You have discovered your child is sending nude, or semi-nude, images of themselves to a stranger or someone they know. Now what?

What is “Sexting?”

Sexting is the electronic exchange of sexually suggestive or explicit content in messages, photographs, or videos, between at least two people.

To most teens, “sexting” is a normal way to interact with their peers. I have asked thousands of teens in my cyber safety presentations about their perceptions of sexting. The general belief is that “everybody is doing it,” especially when you’re “going out with” someone. What does the data say? 54% of teens under 18 admit to having sent sexually suggestive messages or inappropriate pictures. We know that 53% of teens who sext are girls while 47% are boys. 1 in 5 teens has sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves. Almost 20% of teens have reported being forwarded an image or video that was not intended for them, with over half of those teens admitting to forwarding it on to more than one other person.

You have discovered your child is sending nude, or semi-nude, images of themselves to a stranger or someone they know. Now what?

Remain calm

Remaining calm in this situation may be very difficult. Deep breaths and repeating the mantra, “remain calm,” over and over in your head may be necessary. Remember, your child has no life experience to help them navigate this issue, and as discussed earlier, the decision-making part of their brain is not fully developed. Fight the urge to punish them immediately. Swift discipline will not help your child in the long run. Remaining calm and talking to your child will help you understand why this happened and what you need to do next.

Talk to them about the situation.

Emotions may be running high, and you may feel incredibly disappointed in your child’s deci ...