February 2011 Parent Newsletter

Greetings, Parents! 

In today's digital world, it's imperative that parents have a constant presence in their child's online life--it helps keep them on a balanced diet of online activities, and real activities. As well, it helps prevent kids from falling victim to unfortunate incidents like cyberbullying. 

Internet Safety Tips Social Media and It's Affect on Your Child's Self-Esteem      Is Safe Mobile Browsing for Kids Possible? Revisiting Google Safesearch - Some Things You Should Know  Yoursphere Featured Sphere   by Yoursphere member, big h   In this sphere, big h makes it clear why every Yoursphere member should join their nearest YMCA club.      New Contests We're asking Yoursphere members to fill in the blanks to a verse from Taylor Swift's "Mean". The member with the funniest entry will score a $25 iTunes gift card! _______________________ Does your child think they have the best pet in the world? Tell them to send us a picture and a sentence or two explaining why. The winner will receive a $30 donation in their pet's name to the American Humane Society.  Yoursphere Review  by Yoursphere Contributing Writer, Riley   "I absolutely loved this book. It was similar to Harry Potter but a little more realistic."   "This is one book that you should definitely add to your book list!"  New Gifts in the Gift Gallery  Remind your kids to redeem their credits for great gifts in the Gift Gallery! Converse Shoes 1,250 Credits Kids National Geographic Magazine - 1yr 625 Credits  Hockey Set  750 Credits Check out the rest of the Gift Gallery here! Keeping it Positive in Yoursphere One of our goals here at Yoursphere is to build smart and respectful digital citizens. One way we do that is by incorporating messages throughout the site that remind members to be Internet safety smart.   Parent Newsletter - February 2011 Greetings, Parents! In today's digital world, it's imperative that parents have a constant presence in their child's online life--it helps keep them on a balanced diet of online activities, and real activities. As well, it helps prevent kids from falling victim to unfortunate incidents like cyberbullying. The whole purpose behind this newsletter is to make that job easier for you. So without further adieu, here's your monthly glimpse into Yoursphere, the safety-first social network for kids and teens!  Yoursphere Question of the Week Question of the Week is one of the most active parts of the site. We've found that it's a great way for members to get to know each other, as well as seeing what each of them have in common with one another. This week's question: What is your most favorite place? Some answers: Monkeybidness - OMG where can i start i love florida, mississippi, and Las Vegas because of the hotel-casinos well just mainly for the hotels they are colorful and bright and makes you feel important! 4 show the warmth you can go swimming... AT NIGHT!!!!!! bookers982 - Stonewall....... I'm not telin' where, though. Because it's my family's special place.   brooke - The beautiful mountains outside Sacramento, NM. I go there for a week every summer for a church camp. Yoursphere in the Media Good news! You can finally watch all three parts of the Yoursphere series on Lifetime! But no need to look up air times, we have the videos all ready to watch at your convenience. Part 3, which aired on Jan 25th, is the cherry on top of an already great series for parents. Yoursphere Founder Mary Kay Hoal had a few lucky guests join her this time around to tell viewers what they love about Yoursphere. See for yourself -   Yoursphere Contest Winners "What Am I?" Contest - Winner: SoccerBoy 3000 Prize: $25 Best Buy gift card   SoccerBoy 3000 didn't have much of a problem guessing what this was, and we're not sure if that's a good thing. His answer: moldy fruit cake. Photo Contest - Winner: bieberlover5646 Prize: $20 Chipotle gift card and two movie tickets "What Am I?" Contest - Winner: gumdrop Prize: $25 Target gift card Do you know what it is? gumdrop did... "I Think Its A Yellow Close Up Tooth Its Yucky!" "Backwards Word" Contest - Winner: polkadotter101 Prize: Plants vs Zombies (Nintendo DS) We hid a backwords word in one of the featured articles in the site, and then sent members looking for it. polkadotter101 found it first, so she walked away with the grand prize! "Culinary Creations" Contest - Winner: Monica Noel Prize: $25 Cheesecake Factory gift card We asked members to tell us their most secret and creative recipes. There were so many good ones, so picking a winner was tough. But in the end, Monica Noel's left our mouths watering. This cake is called sad cake because the cake looks sad. It actually "falls" during baking and is a flat cake. It may be sad looking, but it is moist, chewy and sweet. It does not need a frosting. Ingredients: 2 cups biscuit baking mix 2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar 4 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup flaked coconut 1 cup chopped pecans 1 teaspoon vanilla extract National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry We're pleased to announce that the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) affirmed Yoursphere.com as a collaborating member!  Stay tuned... Yoursphere Young Writers  Remember, Yoursphere is created by kids and for kids, so almost all of the content that gets posted on the Teen Homepage is user-generated. Our Young Writers represent just one part of the Yoursphere community, but they sure are an important one. School Lunch Ideas by contributing writer, Claire Tired of the same old PB+J sandwiches every day or processed school lunch (we hesitate to call it food)? Fortunately you can make plenty of great lunches right here at home! Here is some inspiration for your bag lunches. 1. Make something over the weekend and store it in the refrigerator. That way, you can just put It in a plastic container (don't forget an icepack) and jet off to school. Something like a cold pasta salad would work well. You could also try making a salad with dressing and maybe some extra stuff thrown in there, like raisins, cheese, other veggies, etc. The great thing about these is that they are very customizable: you can use just the ingredients that you like. 2. Wraps are another thing that are very easy to prepare in the mornings. You can make them with regular, corn, or flavored tortillas, your favorite lunch meat, maybe some cheese and lettuce. Feel free to add anything else that you like! 3. For colder days, take advantage of a thermos. You can prepare canned soups, hot noodles (think mac-n-cheese) or even hot chocolate or tea! With a good quality thermos, these things should stay piping hot until lunchtime. Try to include all of the food groups and have fun! Important: Revisiting Google Safesearch  We introduced you to Google Safesearch a while back--we showed you how to turn it on, and more importantly, how to lock it. But parents should know that Google has made some changes to the look and feel of their search engine, more specifically, the ability to change the search filter on-the-fly. To get a better idea of what this means, simply search for something on Google. Once you're at looking at your search results, you'll notice a drop-down link next to the "Search" button near the top right of your screen. Clicking this drop-down link allows the user to instantly change the filter to strict, moderate, or off. If you haven't locked Safesearch in the past, then this should be a huge concern to you. Why? Because changing the filter type can have a dramatic effect on the type of results that come up. Searching something as innocent as "teens on cell phone" in the Image search can yield some pretty shocking (and explicit) results if the filter is set to off. Parents, if your child uses Google for school projects or research, it's highly recommended that you set the filter to strict or moderate, and then lock it! Click here to learn how. Stay Connected! You can find Mary Kay on: Following her on one of these networks is the best way to get in touch with her and keep up with what's going on in and out of Yoursphere. Also, be sure to visit YoursphereForParents, where you can find useful tools and information when it comes to leveraging the best Internet experience for you and your children. As always, thank you for entrusting Yoursphere with your child's online experience and helping us raise the bar for our kids' and teens' online safety. Best Regards, The Yoursphere Team.