Review: YourSphere

You may have guessed that I spend a lot of time online.  Some of the consulting/training that I do is about social media and I share different strategies with parents about handling kids and the online world. Some parents choose to ignore the online world and prevent their children from learning about it at all -- which I believe is a mistake.  I would rather kids/teens learn about social media and spending time online while still at home so they can be guided and taught.

I never threw my kids into a swimming pool and assumed they would figure out how to swim.  I went in the pool with them, I held them in the water, I taught them how to make their first swimstrokes.  In the same way, I think parents must guide their kids through the new opportunities and media that is out there.   I do understand that some parents ignore it because they don't understand it themselves, but I always encourage those parents to get out there and paddle around!

One of the sites geared towards kids is www.yoursphere.com.  I was recently asked by YourSphere and Mom Central to check out the site with my boys (ages 8 & 9) and share our experiences here.  Watch for posts in the next few months about what we think of this site.

My boys email a few people, and enjoy playing a few online games.  They also did the bulk of their schooling this year via an online curriculum. I'm curious about this social network for kids and eager to share what we all learn over the next few months.

*Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in the Yoursphere Test Drive program by Mom Central on behalf of Yoursphere. I received a free lifetime Gold membership on Yoursphere.com, Yoursphere t-shirts, and a $50 American Express gift card to facilitate my review.*