June 2011 Parent Newsletter

Happy Summer, Parents! School's out, and that means kids will be spending more time chatting with  friends and playing games online. In addition to talking to them about the sites they visit and the people they're friends with online, it's important that they have a healthy balance of outdoor time and indoor time. That's why we recommend parents set time limits on Internet usage, especially during the summer.  You can keep your family safe online by checking out the Internet-safety tips and advice we offer parents over at YoursphereForParents.com (and in the left column of this newsletter).  Keep reading to see the exciting news we have this month!

Internet Safety Tips  for Parents Set up iTunes Parental Controls and Learn to Sync Safely   Enable and Lock YouTube Safety Mode    Setting up the iPad Parental Controls ________________________ New Contests This contest is all about your kids expressing themselves. Our favorite poem will win a Boogie Board paperless LCD tablet!   _______________________ The winner of this contest will score "Petz" for the Nintendo DS and a $25 Petco gift card!   ________________________  Recent Contest Winners     HopeAnnaBanana   Winner of: Fun Facts Contest Prize: SanDisk Sansa Clip   4GB MP3 Player Bandgeek  Winner of: Favorite Place Contest Prize: Backpack and Target gift card Taylor swifts B  Winner of: A Riddle Contest Prize: Casio Keyboard ________________________ New Yoursphere Game   Have your kids check out Desert Rage on the Yoursphere Game page! ________________________ Yoursphere Review   by Yoursphere Contributing Writer, Riley    "I think this was the funniest movie yet. Johnny Depp had many more jokes this time around. And thinking back through all of the other movies, I really think that it must have been difficult to master the character of Jack Sparrow." Click here to read the full review  ________________________ Yoursphere Question of the Week  What is one cool thing you learned in school this year that you will never forget?  "That after the school year, you get a lot of weird dreams that have your teacher in them"   "That math teachers are serious about their homework!"   More responses  ________________________ 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 - June 2011 Happy Summer, Parents! School's out, and that means kids will be spending more time chatting with friends and playing games online. In addition to talking to them about the sites they visit and the people they're friends with online, it's important that they have a healthy balance of outdoor time and indoor time. That's why we recommend parents set time limits on Internet usage, especially during the summer. You can keep your family safe online by checking out the Internet-safety tips and advice we offer parents over at YoursphereForParents.com (and in the left column of this newsletter). Keep reading to see the exciting news we have this month!  2011 World Children's Festival   The World Children's Festival was created for one purpose: to celebrate the creativity and imagination of children from all over the world. Held at the National Mall in Washington D.C. every four years, the WCF is compiled of workshops and booths that engage children in fun and imaginative activities, as well as performances by international groups who are there to represent a cause, their country or their school. As you know, a major part of the Yoursphere philosophy is to support the positive interests and talents of children from all over the world--that's why we are proud to have been the only social network invited to the 2011 World Children's Festival! Simply put, our trip to D.C. was a major success. Not only was Yoursphere founder Mary Kay Hoal asked to address the audience of families from 65 countries and 33 states, but we had a tent set up with arts and crafts, t-shirt tie dying and Internet-safety quizzes. Tie dying was a hit--and the Internet-safety quiz gave parents and their kids something to think about when it comes to staying safe online. Children from all around the world have now become Yoursphere members, so we're looking forward to all the great content they'll be bringing to the Yoursphere community. We also created a World Children's Festival sphere that you should encourage your kids to check out! Be sure to stop by the Yoursphere Facebook page for parents to see more photos from the festival! 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, jannajog! She's made a ton of spheres, including: Awesome Art, Texas Rocks!, Disney 365 and America's Got Talent.  A big congrats to jannajog for being this month's Featured Member! Here are a few answers from her interview with the Yoursphere Team.  What are four words your friends would use to describe you? Crazy, cool, weird, funny. What's your biggest hope for today's generation? No more war! If you were handed $1,000,000 what would you do with it? I would buy my mom a netbook. I would give each of my brothers $3,000 to spend on cars. I would buy a new house for my family to live in. What do you like most about being a Yoursphere member? That I get to chat with friends, make new friends, earn credits so I can buy stuff at the Yoursphere store.  What do you want people to know about you? I love Yoursphere and friends on it.  Yoursphere in the Media  We are excited to announce that founder and president of Yoursphere Media Inc., Mary Kay Hoal, will be featured on an upcoming ABC 20/20 show called 'We Find Them'! The focus of the show is to educate parents and adults about online issues, as well as provide everyday solutions. ABC asked Mary Kay to be their family Internet-safety expert, along with CNN's tech guru, Mario Armstrong; Reputation.com's privacy expert, Michael Fertik; and online safety expert, Hemanshu Nigam. Together, these four online safety experts make up ABC's Web Avenger team.  The show is scheduled to air on Friday, June 24th at 10pm. Spread the word and be sure to tune in!   New Celebrity Contests Yoursphere members are having a great time in Donald Schultz' and Victoria Stilwell's celebrity spheres, so we're constantly providing fresh, new content about them, as well as exclusive contests that revolve around their lives and work.  This month, we're asking members to  tell us where Donald Schultz was born. If your child knows the answer, they could win the Planet Earth series on Blu-ray! In this contest, Yoursphere members can win Victoria's book "It's Me or the Dog" if they can tell us how many dogs she owns. Don't forget, your child needs to be a Yoursphere Gold Member to participate in contests. Right now you can upgrade your child to a Gold Membership for 50% off the regular price! Click here to get started.    Book review: 'The Golden Rule of the 21st Century' Reviewed by Yoursphere founder and president, Mary Kay Hoal -  Richard Guerry's Public and Permanent: The Golden Rule of the 21stCentury: Straight Talk About Digital Safety: The Real Consequences of Digital Abuse isn't just an educational resource for parents and teens, it's an eye-opening analysis of what really drives the Internet safety issues we see today in digital communication and social networking. The educational aspect aside, what makes Richard's book so valuable is in the way it's laid out for readers. Richard takes a very linear approach in explaining issues like Internet privacy and anonymity, viruses and spyware, personal and corporate responsibility, cyberbullying, sexting and much more.   Throughout the book, Richard challenges readers to make their online experiences safer forthemselves by taking personal responsibility for the choices they make, as well as understanding the consequences for making said choice. This is a huge, and often times overlooked, aspect of digital safety awareness, and Richard delves deep into the reasons why this deserves more public attention. My personal experience with Richard has been nothing but inspiring. I've seen him give digital safety presentations in schools close to where I live, and I've seen the connection that he has with kids and how they soak in his information like a sponge. I've seen parents come up to him and thank him, not only for the education, but for the meaningful, yet simple, messaging that he passes onto their kids. I highly recommend that all parents read Richard's book. The information you'll walk away with will open opportunities to have an educated discussion with your kids/teens about digital safety and responsibility. I bought the book myself, read it, loved it, and have since handed it over to my oldest daughter. Read the full review here.   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.