May 2011 Parent Newsletter

Hey Parents!

In this month's newsletter, we'll fill you in on the latest Yoursphere news. In case your son or daughter hasn't already told you, we've got a lot of exciting stuff going on--new easy-to-win contests, great Gold Membership deals, and an awesome Featured Member article. 

Read on to learn more! 

Internet Safety Tips  for Parents Cyberbullying #1 Concern for Kids, Not So Much for the Average Parent    Google Alerts - A Simple and Helpful Anti-Bullying Tool     Understanding and Disabling Mobile Photo Geotagging ________________________ Yoursphere Review Review of: NCIS by Yoursphere Contributing Writer, Elsa    "A few months ago while at my friend's house, I was introduced to my new favorite TV show. I had never seen it before, but my friend reassured me that it was a good show. She was right!" Click here to read the full review ________________________ New Contests Does your son or daughter have a favorite place? Whether it's their room or a family vacation spot, have them tell us in 200 words or less and they could win a backpack and $25 Target gift card!  _______________________ If your child knows any fun facts, tell them to send it to us by entering this contest.  The member with the craziest fact could win a Sansa MP3 Player and have their fact featured on the Yoursphere "Did You Know?" section!  ________________________  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. ________________________ Recent Contest Winners     kitkatsimmons Rango Movie Review Contest Prize: $25 Target GC dragonninjagirl Where Am I? Contest Prize: iPod Stereo System Hani R. Nickname Contest Prize: Sports Team T-Shirt   Starre Day With a Celebrity Contest Prize: 7" Phillips Portable DVD Player Mr. Lamincent Yoursphere Friend Contest Prize: Banzai Cannonball Splash Waterslide ________________________ Parent Newsletter - May 2011 Hey Parents! In this month's newsletter, we'll fill you in on the latest Yoursphere news. In case your son or daughter hasn't already told you, we've got a lot of exciting stuff going on--new easy-to-win contests, great Gold Membership deals, and an awesome Featured Member article.  Read on to learn more!  A Special Deal for Yoursphere Members For a limited time only, we're offering our members the option to upgrade to a Yoursphere Gold Membership at 50% off the regular price!    That means, your child can reap all the exclusive benefits of a Gold Membership for only $19.95 (1 year membership) or as little as $2.50 (monthly fee)!   What kind of "exclusive benefits"?    Well, for starters, Gold Members get access to exclusive content like the contests listed on the left. But there's a ton more, like: Triple Credits to spend in the Gift Gallery. A Birthday Club Membership 2x the Flow in our virtual world Scholarship opportunities Exclusive items and content in our virtual world And the opportunity to become a Yoursphere Writer, Reviewer, or Site Ambassador! THE DEAL DOESN'T END THERE! Be the 43rd person to upgrade and win a family 4pk to your local amusement park! Hurry, this deal won't last! Yoursphere Featured Member Our Featured Member program is designed to shine a light on members who have shown certain qualities, like leadership, friendship and kindness. Being an active and consistent contributor to the Yoursphere community also merits recognition as a Featured Member, so encourage your children to participate by sharing their creativity and friendship with others.  This month our Featured Member is long-time Yoursphere member, "Monica N"! She's made a ton of spheres, including: Young Photographers, Michael Buble, The Color Yellow, and Pope John Paul II.  A big congrats to Monica Noel for being this month's Featured Member! Here are a few answers from her interview with the Yoursphere Team.  What do you see yourself doing in the future? Becoming a professional Photographer. What's your biggest hope for today's generation? That we can all learn to forgive and help each other in our jorney to Heaven! If you were handed $1,000,000 what would you do with it? Donate to my favorite charitys(which are many!) put a large amount in saving and help out my parents with their medical debt. What do you like most about being a Yoursphere member? Meeting so many wonderful people! What do you want people to know about you? That I love animals and I will accept EVERY friend request sent to me. Read more here.  Yoursphere Featured Photographer   One of our main missions here at Yoursphere is to support the positive aspirations and talents of our members. We believe that providing kids and teens with a platform where they can showcase these talents is an integral part of that support.  So we've designed three contests: Featured Artist, Featured Photographer, and Featured Videographer. Each contest runs on the site for two weeks, so members have plenty of time to submit their work.  The best part? Each winner gets their work featured on the site, along with a short interview about why they did what they did and how they did it, and 250 credits to spend in the Gift Gallery!  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We ran our first  Featured Photographer contest a few weeks ago, and the winner, "tinawang31399", has been featured on the site ever since.  Here's what she had to say about her experience with this contest:  "A photograph, is a work of art, you can't take good pictures (in my opinion) without something inspiring, such as a memory, or a scene that you wish to remember." Read more here.  --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Featured Videographer Contest -  This contest is live on the site right now! If your kids like making their own videos then they'll absolutely love this contest. NOTE: There are specific rules and requirements for each contest, so remind your kids to read the instructions carefully.  New Celebrity Contests In last month's parent newsletter we announced our partnership with Animal Planet stars, Victoria Stilwell (It's Me Or the Dog) and Donald Schultz (Wild Recon).  Well since then, Yoursphere members have been having a blast in their spheres--leaving comments and asking a ton of questions. So to keep them engaged with Victoria and Donald, we're working with them to come up with exclusive contests that revolve around their lives and work.    For this month, we're asking members to tell us what Donald Schultz is afraid of--which could pose a real challenge considering that he isn't afraid of much! If your child knows the answer, they could win a 1 year subscription to Kid's National Geographic. In the other contest, we want to see if any one knows what part of England Victoria Stilwell was born in. Tell your kids to submit their answer because the winner will receive a copy of It's Me Or the Dog season 1 on DVD. Don't forget to click on the links to check out the details for each contest.  3 Ways Kids Can Become Good Digital Citizens Education -   Whether this is facilitated through teachers or parents (hopefully both!), awareness of the issues that exist online are first and foremost in an effort to avoid them. Parents also need to be educated so they can have...well, educated conversations with their kids about safe online practices. Of course, education goes hand-in-hand with open communication. Like with any issue, it's important that kids feel comfortable coming to their parents for advice or support. As you can imagine, as a parent, it's hard to give advice about something you have little to no understanding of. Respect for Others - Sometimes the best thing to do is NOT pass it on. Cyberbullying and sexting have taken a toll on this generation's outlook on privacy and peer respect; because of this, it's becoming more important than ever to instill a strong understanding of what it means to respect someone as a friend, a parent, a teacher, and most importantly, as a person. Teaching our kids that not everything they see or read on the Internet is true or should be shared, and why, is key to achieving this understanding. Personal Responsibility - Like with most things in life, we have to take personal responsibility for our choices-and our choices online are no exception. When it comes to our kids, we as parents have to take the first two steps of educating them about online safety--the issues, the solutions, and the preventative measures--then teaching them how and why they should respect others online. Once you've done that, you can teach them about personal responsibility and how it plays into their lives online. This is especially vital for kids to understand at an early age. Do your very best to get it through to them that with great power comes great responsibility, and the choices they make will either hurt them or work to their benefit. Parents, Stay Up-To-Date with Yoursphere! Get daily Yoursphere news by joining us on    You can also follow Mary Kay on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 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.