BillMyParents® Fact Sheet

BillMyParents® provides SuperSafe™ Payment Solutions for tweens and teens between the ages of 8 and21 and their parents, ranging from giving parents complete control over purchases to simply monitoring purchase transactions. These solutions include Supervised Shopping™ and theBillMyParents® reloadable prepaid MasterCard®. BillMyParents® is the flagship product of Socialwise, Inc. and is headquartered withthem in San Diego, CA.

BillMyParents® is designed to link parents and young people to guide responsible eCommerce transactions, as well as allowing tweens and teens to shop in traditional retail settings without cash or a credit card. Their solutions foster family dialogue about spending and money habits, and provide the independence teens crave, while giving parents the ability to easily track and control their spending.

Supervised Shopping™ is a convenient way for 8 – 21 year olds to shop online at partner merchant websites. While browsing, users see the BillMyParents® button next to each item. Clicking the button sends an instant email request with product and pricing information to parents, who can decide whether or not to amend or complete the purchase at their discretion, eliminating the need for parents to hand over sensitive payment information or credit card numbers.

The BillMyParents® reloadable prepaid MasterCard® is safer than cash, can be used year-round anywhere MasterCard® is accepted and has no credit implications for either parents or teens. Purchases are not made on credit, do not affect credit scores, and are not withdrawn from a bank account – instead, funds are pre-loaded onto the card by parents. Perfect for managing allowances, the prepaid card is for users between the ages of 13 – 18, and users can only spend whatʼs available on the card account with no fear of over-drafting or associated bloated fees.

The Peace of Mind Control Panel is a proprietary way for parents to monitor and manage the BillMyParents® reloadable prepaid MasterCard®. Transaction Alerts deliver parents and teens a text or email every time a transaction is made, including name and location of the vendor, amount of sale and remaining balance. Lost Card Protection covers a lost or stolen card, and funds are automatically transferred to the replacement card. With Emergency Load, parents can instantly add funds to a card account, and parents have the ability to instantly enable or disable cards using the Lock/Unlock Account feature.

Easy on the budget, itʼs free to use the Supervised Shopping™ program on partner e-commerce sites including PacSun.com. The BillMyParents® reloadable prepaid MasterCard® costs significantly less than other prepaid cards on the market ($3.95 monthly fee and $.75 per-load fee) and there are no fees to activate a card account, contact customer service, check balances or cancel service.

Committed to safeguarding privacy, BillMyParents® utilizes state-of-the-art security measures, providing the highest level of protection against online fraud and cyber crimes using the SSL industry standard. Also PCI compliant (data security standard developed by major credit card companies to prevent theft), all personal and financial data of users and teens remain secure on servers and during transactions. The only information seen by third-party merchants is what is necessary to process and ship an order.

The Team: Several years ago, Jim Collas, CEO and President of BillMyParents®, was surprised to find that there was no simple and safe way for his teens to shop online without having to physically give them his credit card, so he set about creating BillMyParents® with his team. Mr. Collas has over 17 years of senior executive experience in the computer industry and consumer markets. Products and services introduced under Mr. Collasʼ management have accounted for over $28 billion in revenues worldwide. He is supported by a strong operating team whose members come from Ernst & Young, Aurora Electronics, ProFlowers.com, Sprint and CompuCom. The powerhouse BillMyParents® Advisory Board includes Joe Abrams (Co-founder of MySpace) and Maynard Webb (former COO of E-bay).

Socialwise (OTCBB: SCLW), the publicly traded parent company of BillMyParents®, develops platforms that integrate into traditional eCommerce products and services in order to service the explosive growth of online commerce and social networking sites, and was founded in April, 2007.

Parent Tips: Approaching Youth about the Positives of Social Media by Ryan Moreau

 

Image source: nytimes.com

As technology advances and integrates into our lives, it is important for parents to not just focus on all of the negative undertones, but how they can teach their kids to be good online citizens. Remember—social media represents a new form of communication and has provided an easier way to become more involved in the lives of family members and friends.

Youth should be encouraged to use the Internet as a tool that can benefit their lives, rather than kept off-limits.  Here are three tips for parents when it comes to approaching their kids and social media:

Monitor the use, don’t forbid it.

On average, teens spend 80 percent of their time on social networking websites, proving that it has become a convenient and primary form of communication.  You might be worried with the amount of time spent online, but also remember that kids use the Internet for a variety of activities – homework, communicating with friends and family, and playing games. Restricting all online social interaction usually leads to rebellion; so monitor it instead. For younger kids, limit the amount of time spent, types of websites they can visit and check in on their social media activity. For older kids and teens, develop an open dialogue about their online behavior and be aware of what networking sites they use.

Educate them on safe social media use.

Have an open discussion with your kids! Talk to them about how the Internet works and point out the many reporting and blocking tools that are available on most social media outlets.  Immediately reporting any negative social media activity to you, a teacher, or friend is the most important message you could relay to your kids.  Let them know if they face cyberbullying, inappropriate contact or a stranger asking for personal information, they should feel comfortable telling someone they trust right away – with the confidence that you will not be angry with them.

Ensure they utilize social network privacy settings.

It is important for youth and parents to understand how social networks can be personalized, privatized and intertwined to become a connected community hosted online.  You don’t need to know the ins and outs of a social network, but you should be aware of the types of social networks your kids are using.

Parents need to be encouraging the “why,” and not the “how.” While you show your kids how to privatize the profiles, talk to them about the risks associated with posting personal, private information online. Once they understand all the risks, they’ll be much more willing to make use of their privacy settings and keep them updated on their own.

Online social interaction has become increasingly vital to the lives of youth because they’ve begun to use social media as a research tool, homework aid, and means to chat with friends and family.  It will only become more prevalent, so open the social media conversation with your kids – and discover together the positive things social media has to offer!

Courtesy of Ryan Moreau, an Internet safety expert with Kiwi Commons

WHERE HAS ALL THE CREATIVITY GONE?

Angela is truly an advocate for the kids. A kid whisperer, if you will. She relates to them, understands and helps parents remember what it's like to be a young person who is learning and growing.

She also feels passionate about creativity and play in the lives of children.

"I remember when I realized that parents didn’t know how to 'play' with their children. At Miami Childrens Theater, for more than five years, parents would ask me if I had classes for 3 and 4 year olds. When I started Creative Camps, I changed the minimum age of 7 to 6 because people were begging for their 5 year olds to come, and then 4 year olds were showing up! I thought to myself, 'Why am I going to teach 3 and 4 year olds about theater, music or dance?' However, the demand was so high that when I moved into a larger location and had more space, I started a class called, 'Let's Pretend.' It filled up so quickly, I had groups of moms requesting that we run a second class. Then it hit me. I realized that some parents wanted their children to come to the theater because they just didn't know how to play with their kids. Some of the parents had poor imaginations, felt awkward in front of their children and simply didn't know how to be creative. At least these parents paid someone else to be creative and play with their children. Imagine all the parents who don’t have the money or simply don’t think it’s important!"

Below you'll find an article from Ben Michaelis, Ph.D., who provides tips and strategies for recreating creativity in our children and ourselves to help richer, more interesting lives.

WHERE HAS ALL THE CREATIVITY GONE?

Reports have been flowing in from academic circles, news magazines, and authors that American kids are no longer as creative as they once were. As a nation obsessed with numbers, data, and test scores, seeing the decline in kids’ scores on measures of creativity has caused concern for our children and the future of our country.  In his article, “Recreating Creativity in our Children and Ourselves,” Dr. Michaelis, a New York-based clinical psychologist, provides useful tips to help us recreate our creativity.

Dr. Michaelis, who specializes in helping patients achieve mental health and well-being through creative expression, examines the “culprits” that limit our creativity: reliance on video games and an overemphasis in making money. He also provides recommendations on how to overcome these obstacles in order to be more creative, productive, and happy.
 
He advocates taking an approach to limiting exposure to video games and spending more time encouraging active innovation. Michaelis says, “Consuming media is fine, but it should be done in balance with active creative production.”

The other creativity-limiting offender is an overemphasis on our narrow definition of success, which is defined in monetary terms. Our kids have become trained to focus their sights on a linear and conventional model of success: “Most middle class kids are taught to believe that if you get into Harvard you can get an MBA from Wharton and then you can make a six- or seven- figure salary and live happily ever after.”

“In pushing this limited idea of achievement, we de-emphasize non-linear and non-traditional ways of thinking.  Innovation, unless it serves the end of making money, is discouraged.”

Reclaim your creative edge

To help regain innovative thinking and creativity, Dr. Michaelis provides proven techniques to help jump-start your creativity:

    * Inspire curiosity and imagination: Bring your kids into new environments, get them to try new foods or learn about different cultures.

    * Do something creative every day:Try to make things with your kids or encourage them to use their imagination during daily activities.

    * Promote Active Problem Solving: Challenge your kids to think of solutions to everyday problems to get them to work their brain muscles in order to broaden their ways of thinking.

Bringing creativity into your life and your kids’ lives is  useful for helping to lead richer and more interesting lives and it’s also a lot more fun.

For additional suggestions on how to share daily creativity with your children, visit “Sharing Creative Time With Our Kids” at http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/822271/teaching-our-kids-the-art-of-creativity.

Dr. Ben Michaelis is a clinical psychologist who specializes in helping patients achieve mental health and well-being through creative expression. His clients include New York Times bestselling authors, musicians, and a wide range of artists and professionals. He is an adjunct professor of psychology at Columbia University and on the medical faculty at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.  Dr. Michaelis is the co-founder of the Downtown Clinicians Collective, one of New York City’s largest networking organizations for mental health professionals. The author of numerous scholarly articles and studies, he has been featured as an expert on creativity and relationships in articles on Salon.com and in Entertainment Weekly, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times. Dr. Michaelis lives and creates with his wife and two children in New York City. For more information or questions for Dr. Michaelis, email him at Ben@DrBenMichaelis.com or visit www.DrBenMichaelis.com



How Labels Hold Kids Back

Beautiful, smart, popular. Most people wouldn't mind those words associated with themselves. How about slow, goofy, not the sharpest tool in the shed? These labels score low on the 'pick me' list.

Carolyn Sandlin Sniffen, a classroom teacher with a master's degree and twenty-five years of teaching experience is our guest writer today, who shares her thoughts on labels and how they hold kids back.

The Cute One…The Smart One…The Joker: How Labels Hold Kids Back

The writing assignment for my 6^th graders was easy: What one thing would you like for me to know about you?

Small shoulders shrugged, eyes rolled, and within minutes I was listening to the rhythmic scratching of Number Two pencils on notebook paper.

Their responses varied from silly to serious, but the real lesson learned that day didn’t include capitalization, punctuation, or subject-verb agreement. It was a lesson in the dangers of labeling kids—a lesson for every parent and caregiver who care about children and their futures.

Sorting through piles of papers, I read the following:

Kids acquire their labels early, often at birth. Parents look at their new offspring and exclaim,  “She looks just like your sister. I sure hope she’s got more sense.” Or, “Listen to him cry. He already has a bad temper.” Or, “Look at those ears. The only person in our family with those ears is your crazy Uncle Felix.”

Using labels helps parents personify their babies, giving them a unique identity. If there are other children in the family, it’s almost impossible not to label them, too. The oldest child is often described as responsible, mature, a role model. The middle child struggles to be noticed, usually becoming the joker, the entertainer, the funny one. And the baby uses his position to get his own way or to tattle on his siblings.

When children start school, the labeling continues. Parents start comparing them to other children: “He must be a slow learner because he still can’t read.” Or, she’s so shy—she’ll never have any friends.”

The problem with labels is they hold children back. When kids believe their labels—“I can’t help it. That’s the way I am.”—they eventually become what others say about them.

What about positive labels? They build a child’s self-esteem. Right? Only for a short time, maybe, but consider this situation: Your youngster has finally made the honor roll. You say: “You’re so smart, a real brain.” Behind this positive label is a subtle but intense pressure to “keep it up so I’ll be proud of you.” A few low test scores, and in your child’s mind she has lost her brilliant status.

A label from a classroom teacher can be a powerful influence on a child, and teacher-generated labels quickly spread in a classroom—sometimes throughout the entire school. Children may be singled out as smart, dumb, noisy, slow: “His older brother was a real trouble-maker. I bet this one’s the same.” Or, “Nobody in her family ever finished school. She probably won’t graduate either.”

There are even more damaging labels used by teachers, often with good intentions: ADD, emotionally disturbed, learning impaired, socially maladjusted, etc. Sometimes teachers attempt to diagnose a child on the basis of problems exhibited in a classroom setting. Parents should certainly listen to teachers’ concerns, but schedule an evaluation by a pediatrician or a child psychologist before making assumptions.

 If your youngster is being labeled by a teacher, arrange a meeting to discuss what behaviors are interfering with your child’s academic or social success. Ask the teacher for appropriate interventions that you can try at home.

Even if parents and teachers are careful not to label kids, once they enter school, they’re likely to hear it from other kids.  Nerd, geek, jerk, crybaby, poser—all are cruel taunts heard on playgrounds and in hallways. When immature children can’t deal with the differences between themselves and others, they often resort to name-calling. A parent’s best response is to teach their children to be more understanding and accepting of other people.

If your child is the one being labeled, talk about why kids are calling her names and how to keep it from getting to her: “When the kids call you a nerd, tell them Bill Gates was also called a nerd, and he grew up to become one of the richest men in America.”

If we can convince children they are multi-faceted human beings, with many character traits, talents, and abilities, we have learned the most valuable lesson in building their self-esteem.

Article submitted by Carolyn Sandlin Sniffen. Carolyn currently writes for Associated Content from Yahoo, informing parents about the latest research in education and current trends in parenting strategies. She also had a weekly column: Making the Grade for the St. Petersburg Times from 1998- 2001.