Raising a teenager is no picnic! On one hand, you want to respect boundaries and give your growing child the freedom to make—and learn from—their own mistakes. On the other hand, you want to do everything in your power to protect your child from… well, everything.

(This article is directed at parents. Teens, read what you can do for your social media safety).

When it comes to online safety, social media has its’ own unique set of problems for teenagers… and it can go far beyond the online predator horror stories. That’s why it’s important as a parent to be involved with your teens’ online activity and guided in how to have a healthy relationship with social media.

Social Media Safety for Teens

Not every parent is active on social media

If your teen is using social media… that is a good reason why you should be too. Even if you don’t use social media actively, you should be friends with your teen so you can routinely check and see their posts. Not only will this give you a chance to see what’s really going on in their mind (because social media brings out a passive aggressive behavior in everyone) but you can also recognize inappropriate behavior or posts, such as posting personal information.  Also, teens are especially likely to express their problems on social media instead of facing them at home.

That being said, there is away to keep tabs on your kid’s social media use without ever going online.  Through parental control software, parents can monitor and restrict the use of social media apps.

Most teenagers go to social media sites their parents are not using

Most parents are surprised to learn that their child has social media accounts on sites they probably didn’t even know about. Talk to your child and make sure you know every site they are using and how those sites are used.

Every once in a while, Google the “top social media sites for teens”.  This will keep you informed about the latest trends.

Practical Privacy

Keep computers in a “public” location, rather than in their bedroom. At your discretion, it may be a good idea to routinely check computer and phone history and require that you know the passwords to all of your teen’s accounts… but keep in mind that infringing on their right to privacy may only push them further away.

In a nutshell, trust your child enough to give them leash and don’t violate their privacy without justifiable cause. However, maintain the ability to check up on your teen if they begin to show suspicious behavior. This can be achieved through an internet monitoring app.

Educate yourself and your teen about the privacy settings available on any social media app.

Here is a list of top social media sites with links to their privacy settings:

• TikTok
• Snapchat
• Kik Messenger
• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• WhatsApp
• Facebook
• Messenger App
• Twitch
• Discord
• Roblox

And remember, privacy is not only important to protect teens about online harassment.  Social media scams are on the rise. Cybercriminals gathering information from un-private social media accounts to target all of us with scam emails, texts, and videos.  Strong passwords and multi-factor verification methods are key to protecting personal data.

Communicate

Parents who openly communicate with their children are more likely to receive the same approach in response. It is critical that your teenager feel safe in talking to you, because fear of punishment can result in isolated or rebellious behavior.

During the difficult teenage years, your child will want to test boundaries. They will want to do and say things that you would not approve of. This is basic human nature. It’s important that you understand and respect this, while letting them know they can talk to you about anything.

At the same time, you should lead by example and initiate those difficult discussions with your teen. Have a deeper conversation about how social media can effect their health and wellness, including issues such as body image.  Even if you only get one-word responses when asking questions, they are still listening… and it establishes a comfortable environment for open communication in your home.

It is also important to have a discussion about cell phone safety, where kids can access social media site with ease and outside the watchful eye of parents. This raises issues of cell phone safety.

Final Thoughts

Establishing boundaries, rules, and guidelines can be applied to behaviors that are allowed on social media… as well as the amount of time allowed to spend on social media.

Internet safety is about so much more than online predators or identity theft, there are mental health and wellness issues that isolate a teen that appears to be thriving online.

Even parents can make mistakes on social media.  For example, posting about an upcoming vacation can open your home up to being a potential target by thieves.

Keep up to date on tricks and trends. Stay informed about cyberbullying and check with your child regularly about problems they may be having.  Talk to teachers to see if they are noticing any unusual behavior in your teen.   Work to keep your child safe digitally, physically and mentality.  We hope this article helped.

Continued Reading:

For younger children, explore social media safety tips for kids.

Here are a few jokes for kids that were written by kids. All of these jokes are two liner jokes in question and answer format. Some of them also contain puns (a pun on words). A pun is the use of different possible meanings for a word or using words that sound alike but don’t mean the same thing.

For example, if someone tells you a pun you could respond by saying “You’re not very punny”.

Q: What does my dog do when he goes to bed?
A: He reads a bite-time story.

Q: What do dogs do when watching a DVD?
A: They press paws.

Q: Why can’t dogs drive?
A: They can’t find a barking space.

Q: Why did the banana go to the hospital?
A: It was not peeling very well.

Q: Why did the burglar rob a bakery?
A: He needed the dough.

Q: What vitamin helps you to see?
A: Vitamin C.

Q: Why did the ice cream cone take karate lessons?
A: It was tired of getting licked.

Q: How do you make fire with two sticks?
A: Make sure one is a match.

Q: Why did the belt go to jail?
A: He held up a pair of pants.

Q: How to hair stylists speed up their job?
A: They take short cuts.

Q: Why can’t you tell a joke while you’re standing on ice?
A: Because it might crack up.

Q: What do you call a bear with no teeth.
A: A gummy bear.

Q: Where do you put barking dogs?
A: In a barking lot.

Q: Why didn’t Cinderella make the basketball team?
A: She ran away from the ball.

Q: Why didn’t the skeleton go to the dance?
A: He had no body to go with.

Q: Who can shave six times a day and still have a beard.
A: A Barber.

Q: What stays in the corner but goes around the world?
A: A stamp.

Q: Where do burgers like to dance.
A: A meatball.

Q: What day to chickens hate most.
A: Fry-days

Q: What kind of shoes to frogs wear?
A: Open Toad.

Q: What goes up but never comes down?
A: Your age.

Q: Why don’t ducks ever have spare change?
A: They only carry bills.

Q: Why was the math book sad.
A: It had too many problems.

Q: Why did the student eat his homework?
A: Because the teacher said it was a piece of cake.

Q: Where do mummies go swimming?
A: The Dead Sea.

Q: What do rabbits do when they get married?
A: They go on a bunnymoon.

Q: What do you get when an bad rabbit sits on your hair?
A: A dad dare Day.

Q: What kind of table can you eat?
A: A vege-table,

Q: When do you stop at green and go at red?
A: When you’re eating a watermelon.

Q: Why did the girl nibble on her calender?
A: She wanted a sundae.

Q: What do you call two banana peels?
A: A pair of slippers.

Q: What happens when you tell an egg a kids joke like this one?
A: It cracks up.

Q: What do you take before a meal?
A: A seat.

Q: What looks like half a donkey.
A: The other half of a donkey.

Q: How does a lion greet other animals in wild?
A: Please to eat you.

Q: What do you call a woman who crawls up walls?
A: Ivy.

Q: What did the tree wear to the beach party?
A: Swimming trunks.

Q: Why did the leaf go to the doctor?
A: It was feeling a bit green.

Q: What kind of tree can you put in your hand?
A: A palm tree.

Q: How to trees connect with the internet?
A: They log in.

Q: What kind of fruit to trees like the most?
A: Pineapples.

Q: What to elephants and trees have in common.
A: They both have trunks.

Q: What did the chef name is son?
A: Stew.

Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work?
A: A stick.

Q: Where do horses live?
A: In neigh-borhoods.

Q: Why did the football coach go to the bank?
A: To get his quarterback.

Q: Why did the melon jump in the lake.
A: He wanted to be a watermelon.

Q: Why did the opera singer go sailing.
A: Because she wanted to hit the high C’s.

Q: Why was the basketball game so hot?
A: Because all the fans left.

Q: What do you call a story about a broken pencil.
A: Pointless.

Q: Why was the girl sitting on her watch.
A: Because she wanted to be on time.

Q: What animal can jump higher than a house?
A: Any animal. A house can’t jump.

Q: How do you spot a modern spider?
A: He doesn’t have a web, he has a website.

Q: What are the strongest creatures in the ocean?
A: Mussels.

Q: Why are pianos hard to open?
A: The keys are inside.

Q: When do astronauts eat?
A: At launch time.

Q: Why do cowboys ride horses?
A: Because they are too heavy to carry.

Q: Why did the boy take a ruler to bed?
A: To see how long he slept.

Q: Why did the girl give her pony cough syrup?
A: It was a little horse.

Q: What did the lawyer name is daughter?
A: Sue.

Q: What sound does a nut make when it sneezes?
A: CASHEW!

Q: How do you mend a broken pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch.

Q: What’s the only school where you have to drop out to graduate?
A: Skydiving school.

Q: In what school do you learn how to greet people?
A: Hi school.

© Please feel free to share these jokes on to friends or to a class
at school but do not re-publish online.

• Want to Keep Things Creative?  Get Free Printable Coloring Pages!
• And check out how kids are learning to be safe online through Google Games.

If you would like to submit an original joke for this page, please contact us. Safe Search Kids believes that children all over the world are very creative and often think of very clever jokes that other kids would enjoy.  If we like yours, we will publish it here.

Share these Funny Jokes using one of the sharing tools below.

I want to tell you about BOSS. Boss was an awesome kitten, born in a closet at a friend’s house with four other equally awesome kittens. After a few months, all were adopted to good homes except this stunning tabby male who always ran out to meet me whenever I stopped in to visit.

Initially, I didn’t want Boss. I had a dog and a busy life and didn’t think I needed another animal.

Still, Boss was persistent, lunging across the carpet, leaping at me to dig his claws into my socks then look up at me and purr. His persistence and innate cuteness won me over. I took him home.

Boss was named Boss because I seemingly had no say in the matter. He was Boss and I was suddenly just someone with opposable thumbs who could open cans of cat food. For a couple of days, Boss tormented my rescued dog, Lucky. It took time and patience but Boss, Lucky and I were soon a family, all jumping into the same bed at night.

One night, Boss didn’t come home. Something bad had happened on a frigid night in January. For a week, me and a roommate wandered the streets, calling his name. We figured he might be dead, but we held out hope. Being brave and strong, we decided to draw a thick line after one week. After one week, if Boss was still missing, we would accept reality, admit the loss in our lives and admit that Boss was dead.

But he wasn’t.

Boss crawled–CRAWLED–back home at four o’clock in the morning exactly one week after going missing. He had either been hit by a car or attached by a dog, but his back leg had been ripped from his skeleton and hung on by skin. I didn’t care about the cost. Me, the roommate and my dog both hugged and loved up that cat all night. In the morning, Boss went to a vet. Luckily, experimental surgery gave him the use of his damaged leg. A couple months after that, Boss was sitting on the front stoop of my house, hissing at dogs that passed by and, on one occasion, attacking a Norwegian Elkhound who had the misfortune of wandering onto my yard. Boss protected me and the dogs in my life. He was a cat-god. I loved him.

My roommate moved away, but on occasion would come to my house simply to cuddle with Boss and find comfort in his powerful purrs.

When Boss turned 16, he became sickly and refused to eat. The vet determined that my beloved Boss was diabetic. Every morning, my awesome Boss would hear me pop open the plastic container I used to store the insulin. He would hunker down and wait for the injection in the scruff of his neck. Then he would go out and be the gangster cat that we knew him to be. Boss was exceptional. He was protective, snugly, funny and a joy in my life.

But all life must end. After two years of being a diabetic, Boss’s body again failed. He could no longer eat or even drink water. After a weekend in the veterinarian clinic, the doctor there told me that Boss wasn’t going to recover. He would soon starve to death. With a friend at my side, I took my old cat in my arms and accepted the vet’s advice. Tears streamed down my face as I told the vet to put Boss to sleep forever.

Yes, this writer intentionally caused the death of this fabulous, wonderful pet. Does that statement reflect the truth of the situation? No. Not anywhere near the truth. It was an action was the kind, humane thing to do.

Death is not an easy subject, yet it’s important to deal it with openly rather than bottling up your feelings inside.  As parents, we need to be there to support our children whenever they are facing any type of with grief and loss.  Here’s an important story about Wally and Wuzzy and how one boy dealt with his loss.