanging out with, who they are interacting with etc. You will need to make an active effort to get to know your child’s life and look after them. You might be wondering why it might be important at all to know who they interact with at all. Well you see out of all the school shootings that have occurred, it was almost always an individual that the children knew. There have not been many incidents like these where the culprit was not someone the victims knew of already.  Now, your child might not notice the signs of this individual but you- an adult might instantly be able to recognize the telltale signs of a maniac. You can of course accomplish all of this using the features XNSPY. XNSPY has actually been specially catered towards parents worried about the safety of their children. It allows access to messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Kik and more. It is your one stop shop to monitor your children’s interactions and behavior. Speaking of behavior, children and teenagers all display behavior differently. As a parent you are the only one who knows your child’s behavior the best and can identify signs related to aggression etc. But of course, you are not around your child all the time and even more so with the online world- who knows what they might get up to there. But with XNSPY you can know. Some parents might scoff at the idea of their children being at fault. But it is exactly this sort of dismissive attitude that leads to children becoming more and more secretive and even more aggressive. Have you ever considered the idea of your own child becoming the next school shooter? Immediately reading this you would want to close out of this window. I know, it is a natural response. I would too if someone accused my child of being a murderer. But the fact of the matter is that the individuals who gunned down innocent children at schools were in fact also children and teens. They had parents too, they had lives as well. Now this is not some attempt at humanizing these monsters. But it is not interesting to think that these shootings might have been stopped if their parents looked after them? If their parents took a more active part in their lives, monitored them, monitored their behavior.  The Florida shooter ‘showed every red flag’ and if his guardians had been more observant things might have gone differently. Are We Doing Everything we can to protect our kids? It is easy to be dismissive of your child’s attitude, it is easy to ignore their many mistakes, it is easy to be lazy but it is not easy to lose their lives of because of this. You will need to take a more active part in your child’s life, I keep repeating that because it is lost on so many parent’s ears. Please for the love of your children’s live take care of them and look at what they are watching, what they are doing, who they are interacting with. It does no good to anyone if you let them be. That is just lazy and you should be ashamed if you do this. You are their parents and you are allowed to take whatever means necessary to ensure their safety. No one is going to do it for you I you do not do it yourself. (https://nuttyscientists.com) Which brings things to my next question. How much exactly are we doing to ensure our children’s safety at home. And by home, I mean their surroundings, their society, their country even. Right now, a child could easily purchase firearms from any private seller without question- as this video demonstrates. This is not safe for anyone around the child, and not safe for the child them self.  We have seen government regulations fail time and again and the number of school shooting has increased dramatically instead of decline. Thus, like I said before, we need to do everything as parents to ensure the safety of our kids. ‘We’ as in the

    Educating the kids about alt-right moment
    How To

    How to Educate Your Kids about the Growing Alt-Right Movement on the Internet

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    The internet is a place where everyone is allowed to share their idea relatively openly and freely compared to real life. This means that sometimes some controversial ideas and thoughts will also be shared. Over the past few years on the internet the seed of a universally disliked ideal is beginning to grow and spread its roots everywhere. Whether in the form of harmless jokes or violent political affairs no one can deny the fact that Nazism is on the rise. The world has seen the absolute dread, fear and hatred that the Nazi Party brought to the world. It had to take the combined forces of the world to bring them down and show the world their true colors. Now that same ideology is being fed to your children though the internet and you do not even know about it. It has crawled its way up in discussions on the many forums on the internet, on social media websites and apps and even YouTube. Your children are consuming this media on a daily basis and without you knowing it are becoming indoctrinated into an ideology that has led to millions of deaths. A Growing Real Life Threat Every Parent Should Worry About You might have heard of the atrocious Charlottesville incident where people were killed by white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and far-right groups. These were the real life consequences of the online breeding of the Nazi far-right movement. You might be thinking right now-’Well I did not know it started out on the internet’. Well you see the entire far-right movement has arguably taken it’s rebirth on social media sites and apps and your child might as well be a part of it. Neo-Nazis have become an increasing threat to deal with. The group continues to spread hate speech and other violent agendas, while they cannot do so freely in real-life, the internet allows for them to quite openly. How can you be sure though? If the movement has gone on undetected on the internet for so long who is to say that your child is not one of the many members of the horrible movement? No one of course wants or believes their child to be at fault ever, but if you are willing to take a more active part in your child’s life you must always gather all the facts and truths about their lives and then confront them with it if you discover anything disturbing. XNSPY is a great way to monitor your child and observe their behavior over the internet. This parental control app allows parents to monitor parts of their children’s to them that are otherwise hidden. This allows for parents to intercept any problematic behavior and actions. Children and teenagers will not reveal their private lives to their parents and will of course will try even harder to hide their involvement in movements like Nazism from their parents. So parents need to take special measures in order to ensure. Spread on Social Media and other platforms You would have ever expected to see Nazism re-appear nearly a generation later on forums on the internet. The online forum known as 4chan has been more or less the center of this movement. The forum has made the news several times and still continues to do so to this day. This forum/ board began as a harmless place to discuss anime, TV shows, music and even share memes. But over time it evolved into a place where the only rules as that there were no rules and anything was allowed. Pedophilia and pictures of underage girls were allowed on the site until 2007. The portion of the site responsible for the spread of far-right Nazi ideologies however, is the /pol/ section. This section is a cesspool of racist, disgusting, xenophobic ideologies all coming together in one place to discuss and spread ideas. It is truly one of the most hateful places on the internet. Other places that have consistently made news for Nazi ideologies being spread is YouTube. PewDiePie, the most subscribed to channel on the website was brought under fire when he made some un-sensitive jokes about Nazism and Jews. PewDiePie was only making jokes however. Nazi ideology and imagery flows freely on the site still. Just think of how many hours your child spends a day on YouTube watching seemingly harmless content. YouTube is itself quite slow to ban such outlets. After international public outcry, the site finally banned a Neo-Nazi channel for hate speech. Imagine if not for the public speaking up, this channel would have gone on unnoticed. So you see just how important it is to look after your kids and look at what they are watching. The content they consume on the internet has become a daily part of their lives and thus it has become even more important for you as a parent to look at what your child is doing. If you think about it- a large portion of their lives remains hidden from you and it would continue to be this way if not for parental control apps like XNSPY. XNSPY allows you to monitor calls, texts, internet browsing history, activity on apps like Facebook and many more. The app gives you a unique look into your child’s life and allows you to intercept threat before they actually become threats. Your child or teenager may become very politically active or even aware at some point and it is a crucial time for you as a parent to monitor whether the ideology they support is harmful or not and then talk to them about it. If you feel as if though they are hiding something from you- then you already know the means necessary to know what they are hiding. (Xanax) But if you feel as if they are being honest and following an ideology that is not damaging to themselves and society in general then support them in any way you can.

    Child Control, Child Monitoring

    ‘March for Our Lives’ Proves that Children are Taking Safety in their Own Hands

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    At XNSPY, we are concerned with the safety of children and how parents are able to have a better grip of safety over their children. As a parent, you can only do so much to have some sort of sense of surety, you can have curfews, tell them to come back home at a certain time, drop them off to places yourself and see them leave with your own eyes. But that’s all you can do. When they’re on their own, they are independent and have to make decisions on their own. You leave it up to them. You can trust them to know better if you’ve taught and raised t The tragedy that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida saw one of the worst mass shootings in recent history with 17 were left dead an 17 more wounded. Over two dozen school shootings in 2018, the kids had had enough. The March for Our Lives Movement has shown us that our children are more than capable of taking care of themselves and  as it is the children who lead the pro-gun control rallies across the US in one of the largest expressions of opposition in the modern age. The impact of the student led opposition was so massive that demonstrations took in 800 locations all over the world. Led by the survivors of the Parkland Shootings, the March for Our Lives protests included young diverse victims of gun violence from all around the country in an attempt to push for gun reform. They sang, chanted and challenged their parent’s generation for an effective way to remove violence from their societies and schools once and for all. Speakers included a diverse crowd including siblings and friends of those who had been lost to gun violence. “I’m here to speak for those youth who fear they may be shot while going to the gas station, the movies, and the bus stop, to church or even to and from school. I’m here to speak for those Chicago youth who feel their voices have been silenced for far too long.” Trevon Bosely said. Martin Luther King’s granddaughter, Yolanda Renee Kind told the crowd:” I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun-free world, period.” Shortly before the event ended, Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Parkland shooting took to stage for six minutes and twenty seconds. She was silent for much of the duration. She then broke her silence and said that her silence was the same amount of time the shooter took to kill 17 people at her school and to silently merge into the crowd. Victims of previous shootings were highlighted too as thousands of students marching the streets of the entire nation overwhelmed Mark Barden, father of seven year old Daniel who lost his life in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 was left overwhelmed. “To me, it looks like our entire nation is finally on board.” Barden spent 5 years legislating for stricter gun control with the support of the Obama administration. That faded away and he was left legislating for it on his own. Children and Their Safety For children in the US, it had become increasingly dangerous to go to school just to receive an education for fear of gun violence. Not just in schools but out in the streets, at a gas station, in an alley by their favorite movie theatre,  young people are threatened by gun violence at an alarming rate and as much as parents can do to make sure their children safe when they can’t be there physically there, there comes a time when they are risk. And if they see an increasing amount of it, they will speak up about it. The bravery of the children involved in the March is astounding as they continue to fight for stricter gun control, ensuring no one else goes through the same loss and tragedy that they did. For them to collect themselves so fast to rally the entire country together under one umbrella is also commendable.  Something we adults haven’t been able to do, our kids did for us and they did it for everyone. Children of this generation are often wrote off as being not interested in the current issues and too indulged in their devices to do anything about themselves. Just earlier this year young people were being written off for the ‘Tide Pod’ challenge, (yes that was this year!) and yes, how stupid that may have been, teens and young people are not people who are unaware. They have proved that through the bravery of trying to change the country for a better after suffering for far too long. The leaders of the very movement and the ones who started it are children, the victims of the Parkland shooting and along with other young victims of gun violence over the years. The start of 2018 was a very turbulent time as over 15 school shootings took place where an active firearm was discharged. We here at XNSPY rarely indulge in political content or commentary. This issue however directly correlates with our values and what parents would actually want to read and would want to know. Parents, be proud of your child for taking part in the dialogue and encourage them to take actions that would effectively keep them safe and you at ease. For it is the safety of your child that is all of our main concern. The march lives on as activists are pushing every member of Congress to attend a Town Hall for Our Lives, which is a conjunction of the March for Our Lives and Town Hall Project which works to pressure members of the Congress to hold regular Town Halls in their districts. The main focus of the events will on gun control and gun violence. If you haven’t already taken part in raising a voice, you’ll still get an opportunity!

    Instant Messages Monitoring App
    Parental Monitoring

    Keeping a Watchful Eye on Instant Messages—Part 1

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    IM industry has seen a sudden surge with thousands of free messaging apps hitting the app stores across all different platforms. These apps are fast becoming the primary choice for making calls, exchanging messages and multimedia for the youth in particular. You perhaps use WhatsApp to text more often than you use your phone carrier’s SMS service. But instant messaging has many times, taken a dangerous form becoming one of the growing concerns with parents these days. Kids use WhatsApp for 70% of their text conversations. Instant messengers are growing exponentially and will continue to grow as better, faster, and dare I say it—more instant ways to communicate are invented. And this is where XNSPY enters the scenario. With an already impressive range of monitoring features in their portfolio, XNSPY empowers parents to monitor WhatsApp, Viber and iMessage chats of their children via their smartphones or tablets remotely. Kids tend to be careless with the personal content they have in their phones. Phones can be hacked, and their personal photos and credit card information misused. XNSPY found that these are the two things parents are most concerned about when it comes to kids on IMs. According to FBI, 20% of teens overall agreed they sent a semi-nude or completely nude photo of themselves online. XNSPY has tapped on a potentially worrying aspect for parents as these messaging apps are otherwise impossible to monitor leaving parents in the dark about their kids’ online behavior. An app like XNSPY tends to be the first step toward a more organized parenting presence in a child’s online life. So of course we’re going to provide parents the equipment they need to be more digitally active where their kids are concerned. XNSPY basically makes parents more informed about their children and how they socialize online and monitor if their kids are oversharing. And this is done without being intrusive. The best part is that we have kept the user interface of the app extremely easy. Parents can. After installation, parents can just log onto the XNSPY control panel and read through WhatsApp, Kik, iMessage and Viber messages and monitor Viber call logs and multimedia shared via these apps by clicking on the relevant tabs. The other great part about this app is that it comes with an affordable price tag. So, the next systematic question you’re bound to ask is… how exactly does monitoring instant messaging work? How can I install an IM monitoring app on a target phone? Fear, not readers. Part 2 of this blog is going to be a tutorial. Stay tuned if you’re looking to learn more!

    Game of 72
    Child Monitoring

    Game of 72 – Why Parents Should Not Leave Their Kids Unmonitored

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    This new Facebook craze has taken over the social media as a sinister trend. Compared to last year’s contender Ice Bucket challenge (which was at least for a good cause), this one is far more disturbing. By the end of this read, you will definitely consider actively monitoring your kids. This trend may also be a deathblow to a recent Free Range Kids movement, elucidating how leaving kids on their own can be extremely DANGEROUS! This nefarious challenge called the Game of 72 involves daring other teens to disappear for 72 consecutive hours without any contact with their parents. They will only ‘win’ the challenge if they end up as missing person and are left unfound till the time is up. The game that inspired the hashtag #Gameof72 originated from France where a 13 year old girl named Emma disappeared for three days. On authority’s enquiry, she mentioned nothing but that she played the Game of 72. The trend is slowly creeping into United States and is already linked to the disappearance of three school girls who were eventually found together in Westcliffe, Southend-On-Sea without any harm (thankfully) To the Water or a Restaurant It’s not the first time the world has seen a crazy trend prevailing from France. Last year, social media users started a challenge where a person either pays for someone’s meal or they jump into a river. The stunt caused death of a teen who drowned after throwing himself into the river. Cinnamon Challenge Then we had the cinnamon challenge which involved swallowing scoops of cinnamon. Well it did end of with some Lungs injuries and poisoning, It’s a Warning Sign for Parents This challenge is an eminent reminder for parents that tracking their kids’ social media activities is extremely important. A parental control app that can lookout for what teens are sharing on social media can essentially help parents premeditate their kids’ activities. Educate Them It’s also pertinent that parents educate their kids about the risks of social media. They should also learn to use social media so that their kids find themselves in a comfort zone where they can discuss their online issues.

    Teen Smartphone Use
    Child Monitoring

    4 Myths about Teen Smartphone Use Debunked Using XNSPY

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    I feel like I have some explaining to do. I’ve always used this blog as an outlet to warn you guys about what could go wrong with smartphones use. I had reason to take that route. A bit of shock therapy to drive parents into taking action and monitoring well. But I need to clear the air and tell you that smartphones and tablets and gadgets aren’t all bad. I will admit, smartphones—and the hyper connectivity they provide—can be really messy. But use it well, and it gives your life the boost you need. Heck, I got a job out of sitting around browsing the internet all day. So today, I really want to take this time and clear up some misconceptions about teens and smartphone use that parents have developed over the years. And we’ll do this using our XNSPY monitoring app. 1. Smartphones Make You Stupider Many parents think that being wired in all the time makes their child dumber. Perhaps it is because it has decreased our attention span. Or perhaps it is because it is a constant distraction that hinders productive study time. So what’s the truth? Fact is that with smartphones, information is just a tap of the finger away. Kids today research more. They aren’t afraid to be inquisitive and ask questions, because the internet provides answers. However, if you are afraid your child isn’t using their phone for informational purposes at all, you can use XNSPY to go through their browser history and see what they’re doing yourself. 2. Smartphones Make Us Aloof Here’s another thing that smartphones have been blamed for: evoking antisocial behavior in children. Which is ironic since this is the era of ‘social’ media. So what’s the truth? It is interesting when you think about it. Smartphones are simultaneously blamed for hyper connectivity and no connectivity. But when you break it down, you’ll notice that much of the time your child spends on their phone is to communicate with other people. Text with their friends, on Facebook chats or video conferences. 3. Texting is Ruining Language Texting and IM language has always been blamed for promoting bad grammar. Parents think that the convenience of writin lyk dis ultimately makes the child perform badly at school. So what’s the truth? Studies have shown that texting has encouraged more kids to read and write. Not only this, but it forces them to think creatively. A 2008 paper by Mark Peters found that teens that find creative ways to text turn out to be great writers. Besides, using abbreviation in written communication is older than texting. 4. Gaming Apps Encourage Violence Parents always think that if their kids play violent video games on their phones, it in turn induces violent behavior, or at the very least, violent thoughts. So what’s the truth? I think it has been proven time and time again that video games have no correlation with violent behavior. Still, you can use XNSPY to see the list of installed apps in your kid’s phone. If you spot a game that you think is too inappropriate, give it the axe. Of course, you are going to have play moderator to make sure your kids aren’t falling into the deep end with smartphones. But that’s what your monitoring app is for! Recommended for you: Employee Monitoring Software – Spy Employees Remotely  Parental Control App – Cell Phone Parental Control Software  

    Parenting styles
    Child Monitoring

    How to Find Harmony in Different Parenting Styles

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    There are probably as many parenting styles as there are parents. The problem arises when two different styles are trying to parent the same children. Apparently, moms and dads inherently have different approaches to raising children as it is. So finding a stride that works for the relationship and the kids is pretty challenging. But step back and you’ll realize that the very differences that create conflict are actually a blessing in disguise. The key is to find harmony in them. Here’s how. Knowing When it Hurts the Kids Growing up, my parents had a good cop, bad cop thing figured out and while they struck a good balance, I had learned to use it to my advantage. You’ve got to find a way with your different styles that doesn’t hurt the kids. Don’t defy the other parent’s rules in front of the kids Don’t make the kids pick sides Kids, like me, will learn to pick the side to break rules, get a benefit etc. The kid might automatically listen to the parent that provides more leeway You might confuse the kid—they won’t know how to behave or what rules to follow Picking Your Battles Partnering up to raise kids requires quite a lot of compromise. You and your partners obviously have your own set of values and rules that you want to impart on the children. But when the values collide, you have to start picking your battles. You and your partner for example may not agree on dating roles for your kids. But find areas that you do agree on and build from there. Stand your ground in matters that affects the child’s wellbeing, such as staying out late (even though your partner doesn’t see the problem in it). But go easy on other things, such as certain dress code your partner wants the kids to abide by. Avoiding Constant Conflict If you disagree on your partner’s approach with your children, bring it up in private. Don’t defy them in front of the kids. People adopt parenting styles based on the experiences of their own when they were growing up. Talk about why the rules you are setting for your kids matter to you or what sort of impact you want to make on your child. Differences are Good! Finally, learn to celebrate the differences. It is easy to view the subject of different parenting styles in terms of conflict. But really, different styles are great. They create balance and nurture the child through different aspects of their personality. Your partner might be better equipped for certain facets of parenting than you are. So don’t make your differences a point of contention that pull the children in opposite directions. Find harmony in them and above all else, make sure that both your styles are in the best interest of the child. (cat3movie.org)

    Child Monitoring

    The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Spring Break & Easter 2015 for the Struggling Parent

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    It’s almost Easter! Which means you just have a few more days to go before the spring break ends. (https://bolivarescapes.com) And if you happen to be a parent to a teenager, trust me, we understand your pain especially during this time of the year. Because this is the time where you try to figure out what’s worse: kids staying in the house or kids staying outside the house. Fear not, struggling parent. We’ve put together the only survival guide you’re going to need to get through this Easter break unharmed. Here’s what you have to do. Plan Out Activities in Advance I’m not the biggest fan of preplanning, but if you’ve got kids that want their spring break to be eventful, it is going to be worth it. Sending your kids to spring camp? Taking the family on a tropical vacation? Stopping by the national park as always? List down all these activities and prepare a schedule. This way, you won’t have to spend your time worrying where your kids are. Keep a Log of all Festivities Happening Around You This is also that time of the year when music and spring festivals are happening all around you. All the cools kids go to these. So why wouldn’t your kids want to go? The only problem is that these festivals harbor a sort of, shall we say, drug culture. And you wouldn’t want your kids around that. So keep a log of all music and spring festivals that are happening around your area. Then use parental tracker to make sure your kids aren’t sneaking off to them. Track All Your Phones, Gadgets to Avoid Losing Them If you happen to stop by any of the local festivities as a family, install trackers in all your gadgets. It is super easy to lose your stuff in crowds like these. Especially when half your time is spent trying to get all your family in one place. It is also going to help you find your kids in case they get lost. Don’t be Tempted to Overshare on Social Media So you’re probably be visiting a lot of places with your children around the Easter time. But whatever you do, don’t be tempted to share your location any time you go to a new place. I think we’ve shared enough oversharing horror stories with you in the past. But really, we cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t overshare, but more importantly, don’t let your kids overshare. Be a Vigilant Parent You are going to have to step up your monitoring game this Easter break. Mostly because this time has a bit of a reputation for causing reckless behavior among teens, especially when it comes to underage drinking. I suppose it is the sense of freedom or a loss of inhibition that drives that. But you’re going to have to be more vigilant than usual. And pro tip, plan a quite night in for the Easter weekend. Have fun with the kids and be together as family. And hang in there, you’ll get through this! Happy Easter!

    Child Monitoring

    10 Tips for Being Superb at Long Distance Parenting

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    Being away from your kid with any degree of permanence is difficult. You could’ve relocated because of work, you could be deployed, your child could be studying abroad, or worst case scenario—you could be separated from your partner. But knowing that you’re probably going to miss out on many important moments in your kid’s life… now that’s the tough part. Except we’re in 2015, which means it doesn’t have to be that tough anymore. Long distance parenting is snazzier than before. So whatever your reason is for being away from your child (whether temporarily or permanently), you still can be a pretty good parent. Just follow these tips. 1.      Schedule Regular Talks The first thing you’ve got to do when you’re a few miles away from your child is to communicate regularly. And by regularly, I mean having a proper schedule that you abide by no matter how busy you are in your separate lives. Sure it’s easier to find common time when you’re all living under the same roof. But as the parent, you’ve got to take initiative to step up and be the one that makes the telephone call, or has a Skype conversation or gets on Viber. 2.      Have Meaning Conversations Here’s the other aspect of this communication thing. It’s got to be about more than just you asking them if they’re feeling okay or if they’ve done their homework. It’s got to be more meaningful so that you’re still connected to them. If you saw Linklator’s “Boyhood” recently (the film that took 12 years to make), there was a really interesting scene where the dad (played by Ethan Hawke) picks up his kids from their mom’s house and forces a conversation out of them. To me, this scene gave a pretty smart perspective on what makes a long distant parent versus what makes an estranged parent. 3.      Stand Your Ground with Rules Just because you’re away, doesn’t mean you have to slack off with the rules. At the end of the day, you’re still a parent. You’ve got to set rules, create boundaries and make sure your children stick by them. A lot of long-distance parents go easier on the kids to appear more likeable to them. But honestly, don’t get into that headspace where you think your distance will be played against you. What would go against you is when you slack off when it is truly the time to parent. 4.      Parent Digitally Like I said earlier, there are way more tools for long distance parents now than there were before. You can discipline and monitor your child in a similar way to if you were with them in person. Parental controls will help you watch over their internet activates, communication, and locations. You can set alerts so you always know if they’re doing something troublesome. And you could keep up with their lives as well. It provides a constant link between you and you kid that makes the distance easier to deal with. 5.      Communicate With Co-parent If you’re away from your kids because of a separation or divorce from your partner, chances are you’ll be doing quite a bit of co-parenting. So keep in mind that you’ve divorced your partner, not your children’s parent. You need to keep on communicating with them, because they’re the ones living with your kids, and they might know a few things about them you don’t. 6.      Snail Mail Whenever Possible Sending a handwritten note or putting together a thoughtful care package every once in a while is a good idea. It’s probably going to be harder than communicating online, but the tangible quality of snail mail speaks volumes and is bound to make your kids feel special. 7.      Plan Online Activities Together A lot of parents struggle with virtual visitation. Does it turn into a Ethan Hawke in Boyhood situation we mentioned above? Does it only consist of your lecturing them? Which is why it’s good to plan online activities together. Watch a show together, or play a two-player game, or look up some fun stuff together. Find something you both enjoy. 8.      Keep Up With Their Peers Another great thing about parental controls is that it helps you keep up with your child’s friends, teammates, or other significant people in their lives. They might have relationships with schoolmates that trouble them, but they won’t be able to voice their concern. So it helps if you’ve already found a way to keep up with them. 9.      Keep Up With Their School Contact their teachers every now and then and get reports on how they’re doing in school. You can learn a lot about their behavior, performance, or troubles by speaking to their teachers. And at the end of the day, it will let you help them out in a useful way. 10. Be Present Even When You’re Not The most important thing about being a long distant parent is to ensure the kid that you’re a constant presence in their lives, even though you’ve moved away. Your kids need to know that they can still talk to you when something goes wrong, or just because they want to. They need to know that you’re still going to be a part of their life, even when you don’t live under the same roof. If you’ve done that part, then hey, you’ve  succeeded at long distance parenting! Recommended For You: Safety Tips for Kids Who Cannot Have Enough of Pokémon Go XNSPY Helped Me Build Trust With My Child Times When XNSPY Comes to the Rescue of a Single Father to a 16-Year-Old

    Child Monitoring

    This Psychiatrist is Encouraging More Parents to Say ‘No’

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    Robin Berman is a psychiatrist, MD, and a parenting group leader. She’s also a published author of the book “Permission to Parent”, which has been noted for its rather polarizing concept of the hierarchy of family. But essentially, what she says in the book is that more parents need to tell their children ‘no’. What Berman has noticed about parenting styles in the recent past is that parents have given up their roles as leaders. In an attempt to be loving parents, or to correct the narrative of their own childhood demons, they let their kids assume the dominant role. And when the hierarchy is infiltrated, the ‘nutrients’ a child would need to become a well-balanced, well adapted adult is gone. Here’s Berman explaining her stance in her own words. Berman thinks parents these days are too protective, too soft with their children. Which means these kids have no coping mechanism when they finally get out in the real world. They are thrust into competitive sports, or school, or work. But because they never learnt to take a ‘No’ at home, they don’t take well to a No offered by employers, teachers, even their peers. Previously, we’ve talked of how excessive praising causes narcissism in children. And I think Berman is talking about the same principle. She wants parents to parent. To step up and create limits, but do it in a fashion that is constructive rather than oppressive. Because as she points out, the way you talk to your children becomes the way they talk to themselves. You don’t want their self-narration to be derogatory and harmful. These are a few takeaways from her parenting style: Learn to tell them “No” to teach them resilience. Appreciate them when they have put in hard work, or done a selfless deed Allow your children to become problem solvers They may not always succeed, but that is part of the process Let them take responsibility, even if they have to experience failure Sure, this parenting style is more headstrong than others. But it is useful if you want to nurture your children into becoming practical, emotionally equipped young adults. It is in every parent’s instinct to treat their child like they are the most special person in the world. And that’s a wonderful thing… but it mustn’t be all words and smoke. The best you can do is give them the tools to try, know that they will fail, but get back up and try harder. That’s what will truly make them special.

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