Confession Pages

Social media “confession” pages are all the rage. Students tell you that it is an opportunity to talk about important issues and problems in their lives. I often get tips from these sites about my students who are contemplating suicide or who are actively hurting themselves. These pages are often platforms where teens are victims of abuse and bullying. How do I find out about it? I go looking for these pages or sometimes a student tells me. I have yet to have a parent call me about one of these sites. [your school name]_confessions may have 100 or 1000 followers, and not one parent of these students is monitoring what their child is doing online. Children instinctively push and look for the edge of the boundaries.

Parents and educators must step in and create safe guidelines for their students, because the internet is the wild west – anything goes. If you are looking for help to create a safe environment for your child online, look though this blog and you’ll find articles to get you started; go to the resource page and download helpful tools; go to the events page and find a Cyber Safety Cop workshop near you; or contact me and find out how your school/agency/church/community center can host a workshop.

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About the Author

Clayton Cranford
Clayton Cranford is a retired Sergeant from Orange County Sheriff's Department in California and owner of Total Safety Solutions LLC. Clayton is one of the nation’s leading law enforcement educators on social media, child safety, and behavioral threat assessments. Clayton is the author of the definitive book on cyber safety for families, “Parenting in the Digital World.” Clayton has more than 20 years of teaching experience and was awarded the 2015 National Bullying Prevention Award from the School Safety Advocacy Council, and the 2015 American Legion Medal of Merit. Clayton was a member of the County's Behavioral Threat Assessment Team, Crisis Negotiation Team, School Resource Officer program, and Juvenile Bureau.