Recent tragic events at Marysville High School a few hundred miles away has us all saddened and reflecting on what can we do to help students, so this tragedy does not occur elsewhere.
One thing we can all do as parents is to know what are students are saying and doing on social media. Your student’s posts on their social media sites can say a lot about their social and emotional well being. I would like to recommend three things that you can do to stay more informed with what your students are feeling.

1. If they are on a social platform, you can be on that platform as well. Whether its twitter, instagram, facebook, or other – you can be on their and follow your students.
2. Have their passcodes. For my son he knows I am allowed to grab his device at anytime and get in it. All passcodes and passwords are parent knowledge.
3. Monitor sites by viewing them weekly and ask questions. You can either be a follower of their sites or grab the device and read the posts. Ask them questions about their posts, why did you post that? What does this picture that you posted say about you? Your friend just said “blah blah” what does that mean? Are they ok? While looking out for your child might lead you to see one of their friends is in a tough place.

If your son or daughter is dealing with some tough social or emotional issues we at Lakeside want to support. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us for help.
Our Counselors are Linda Mitzlaff and Lisa Perdue and they are great with our kids. 340-4209