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March 20, 2015March 20, 2015

MamaBear Acquires KidNotice to Expand Its Family Safety App to Include Sharing Features

Soon parents will be able to access an even larger resource of tools that enable families to protect and connect their families and communicate digitally more effectively.

MamaBear’s feature list is expanding and growing with the company’s recent acquisition of KidNotice.

Introducing KidNotice — “Notes for Caregivers About Your Child”

KidNotice is an iPhone application that enables parents to privately and securely share a child’s vital information with trusted caregivers, such as neighbors, parents of the child’s friends, summer camp officials, etc. Using the app, parents can share a child’s “in case of emergency” profile and other vital information like allergies, food preferences and more with other parents and family members, teachers, coaches, babysitters, and nannies.
That way, if an emergency occurs and a parent cannot be reached, the caregiver will be able to have the information on hand in order to respond intelligently and swiftly.

Because KidNotice is built to protect families, safety was a primary building block in the program. All data and information within the application is secure and backed up in a Dedicated-Virtual environment managed by Media Temple (the same company responsible for protecting big brands like Samsung, Toyota, Starbucks, and Adidas).

Apps Built for Parents By Parents

Like MamaBear, KidNotice is an app for parents built by parents.

The inspiration for KidNotice came when a group of parents realized that over a given week, their children were cared for by multiple adults. With different caregivers, it was difficult to be sure that each adult had the information needed to care for the child knowing all their preferences and needs, and in case of an emergency.

They created KidNotice to simplify the information sharing process and create a digital connection between each of a child’s caregivers.

Why the Acquisition Is Important

The KidNotice acquisition is the first since Suzanne Horton, a former venture capital executive at American Express, became MamaBear’s CEO and President.

“MamaBear continues to expand the capabilities of our platform as we seek to build the most comprehensive mobile application that meets the rapidly growing need for a private digital resource to help parents and families stay informed, connected and safe in a complex and, at times, dangerous digital environment,” Ms. Horton said. “We have built and are continuing to enhance a valuable parenting tool that leverages the power of digital technology to help parents efficiently communicate with their children, extended families and other families, as well as better manage interactions, activities and shared information.

The acquisition shows MamaBear’s commitment to growing their feature list in order to provide a comprehensive family safety and security mobile app.

More than ever, parents need a tool that enables them to connect and protect in the complex and rapidly growing world of technology. MamaBear aims to be the leading tool by supporting:

Smartphone and Telecommunication Protection: In the U.S., more than 27 million kids have smartphones and that number is expected to grow to 39 million within the next two years. Our technology helps protect the growing population of young kids with their own internet-enabled smartphones.
Social Media Reputation Management: Seventy-two percent of teens have a social network profile of some kind. Fifty percent of those do not have privacy settings enables, allowing anyone on the Internet to see their personal data and photos. With MamaBear, parents can monitor and connect with their children through their profiles to be sure they are using the platforms appropriately and responsibly.
Secure Communication: Data sharing is important and necessary for parents, so MamaBear provides tools to connect in a secure and private setting.
GPS-Enabled Connectivity: Parents can give their children more independence while keeping peace of mind by using MamaBear’s GPS-enabled tools that show the location of their children at any given time.
Cyberbullying Protection: It is estimated that there are one million cybercrimes and cyberbullying victims per day across the world. We send parents notifications that can help them identify and stop cyberbullying at its early stages.

With the acquisition of KidNotice, MamaBear will continue on its mission to be the all-in-one app for parents looking to more efficiently communicate, locate, organize, and protect their children.

See it for yourself. Get started with MamaBear, The Ultimate Parenting App™ today by downloading the free app for your iPhones and Androids device.

Safety Ideas For Both Free Range Parents, Helicopter Parents and Those In Between

Free range parenting is back in the news as the results of a case involving Silver Spring, Maryland parents, who were charged with child neglect after allowing their children, 6 and 10, to walk home by themselves, were announced.

What Is Free Range Parenting?

Free range parenting is a movement and parenting philosophy in which parents give their children more freedom and independence in order to teach them self-reliance and responsibility. It relies on the idea of allowing the child to explore the world at more of their own pace.

It is a counterpoint to the helicopter parenting philosophy, in which parents pay extremely close attention to their child’s actions, experiences, and problems.

Free range parenting is said to have started in 2008 when a New York journalist published an article titled, “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone.” The movement has inspired other parents to let go of the belief that their children are in constant danger.

The CPS Case on Free Range Parenting

The Maryland couple, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv are proponents of free range parenting.

In December, they gave their children, ages 10 and 6, permission to walk home alone from a park on a Saturday afternoon. Their journey was a one-mile stretch in a neighborhood they knew well. The children only made it less than halfway before being picked up by local law enforcement and driven home.

Shortly after the children were driven home, Child Protective Services showed up at the Meitivs’ home and began their investigation. The Meitiv’s hoped the investigation would quickly be dropped, but it wasn’t.

The investigation when on for two months and included multiple conversations with the Meitiv’s, interviews with the children at their school, and requests to visit the family’s home. The Meitiv’s were surprised at the intensity of the investigation and even more surprised by it’s findings.

In early March, CPS found the parents responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect. As a result of the findings, CPS will continue to keep a file on the family for at least five years. The Meitiv’s plan to file an appeal and fight the findings.

How Parents Can Protect Their Kids While Parenting in Their Preferred Style

While the protection considerations of free range and helicopter parenting styles are debatable, one thing is certain — every parenting philosophy will have some component of protection in their plan.

Every parent will need to explore options for their safety plans for their children and discover what level of involvement works best for them. So we suggest using tools that allow for varying levels of protection, and allow parents to incorporate their own parenting style in both real life and their children and family’s online life.

MamaBear®, The Ultimate Parenting App™ is an excellent tool for parents embracing any parenting style, as you can use it to protect your children and connect your family in any situation.

When you use MamaBear you can:

Set “safe and restricted places” of your choice for your child
Be able to view their location on your personal family map and receive automatic check-ins when they reach their destination
Give them permission to drive alone while you receive notifications if they go over your set speed limit
Let them set up the own social media profiles while you receive notifications when they get new followers and private messages or are tagged in posts and photos
See what they post on their social media sites
Share family communication and information, including things like your child’s sports activities, on a private family network, not on the huge public social media sites

Whichever way you choose to parent and use the MamaBear family safety app, you can be sure that it is building a foundation for trust and security that will benefit both parent and child.

See how MamaBear, The Ultimate Parenting App™ available for iPhones and Androids can help you offer independence, protection, and connection.

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015

Do You Know Enough About Cyberbullying to Protect Your Children?

Despite what parents may think, cyberbullying includes far more than name-calling. Discover just how sinister a cyberbully can really be.

For far too many parents, cyberbullying is a term they have heard but don’t quite understand.

Parents can relate to and understand bullying on its own. It’s something they likely experienced or saw first-hand when they were kids and teenagers. But cyberbullying, which grows and evolves every day, is something most parents have never witnessed.

Cyberbullying, the act of posting mean, intimidating or threatening messages online, usually anonymously, utilizing technology as the weapon is a much newer and different format. This disconnect leaves many parents in the dark when it comes to the actual severity of this issue.

Despite what parents may think, cyberbullying includes far more than name-calling. Mashable recently shared two stories that show just how sinister a cyberbully can really be.

Cyberbullying May Include Stalking

Cyberbullying doesn’t always stay online. It can creep into real life, invade personal space, and create physical danger.

Mashable reports that for two 12-year-olds in Texas, online comments turned into real life fear when their cyberbully sent message describing what the girls were wearing and doing while inside of their house.

Just because the harassment is online doesn’t mean it will remain online. Cyberbullying can be just as serious as stalking.

Cyberbully May Include Digital Hacking

Posting tormenting messages through social media is only a portion of cyberbullying. People intending to bring harm to others may even use their own social media accounts against them.

Hacking meets cyberbullying when an abuser attempts or succeeds into accessing an account owned by the victim.

The bully-hacker may then change or delete their photos and information or post embarrassing photos and updates.

As the Mashable article reports, the mother of a cyberbullying victim became a victim herself when her Instagram account was hacked by her child’s abuser. The mom logged in to find her profile photo deleted and her bio changed to, “I’m a hater, lol.” During the same time, there were two dozen attempts to log in to her blog from an unfamiliar IP address.

Smart cyberbullies can get into their victims’ personal accounts and use those accounts to cause additional harm.

Cyberbully May Include Security Breaches To Online Networks and Phones

Hacking paired with cyberbullying can go even further. The same family dealing with account hacking found their entire home wireless network compromised when they lost administrative privileges for the network.

The family ran a search and found four different IP addresses assigned to their home network. Two of those addresses were linked to a small town over 50 miles from their home.

Struggling to find out what could resolve the security issues, the family spent over $6,400 on cell phone bug detectors, home security systems, a private security network, cell phones, a laptop, router, and printer.

The hacking created a scary and expensive situation for both child and parent.

Cyberbully May Include Security Breaches To Online Networks and Phones — Image: Mashable

How You Can Fight Cyberbullying

One of the best ways to help your child and family fight cyberbullying and the dangers that come with it is by being proactive.

Parents need to get involved with their child’s Internet activity early on, discuss online etiquette, expectations and rules of behavior, and monitor their engagements online. Monitoring and identifying problems early on is essential to helping our kids safely navigate their evolving digital environment. Also, making sure you, as a parent, have an open door policy for your children to come to you and discuss what they might see as issues or problems as they navigate their online world.

With the help of MamaBear, The Ultimate Parenting App™, you can easily see your child’s interactions on social media, know what they post, know who their friends are and know if they are being approached or bullied. This enables you to identify problems quickly and help your child put a stop to the situation before it grows into a more complex and dangerous situation. The Mama Bear app is free and available for both iPhone or Android devices.

Table Talk Topic: Helping Your Teen Avoid Risky Online Behavior

Stopping your child from engaging in risky online behavior may start with one thing — a good dinner table discussion.

A recent study by Prof. Gustavo Mesch, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Haifa, found that adolescents were less likely to engage in risky online behavior when they had a strong emotional bond with their family.

Children who have open and frequent discussions with their parents about their online behavior tend to participate in less risky behavior. On the other hand, adolescents were more likely to engage in risky behaviors when their parents simply monitored their behavior behind their back without including the children in educational and behavioral discussions about their online life.

The study, which included 495 children aged 10-18, confirms that having an open dialog with your kids may be the best way to proactively protect them. So use your time at the dinner table as an opportunity to discuss online dangers and safety habits with your child.

What To Do

Review risky behaviors and dangers.

Kids may not know what online behavior is acceptable, so review what actions are risky. Consider sharing stats and stories that show how dangerous the internet can be, and make sure your children know it is unacceptable to:

Add strangers to their follower lists
Interact with strangers
Disclose personal information on public forums and to strangers (i.e. full name, address, phone number, banking information, school name, when family will be away from the house, etc.)
- 50% of teenagers have a public profile that is viewable by anyone on the internet
Agree to meet friends only known online in person

Ask about how their friends act online.

Mesch’s study found that kids were more likely to engage in risky online behavior when they thought their friends would approve of it. Adolescents frequently mimic the behaviors of their peers so discuss what your child and their friends are doing and seeing online.

Instill trust.

Researchers reported that “… families that knew how to establish a relationship of trust among family members reduced risky behavior.” So, throughout your conversations with your child, remind them that you trust their judgment and believe they will make the right decisions.

Pay attention to the boys just as much as the girls.

According to the study, parents were more likely be concerned about their daughters than their sons when it came to online safety. But the study found that boys are actually more likely to engage in risky behavior online. Give equal attention to boys and girls when dealing with the subject.

Related: Parents Can’t Afford to Ignore Their Kids’ Social Media

What NOT To Do

Give a lecture.

It’s important to have a dialog that has two sides. The goal of your conversation should be for both parties to share and learn. Children learn about online risks and how to protect themselves. Parents learn about how their children and their peers act online. Most importantly parents should ask questions and allow their children to ask questions of them during this discussion.

Make accusations and assumptions.

Avoid accusing your child of behaving badly online if you have been checking their online activity. It will only push them toward bad behavior because they will think you don’t understand or trust them.

Don’t sneak behind their back.

Having an open conversation eliminates the need for you to sneak behind your child’s back in order to monitor their online behavior. During your discussion, explain to your child that as parents, it is your responsibility to be involved in their online activity and safety.

Be up-front about your plan to get involved by using a non-spyware family safety tool that is intended to protect, not infiltrate. By having an open discussion and explaining your motives, your child will be more receptive and understanding of why you need to connect with them in their online lives.

Review the features and download MamaBear, The Ultimate Parenting App™ app to both of your devices to show them how you can work together to protect and connect your family and create a safer online environment. The Mama Bear app is available for both iPhone or Android devices.

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