Summer Kids' Solutions: Talk to children about cyberbullying

CLEVELAND - All parents want to monitor what our kids will be doing online over summer vacation.

Kids will undoubtedly want to keep in touch with friends through their many social network sites.

But parents, beware of what the Federal Communications Commission calls a major pitfall, posting comments, photos or videos that can damage a reputation or hurt someone's feelings.

The FCC has this advice that parents can share with kids:

- Kids should post only what they are comfortable with everyone seeing - forever. Once they post it, they can't take it back.

- Tell kids not to impersonate someone else. The FCC says it's wrong to create sites, pages or posts that seem to come from someone else.

- Encourage your children to think about the language they use, keeping in mind employers, college admissions officers, coaches, teachers and police may view posts. Some of your child's profile may be seen by a broader audience than you realize.

- Encourage them to tone down use of caps and exclamation points, which can be misinterpreted. Remind them to be polite, as if they were speaking face-to-face with a person.

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Macie Jepson is a mom, wife and co-anchor of Good Morning Cleveland, weekdays 4:30 -7 a.m., with Mike Dunston.

Reach her @MacieJepson on Twitter, on Facebook and at Jepson@wews.com