I'm just one "MOM-ON-A-MISSION" to create a future where children are prepared to be safe, kind and respectful on the Internet in a community made up of billions of real, live people.
The Internet is an awesome place to learn, play and hangout but most children are not being prepared to explore the Internet.
Why am I on this mission?
One night my husband and I were reviewing with our children what they needed to know before going on the Internet when the thought crossed my mind...
What about children whose parents aren't into technology? Who is preparing those children to go on the Internet?
Then tragic headlines hit the news...children and teens losing their lives due to comments posted on the Internet...because of a webcam invasion of privacy. Then the UN announced 2 BILLION PEOPLE
now have Internet access.
So I thought this is crazy! I have to do something!!
So I created the U & 2 BILLION! PLEDGE. The PLEDGE contains all the basic information that we shared with our children before they went on the Internet.
Next I researched the best way to get this information into the hands of the children who need it.
That's when I came up with the idea of the U & 2 BILLION! INTERNET SAFETY ESSAY CONTEST. The contest would be an annual competition open to students in grades 5-8 and designed to encourage students
to be safe, kind and respectful when learning and playing on the Internet. Students read the PLEDGE and then write an essay on how to be safe, kind and respectful on the Internet. One student in each grade is awarded a cash prize and "ginormous" inflatable
earth globe for their winning essay. And every student that submits an essay receives a U & 2 BILLION! wristband.
The creative process of writing plus the potential reward to each student provides a mechanism for each student to review and potentially commit to memory the vital information conveyed in the
PLEDGE.
The beauty of the "pledge+writing+reward" mechanism is that parents too may have the opportunity to review the Internet safety information while their student is preparing the essay for submission.
What next?
I would like to create a future where children know before going on the Internet are prepared to be safe, kind and respectful in a community made up of billions of real live people
I would like to create a future where children are not losing their lives due to web posts and webcams.
By launching the U & 2 BILLION! iNTERNET SAFETY ESSAY CONTEST, together we can begin to create this future.
