I just finished a webinar I offered for moms to support them during our stay-at-home order. In the audience, we had a mom who was seven-months pregnant with a three-year-old as well as moms with school-age kids and teens. During these challenging times, all have unique situations. Some of us are working full-time and struggling to find a free moment, while others are bored and working to find fun and purpose. Some of our kids are best friends, while others can’t seem to get along ever. Some kids are jetting through easy schoolwork while others can’t seem to get anything done. How are you doing? Are you making amazing memories with your time together or struggling to make things happen? Today’s article is about recognizing that the love is in the daily details, but it may take some special effort to notice.
“Seeing” by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Harper Perennial 1974)
When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I’ve never been seized by it since. For some reason, I always “hid” the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and, starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions. After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY. I was greatly excited, during all this arrow-drawing, at the thought of the first lucky passer-by who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe. But I never lurked about. I would go straight home and not give the matter another thought, until, some months later, I would be gripped again by the impulse to hide another penny.
It is still the first week in January, and I’ve got great plans. I’ve been thinking about seeing. There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and
strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But—and this is the point—who gets excited by a mere penny? If you follow one arrow if you crouch motionless on a bank to watch a tremulous ripple thrill on the water and are rewarded by the sight of a muskrat kid paddling from its den, will you count that sight a chip of copper only, and go your rueful way? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won’t stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.
I love this passage because it captures so much about childhood joy. Like the puppy-dog-tails and sugar-and-spice nursery rhyme, childhood joy is a magic blending of anticipation, preparation, and imagination. Children build their magic worlds by keeping their eyes open for real-world discovery. And when they find something new and delightful, they turn to those around them to share in their excitement. For young children, this is a ladybug on a blade of grass; and for older kids, this is a giggling walk with friends to get ice cream. Parents can be a part of this magical discovery, or they can be washing dishes. It’s really up to us to be present.
But here’s the thing, we don’t have to entertain our kids 24/7. Contrary to popular parenting lore, our job is not to make our prodigy happy all of the time. Our job is to offer a safe and enriching place in love and guidance, helping them build resiliency skills so they can feel their worth and practice their capabilities. Sometimes that means we are by their sides, and sometimes that means we offer a crafted setting of endless possibilities.
To teach them how to recognize those endless possibilities, we first have to create the framework for meaningful magic and create the lens for them to see through. And I’m telling you now, memory-making family events don’t have to take place in a faraway destination or during a $5000 planned vacation. Magical, meaningful moments worthy of memories don’t cost dollars….they cost pennies. They’re like shiny pennies cradled in the roots of a Sycamore or left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. They are gathered in tiny moments of discovery and shared joy. To find them, we just have to have our eyes, and our hearts, open.
VIRTUAL SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITY IDEAS
Take a virtual travel vacation.
Create a passport for the virtual trips you will take.
Research the things to do once you get there.
Visit those places on Google Earth.
After the trip your child can draw a picture of something from the trip as a passport stamp.
Create a collage of the virtual places you visit.
Create family businesses and then end with a trade show.
Decide on your idea and write a mission statement.
Design your logo (fun ideas are to look on https://www.fiverr.com/ or https://99designs.com where people hire logo designers online). Pick your brand colors (https://coolors.co is a fun site for that)
Pick free stock images for your site or take them on your own (we love https://unsplash.com)
Create a budget
Source and buy materials for your product
Manufacture your product
Create flyers and business cards
Design and film a TV commercial (don’t forget to hire your celebrities and learn your marketing)
Create a sales convention where you each have a sales table where you hawk your wares (you can take turns as founders and customers or recruit family members and friends as customers)
Find brand partners
Create your store
Have a trade show where you buy each other’s wares and services with a budget and fake money you set up ahead of time.
Set up a restaurant in your home.
Plan the menu
Prepare the food
Dress up like chefs and waiters
Serve your family guests just as they’d be served in a restaurant (menu, orders, bill payment).
For more ideas to create fun family fun, follow our daily #TogetherAtHome idea posts on the GetKidsIternetSafe Instagram page! To help you out during challenging times, here is a list of linked resources to help you make magic family memory moments while you’re #TogetherAtHome.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Easy Peasy and Fun
From their website: “Ready for a fantastic crafting session with your kids or students? We have a ton of engaging art and craft for kids to make and you’ll find ideas for all ages and for all occasions.”
From their website: “If you’re looking for easy and fun craft ideas for kids – you’ve definitely come to the right place! We’ve included our best and most popular crafts for kids on this page for you. Kids will love making these simple crafts – and the best part is the preparation for you will always be easy too!”
From their website: “Kidspace may be temporarily closed, but curiosity never ceases. Keep the learning going at home with Kidspace curated programming and resources developed to spark connection, creativity, laughter, and inspiration. Join the Kidspace-At-Home journey bringing hands-on joyful learning experiences to families every day. Scroll to the bottom to learn how you can help support our efforts and keep Kidspace strong!”
From their website: “An award-winning audio show for kids and families. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world. Our mission is to encourage kids’ natural curiosity and wonder using science and history…but there’s no age limit on curiosity, and episodes of Brains On can be enjoyed by anyone.”
From their website: “But Why is a show led by you, kids! You ask the questions and we find the answers. It’s a big interesting world out there. On But Why, we tackle topics large and small, about nature, words, even the end of the world. Have a question? Send it to us!”
From their website: “Goodnight With Dolly” will feature Dolly Parton reading a series of Imagination Library books all carefully chosen for their appropriate content at this moment in time.”
From their website: “Looking eBooks for your kids? We have the best collection of free animated eBooks will undoubtedly stimulate your child’s mind, studies and learning pattern. Find these very interesting carefully made free eBooks for kids. These online eBooks touch various subjects and promise to make your child’s learning experience richer. Read and download your favorite eBooks for free.”
From their website: “Full online curriculum ages 2-8. 10 levels. More than 850 Lessons Across 10 Levels. The Step-by-Step Learning Path presents the full ABCmouse.com curriculum in a carefully designed program of more than 850 lessons in ten levels. As your child completes each lesson, he or she is guided to the next one and is motivated to continue learning by ABCmouse.com‘s Tickets and Rewards System.”
From their web site: “The Aquarium of the Pacific is currently closed. During this time, we will be offering a variety of live and on-demand programming for our community..”
From their website: “The Exploratorium isn’t just a museum; it’s an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception. Explore our vast collection of online experiences to feed your curiosity and education resources supporting online teaching and learning.”
From their website: “Bring the Zoo to You. During our closure, we’ll continue to share cool views of the Zoo, our animal residents, and our dedicated keepers to keep you informed, engaged, and connected while social distancing.”
From their website: “MOCA Education makes education more collaborative, inclusive, and learner-centered, and nurtures intellectual growth through transformative experiences with contemporary art. Join our team of MOCA educators as they lead different family-friendly activities through interactive workshops, virtual Talking Tours, and classroom curriculum discussions. It is fun for all and particularly helpful for homeschooling!”
Live storytime events aimed at providing children with emotional support tools to help them cope with anxiety and stress in an entertaining, engaging way. In the first installment, Leah Bowen reads A Feel Better Book for Little Worriers, co-authored with Holly Brochmann, to help children identify a worry and where it might come from, as well as provide them with helpful tools to reduce and cope with worries.
Americans LOVE online browsing. YouTube is the second largest search engine, with 1.9 billion registered users watching 5 billion videos daily![1] As online discovery grows, so does child disconnection from real life. Sometimes, just watching a task get accomplished on video feels as good, if not better than doing the task itself. Numbing out online allows us to escape the hard work of trying and failing. It also replaces the opportunity for learning to cope with boredom. Online, one can escape the first twinge of anxiety with a click of the mouse. In real life, you must endure the moment and work it through. It’s no wonder so many of us choose the less threatening online version of reality over offline experiences.
Ways We Live Vicariously Online:
In Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, she agrees that discovery online and learning from how-to videos is a great benefit of technology. But she also believes that kids need “buckets of face-to-face interaction and three-dimensional play experiences to grow the neurological wiring necessary for skill mastery. Too much screen time takes the place of critical learning experiences.” Although watching a how-to video may spark curiosity and experimentation, it can also offer satisfaction without really working for it.[2]
Social Media & JOMO
Social media is one way people live vicariously online (in their imagination while watching others).[3] Each post is carefully staged. We pause the live moment until we get just the right shot. No messy reveals of the moment before when you were sweating to climb the cliff overlooking the sunset or annoyed with your companion for talking too much about politics. Only our best accomplishments are highlighted.
Even better, look at Tiffany with her handsome new boyfriend on the sailboat. We no longer have to worry about how she’s handling her eating disorder or that the trip maxed out her credit card. She’s happy! End of story. Honest real life is messy…and stressful. Who wants to deal with that?
Our brains can keep track of, at most, 150 friendships while maintaining a sense of a meaningful connection. This is called Dunbar’s number. A maximum number of meaningful connections is true for our offline as well as our online lives. Yes, we are acquainted with our 1,247 Instagram “friends.” But are we truly connected?
A recent GKIS article, The FOMO EFFECT: How Fun Friend Posts Can Lead to Clinical Anxiety, described how social media sparks fears of missing out (FOMO). However, Jason Fried, co-founder and president of 37signals, has coined the phrase joy of missing out (JOMO). JOMO is a trend in response to FOMO.[3] Challenging your kids to exercise JOMO may help them avoid the lure of too much vicarious living on social media platforms.
Television & Movies
We also use TV and movies to allow us to live vicariously through the characters on screen. Viewers can get so consumed that they associate the character’s achievements and growth with their own. With on-demand content, we can binge-watch a series, immersing ourselves in ways that can feel profound. It’s as if we are personally experiencing the characters, settings, and plots.
Studies have found that:
79% of viewers reported enjoying television more when they watched multiple episodes at a time.
Approximately 61% of Netflix users watch from 2-6 episodes in one sitting.
56% of binge-watchers prefer to binge alone.
On average, people watch at least 7 hours of television daily. That’s one hour short of a full-time day at work![4]
Negative Effects of Binge-Watching
You are 23% more likely to become obese and 14% more likely to develop diabetes from watching only 2 hours of TV every day.
Those who watch more TV are more likely to experience anxiety or depression.[4]
After the age of 25, you lose 22 minutes of life for every hour of television watched.[5]
Like a television-video game hybrid, programmers have picked up on these immersive phenomena, creating tv and movie series where you can impact the direction of the plot by choosing the decision you want the character to make next. This is called interactive TV.
Netflix recently experimented with it by allowing users to vote for one of five pre-recorded endings. Big tech and entertainment are betting that this will be the next mass medium with huge appeal.[6]
Gaming
Everyone knows someone who stays up all night gaming instead of getting the sleep their body desperately craves. In her book, Dr. Bennett cites peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate how immersive gaming floods dopamine into the pleasure center of the brain.
One doesn’t have to risk peril in real life; just strap on your weapons and save the world with your virtual character. Complete with novel landscapes, skilled partners, and novel rewards, the gaming life provides mastery and socialization that is almost effortless to achieve. Again, real-life struggles are so much more work. Gaming is so compelling, it leads to clinical addiction among some players, requiring professional detox and rehabilitation in inpatient hospitals.
YouTube
YouTube is the most popular social media platform used today. We have access to experts on everything … and nothing. By watching endless streams of videos, we can live vicariously through different genders, ages, and ethnicities.[7] Replacing real-life mastery of tasks, we watch the edited version that leaves out the messy failures endured before the perfection is captured and downloaded for our consumption.
It has been suggested that many people who view how-to videos gain such satisfaction, they choose not to attempt it in real life after all. That means that watching a how-to video squelches real-life practice of the skill. Rather than aiding you to complete the project, it replaces your desire to start.
Celebrity Worship Syndrome
Celebrities have managed to become the idols of many little girls and boys around the world. With society watching and reporting their every move our children come to believe this extravagant behavior is normal. In this way, we are raising a generation of vicarious livers. Children that would prefer to be cast for a reality television show than grow up to be the president.[8] Celebrity Worship Syndromeis when the individual becomes obsessed with the life of a celebrity.[9]
Travel
Why spend the money and endure the stress when you can enjoy the experience of traveling all over the world on Snapchat? WeTravel, a company that allows users to travel the world virtually, claims that it will temporarily satisfy your craving to travel by showcasing people’s travels around the world.[10]
Pornography
Watching online pornography can be a cheap replacement for intimacy acquired through romantic human relations. Too much use can decrease dating confidence.[11] Porn is a source of pleasure that will not turn them down, break their heart, make them feel incompetent, or worse, embarrassed.
From Competition to Inspiration
Mastery can only be achieved through anxious anticipation, mustering the courage to try, and multiple failures along the way. Each step in the journey strengthens emotional resilience, character, confidence, and competence. Missing out on real-life learning opportunities can lead to real emotional impairment. None of us want that for ourselves or for those we love.
One technique for altering one’s mindset when viewing photos of others’ accomplishments is replacing the competitive lens with one of inspiration.[12] Teaching your children to be inspired by others’ successes will help them steer clear of vicarious living. Ultimately, engaging and successfully mastering a skill provides you with much more satisfaction and self-efficacy than observing the successes of others.
How to Encourage Real-Life Mastery
Decide if what you wish you could do, is something you can do. By encouraging your child to dream with enthusiasm and encouragement, they’ll build the scaffolding of confidence that will lead to real effort.[13]
Commit to a specific end goal. Help your kids bridge the gap between dreaming and reality by encouraging them to identify a goal and start to research it!
Tackle it. By reminding your child that failure and poor results along the way are part of the learning, they can start to chunk the task into several benchmark goals. Remind them that mastery is only meaningful if you overcame the struggle to get there.
Encourage them to recognize their worth and importance. Ensuring your child that they don’t have to earn their worth is an important part of helping them build a healthy sense of self.[14]
Remind them to celebrate their achievements (and those of others) along the way. Celebrating benchmark goals will give them the joy of learning that drives follow-thru. Keeping a gratitude journal is a great way to spark celebration.
Demand an occasional disconnect. By following the guidelines and suggestions from our GKIS courses, you can create a lifestyle that carves creative space and time for real-life experiences. Dr. B’s weekly parenting and family coaching are quick lessons on how to tweak family living to increase screen safety and closer family relationships.
JOMO. Most important of all, teach your kids the many joys of missing out! Show them how to break free of the activities that social media says they should do. Instead, spend time doing truly satisfying tasks in real-time, in the real world.
Thank you to Sara Doyle, GKIS intern, for researching and writing this article. In the end, those who never give up on their goals will succeed as much as the talented.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] http://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/
[2] NPR. “Hidden Brain. Close Enough: The Lure Of Living Through Others.” Shankar Vedantam, Laura Kwerel, Tara Boyle, and Jennifer Schmidt, 2019.
[3] SoundCloud. “Living Vicariously Through Social Media…” Phil Svitek.
[4] CogniFit. “Binge watching: Complete guide to its effects on the brain and body.” Anna Bohren, 2018.
[5] Personal Excellence. “Are You Living Vicariously Through Movie, Drama, or Game Characters?” Celestine Chua.
[6] https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-netflix-black-mirror-20181228-story.html
[7] “I’m Living Vicariously Through YouTubers” Lily Brundin, 2016.
[8] HuffPost. “Americans Have An Unhealthy Obsession With Celebrities.” Jo Plazza, 2012.
[9] Psychology Today. “Celebrity Worship Syndrome.” Mark D. Griffiths Ph.D., 2013.
[10] “Traveling Vicariously Through Snapchat.” Azzura Ricci.
[11] “Is Living Vicariously Through Others Dangerous?” Nicola Kirkpatrick, 2018.
[12] Riskology. “Are You Living, or Living Vicariously?” Tyler Tervooren, 2019.
[13] Nerd Fitness. “How to Live Vicariously Through Yourself.” n.
[14] Lifehack. “3 Ways to Stop Living Vicariously Through Technology.” Derek Ralsto
Kids are the number one target for identity theft due to the chances that the crime won’t be detected until the child reaches adulthood and seeks their first loan. This cybercrime involves the theft and fraudulent use of a child’s personal information (like name, social security number, address, and date of birth) to open lines of credit, take out loans, or access financial accounts. This scary issue is the drive behind developing our Cybersecurity and Red Flags Supplement, a comprehensive tool to detect online scams before the worst can happen. Find out more about cybercrime and what you can do to prevent it with this GKIS article.
Identity Theft
Identity theft can be used for many types of crimes, including:
taking out a loan
buying lines of credit
accessing the victim’s financial accounts
securing a driver’s license or employment or
seeking medical care.
Personal information can be stolen from virtual sources, like screen devices, websites, and email accounts, or in real life (IRL) from skimming information from your ATM card with a special device or stealing it from your home, wallet, trash, or mail.
Who is vulnerable?
Unsuspecting victims can be tricked into revealing private information by phishing scammers. These cybercriminals impersonate legitimate companies asking for passwords and credit information necessary to process a fake change of address form, application for credit, or to avoid an IRS tax lien or fake criminal charges.
Vulnerable populations include young people, the elderly, and immigrants or workers here on a visa.
Why is it important to check for identity theft?
Once discovered, it may take several costly months or even years to get credit and criminal records cleaned up and sorted out. Your child’s financial options may be blocked or delayed when deadlines, like college and employment, are most critical.
Can you imagine dealing with that in your overtasked, underfunded life? There are companies that offer cyber protective services and others that help you clean up the catastrophic results of cybercrime.
The Child Identity Theft Bill
In 2015, I received a phone call from Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin’s office asking for a statement about a Child Identity Theft bill (AB1553) that she is sponsoring. Asm. Irwin served as Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Cybersecurity in Sacramento.
This bill served to “amend the Civil Code to require credit agencies to allow parents or guardians to create a new credit report for a minor child for the purpose of placing a security freeze on the child’s credit. Without a credit report to freeze, protection is difficult.” She was asking for my statement and support and wondering if I knew any child victims of identity theft.
After sending out an inquiry on my GetKidsInternetSafe Facebook page, it didn’t take long before I’d uncovered three victims who were willing to share their stories. Two involved child identity theft for financial cybercrime and the other involved identity theft on social media for cyberbullying. I’m sharing the financial theft stories to demonstrate how easy it is to become a victim and suggest steps you can take to protect your kids starting today.
Megan’s Story
My first respondent was a dad whose stepdaughter had recently graduated from nursing school. When the family went to their credit union in preparation for purchasing a car, they discovered that the stepdaughter’s credit report was pages and pages long with a sub-par (mid 5’s) credit rating.
It turned out that a criminal out of Phoenix had fraudulently opened several lines of credit with her social security number. From Sprint to multiple department stores, the crook had charged a debt of over $60,000. The family filed a police report to start the long process of calling creditors and clearing her name.
Although they had the criminal’s address, they elected not to press formal charges. When I spoke to the stepfather, he did not know whether the criminal was ever charged. He also said they never discovered how or when the fraud started, but it seemed to be a single party that may have gotten her personal information when she applied for a loan for nursing school.
The fraud seemed to stop once the credit agencies were notified, and an alert was placed on her account. Ultimately, it took the family over twenty hours of filing time plus another fifteen hours from a private credit fraud service to get her credit repaired. A year after the discovery, they had finally gotten her credit score back to the 700s with letters from the creditors with apologies. Nightmare!
Jose’s Story
The second identity fraud victim shared a truly tragic tale that has spanned over thirty years. Jose, who is 40 years old now, was 13 years old when he was first contacted by the IRS and told that he owed over $10,000 in back taxes. Despite all efforts to get clear of fraud, he still has issues like denied credit (including a first-time home buyer loan because it looked like he already owned properties) to two court-ordered paternity tests for mistaken-identity child support cases.
Jose also shared a story about being pulled over on an arrest warrant while he was on his way to becoming a priest. The officer said if it turned out he was lying about the fraud, he would arrest him and make him apologize directly to his lieutenant. He responded to the police officer that if HE was correct, the officer would have to go to church and apologize directly to his bishop. He laughed when he said the officer lived up to his promise.
Despite his resilient attitude, Jose has had to change phone numbers and bank accounts, can’t pay anything with checks, and has elected to put all property in his wife’s name. Considering the decades of victimization, he has had to endure, he goes to great lengths to protect his children’s personal information.
What can a parent do to avoid child identity theft?
Protect personal information at home with tools such as a locking mailbox, an in-home safe for storage, and a shredder for the disposal of personal documents.
Install cybersecurity safeguards on-screen media like passcodes and screensavers, firewalls, antivirus and encryption software, and secure passwords.
Educate your children about maintaining privacy and using discretion online. That means cautioning them about disclosing their name, address, school, date of birth, or any other personally identifying information in images (t-shirts with their school logo) or texting or posting. Geotagging on photos and social media should be turned off to hide location.
Setup up filtering and monitoring software and parent protection options like those from our Screen Safety Toolkit to block inappropriate contacts on the Internet and monitor your children’s activities, particularly in chat rooms, social media, texting, and instant messaging.
Teach your children about cybersecurity issues and skills to protect against hacking, phishing, and malware. Good habits include consistently downloading updates for security patches, using strong passwords and changing them often, and not clicking on embedded links or opening attachments from unknown sources.
If you are traveling…
Don’t post pictures that can reveal travel data, like boarding passes, passports, or travel or hotel vouchers. Not only can criminals benefit from knowing the details of your trip, but they may also read personal information from barcodes to steal your identity. The best option, wait until you’re home to post travel photos.
Avoid public WiFi. Hackers can access your private information using a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM). This means the criminal intercepts the link between your device and the server. This breach is like eavesdropping and can result in your private information being accessed and even altered. Malware can even be delivered to your device. A MITM attacker may set up a fake access point named similarly to the public network connection (called an “evil twin”) or engage in “packet sniffing” or “sidejacking,” which means using a tool to capture network traffic at the Ethernet frame level. Simple shoulder surfing at coffee shops or on airplanes can also result in privacy breaches. If you have to use public WiFi, practice situational awareness, and verify the WiFi name with staff at the public site. Avoid online tasks that involve private information like online banking or using private transaction information like date of birth, credit card numbers, tax IDs, or social security numbers. Always log out when using a hotspot to avoid the hacker continuing the session. Consider setting up a secure virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt inbound and outbound data. However, VPNs can decrease your bandwidth. Public WiFi may not be encrypted, but most major websites that use a password, like Amazon and PayPal, have encryption. If the URL has an “S” (for “secure”) at the end, as in HTTPS, then there’s some level of encryption.
Avoid using public computers for the same reasons it’s risky to use public WiFi. The software could be silently running in the background, thus capturing data from your online activities.
If your child is traveling with you, turn off location settings so criminals can’t intercept your location data and use it for targeted attacks. On Snapchat, this is called going “ghost mode.” Of course, if your child is on an independent walkabout, you may want to leave location services on so you can track them for safety.
Freeze your child’s credit.
Contact one of the three major credit card companies to see what kind of protection options they offer, like a credit freeze, which has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective strategies for preventing child identity theft. Each state has laws on how a credit freeze can be done. Remember, once a freeze has been implemented you must order a “thaw” on the account before applying for credit.
Equifax: This website explains what is needed to mail in the request. According to the person I spoke to there is no fee for minors.
Experian: This link explains what is needed to mail in the request. After 3 tries I gave up trying to upload the docs online. I couldn’t reach anybody, so I sent in a check for $10 plus 7.25% tax (Ventura County).
Transunion: I had better luck with Transunion when I called the number 888-909-8872. A polite and helpful representative informed me that neither of my minor children had credit files (a good start). He then offered the procedure necessary to get a free security freeze on my child’s account by mailing a letter with the following information:
Send in 2 pages: 1st page: Cover letter listing the minor info: full name, address, last four of social and file # (rep will give you) plus reason for security freeze (“Proactively protecting my child against fraud) plus requester info (parent): Full name, address, relationship. 2nd page: Official request in letter style format mentioning enclosure copy of minor’s social security card and birth certificate.
GetKidsInternetSafe was created to inform parents about proven preventative strategies before tragedy strikes. To get a head start today, check out my GKIS Connected Family Online Course.
