How Families Text

Texting while driving and “sexting” are two practices parents warn their kids against but may be doing themselves, according to the new LG Text Ed Survey from LG Mobile Phones and TRU Research. "This approach to child-rearing doesn't cut it, especially with teenagers," said Dr. Charles Sophy, a child and family psychiatrist and advisory council member for the LG Text Ed effort. "Kids are extremely observant. All it takes is one exception to the rule and they'll latch onto it, thus negating much of your hard work.” Note: “Sexting” as defined here can involve sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually-related text, but not necessarily graphic photos/images. Fortunately, there is a great deal of good news in the survey, as families as a whole say texting is helping them get closer to each other. And it seems that teens actually do want parents to check in on them via text when they're out of the house. The survey was conducted online and featured 1,017 teens and 1,049 parents of teens taking part.