Moms and mentors, there is so much we can chat about today, and until late last night, I thought our discussion was going to be about either modesty and the impact of fashion on our culture after reading a great article at MODsquad or on the impact of raising our kids based on the Barna results shared by Courtney at Women Living Well.   But.  That.  All. Changed.

Last night, as I was watching American Idol with my girls (yes, we’ve become an Idol family and that can be a discussion for another time), my 12 year old daughter gasped in the middle of a commercial.

“Oh, no, mom.  Look what he posted.”

She showed me her iPod touch with a picture of a sixth grade girl she knew from her former school posted on Instagram with words to0-harsh-to-repeat-here written across her face. The image was created by a male classmate, likely taken from a photo this girl had originally put on Instagram, and slammed her character with a potentially devastating, long-term, life altering accusation that wasn’t at all true.

I was shocked and a little confused.  My daughter doesn’t have Instagram, so how did she get this into her hands.  Well, her other friend, who does have Instagram, saw it, took a screen shot of it, and texted it to my daughter.

Can you keep up with this? 

My daughter was outraged and wanted to get an Instagram account immediately so that she could reply and tell that boy, well, things I don’t even want my daughter saying…even if they are true!

Moms, do you see how quickly the use of social media can spiral out of control?

As a mom, I felt helpless!

And then I felt frustrated, irritated by the fact that these parents have no idea what is happening as they kids are tucked away in their bedrooms or watching TV in the den.

I am sure they are good, Christian parents who want the best for their kids. 

But they are not engaged. 

They’re not talking to their tweens and teens. 

They are not setting boundaries and following through with interaction.

Honestly, I don’t blame the kids. They’ve been given tools to wield wild damage without any restraints or consequences.

Are you one of these parents? 

Oh, please, I beg you.  Make a change today!  It isn’t too late to get involved.  Let your first step be getting informed about Social Media, which we will be talking about more and more here at More to Be.

Please join our Grace Chats conversation today our Facebook page.  If you’re a mom, mentor, twenty-something, or single gal, ask questions, tell us your story, share your wisdom, and offer us words of encouragement.

Join us at our Facebook page today as we unpack the impact of Social Media on our tweens and teens.

subscribe before you head over there, as we’ll be releasing at new Dig Deep Guide next month, Grace Rules: Effective Ideas for Parenting Tweens and Teens, which will cover this topic and many others

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