1. Learn the Risks

When you put a cell phone in your child's hands you're not only giving them access to the world, you’re giving the world access to them. Today's cell phones are not just mobile telephones. Everything that can be done from an Internet-connected PC can also be done from a cellphone. Text messages, Instant Messages, emails or phone call – It has never been easier for the wrong person to communicate with your child.

Just about every child has a cell phone these days, which makes them very difficult to monitor. They can be used at the mall, in friends’ homes, or other places where there are no adults to provide direction. Children can use advanced cell phone features to bully each other, providing multiple ways for harassment to take place. Recent surveys indicate that:

• 47% of children have received e-mails with links to pornographic websites. (Symantec market research report, June 9, 2003)
• 86% of the girls polled said they could chat online without their parents’ knowledge, 57% could read their parents email, and 54% could conduct a cyber relationship. (Girl Scout Research Institute 2002)
• 30% of teenage girls polled by the Girl Scout Research Institute said they had been sexually harassed in a chat room. Only 7%, however, told their mothers or fathers about the harassment, as they were worried that their parents would ban them from going online. (Girl Scout Research Institute 2002)
• Yet 59 percent of parents would still provide a cell phone to a child under the age of 12 if their cell phone provider offered an easy-to-use parental control application. (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “Parents’ Internet Monitoring Study,” February 2005)

RADAR Parental Control will give you the peace of mind of knowing when unapproved communications happen and what the Instant Message, text message or email contained. With phone calls you will see the number and duration of the call. Without parental control, a cell phone in your child’s hands can be an invitation to trouble…