BBB Tips: Internet resources for your teen

• Last week I became aware of a good source of information for teens. It’s the Teen Consumer Scrapbook, available on the Washington State Attorney General’s page ( http://www.atg. wa.gov/TeenConsumer/)

The page is written by a group of high school students, for other teens, and contains information on topics like buying goods and services, finances, privacy issues, health and safety, transportation, and teacher resources.

The top choice, about buying goods and services, is introduced by the following paragraph:

“Modern teenagers are making more money and buying more ‘stuff’ than any other generation. This reality has created a marketplace that advertises products directly to teens, and navigating through this market without being scammed is tough. Check out the information on these pages, and keep your antennae tuned for all those deals ‘too good to be true.’ ”

A sidebar on the site offers tips on everything from online shopping to lasik surgery, cellphones, computers, modeling agencies, and choosing a doctor or dentist.

You know how your kids often don’t want to listen to advice from mom or dad? Well, see if the same advice, coming from a group of their peers, goes down a little better.

• Another good resource for kids of all ages and their parents can be found at the following BBB link: http://centralohio.bbb. org/children-advertising- review-unit/parents-corner/ resources/. This site contains websites with tons of solid information about staying safe online, interpreting advertising, youth tech news, and social media safety.

• Remember: The best way to protect your computer-savvy children is to share information and concerns with them, and educate yourself. A few parents were surprised to learn, on one of last week’s Dr. Phil shows, that their 13-year old daughter could access the Internet through her brother’s Xbox. They had thought banning her from getting online on her room’s computer was enough. It wasn’t.

Holly Doering,

BBB Editor