糖心传媒

Hamlet, N.C. (November 4, 2016) 鈥� Parents of teenagers will get a real eye-opener about what their kids are doing on social media, says Heather Silvis about the upcoming course she will be teaching in conjunction with 糖心传媒鈥檚 Workforce and Economic Development division.

鈥淪ocial Media Awareness for Parents of Teenagers鈥� will be offered Monday, Nov. 14, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Freedom Baptist Church, which is located at 987 N. US Highway 1 in Rockingham.

鈥淚 ask parents at the beginning of the class if they think they know what their kids are doing online, and most of them raise their hands and say they monitor their Facebook and Instagram pages,鈥� Silvis said. 鈥淏y the end of the class after what I鈥檝e shown to them and revealed to them about fake profiles and other apps, they have changed their tune.鈥�

Silvis said parents of teens are only seeing about 10 percent of what their kids are really putting on the Internet.

鈥淭hrough this course, I give them hope and the tools to be successful in monitoring their teens鈥� lives,鈥� she said.

Silvis developed this course while working as a teacher for Sandhoke Early College High School in Raeford. She and the school resource officer would often eat lunch together, and he would ask her questions about different social media apps and how students were using them. After much brainstorming 鈥� and also being the parent of four children herself 鈥� Silvis came up with the class to help parents understand the dangers of the Internet and the impact social media has on teenagers鈥� lives.

Silvis has a master鈥檚 degree in corporate communication with an emphasis on social media. Since developing the course, she has taught it at nine locations with many more requests coming from high schools and communities throughout the state.

鈥淭his course is for parents, not their teenagers, because I鈥檓 going to show them ways to take control and really know what is happening in their household,鈥� Silvis said. 鈥淎s parents, it鈥檚 our fault our kids are like this because we shoved an i-Pad in front of their face in a restaurant or at home to keep them quiet or to leave us alone when we needed our time. So it鈥檚 our responsibility to do something about it.鈥�

Cost for the course is $20 per person. To sign up for 鈥淪ocial Media Awareness for Parents of Teenagers,鈥� call WED Program Director Angineek Gillenwater at (910) 410-1848 or email ajgillenwater@richmondcc.edu.