As a school Parent Support Specialist for the past several years, sharing important information with parents is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. I would like to thank you for logging on to this blog and would like to share some important information with you. Since cough medicine abuse is largely unknown to parents, this is a subject I plan to invest considerable time in raising awareness about over the next few months. Parents also are largely unaware that the abuse of cough medicines containing dextromethorphan is being promoted online, and I am determined to counter those negative influences with an equal amount of awareness and education online. That's the goal of the Five Moms Campaign, after all. Hundreds of web sites, online communities, and blogs promote the abuse of cough medicine. Even social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace have users who provide instructions for, conversations about, and videos of cough medicine abuse. Users blog and post videos about specific plans to abuse cough medicine, how they use it, and what to expect at certain doses. They also offer guides on how much to abuse to get a certain type of high and how to combine dextromethorphan with other drugs. I am not linking to any of these sites because I don't want to send them any more traffic, but they are out there and they are dangerous. I also would like to invite you to visit your child's “My Space page” and see the information that he/she is sharing with the online community. You can also protect your children from these online predators and this destructive information by:

1. Making sure that your children are never online without your permission. Be clear with your kids about your rules on Internet use at home and outside of the home.
2. Placing your computer in an area of the house where you can easily supervise their Internet activity.
3. Asking your children about who they talk to and what activities they do online.
4. Using parental filters to block access to questionable sites.
5. Building an open and trusting relationship with your kids about their online use.

Again, thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you or visiting with you through this blog.