As younger and younger children are being given a cell phone, every concerned parent has a right to know what their children are doing with their cell phones.
While we want our children to experience the freedom that a cellular phone can bring, we need to ensure that we are protecting them from undesired and possibly dangerous influences.
As soon as a child gets their first phone, they rush out to tell their cell number to all their friends (be it by text, phone or social networks).
Before you know it, they are chatting away and you wonder how they can make so many words out of those little keys, and what on earth all this 'text-speak' is.
If your child has a cell phone, as the adult in the family, you need to take protective control over the well-being of your child.
Here are some tips to help you guard the safety of your child:

• Explain to your child that under no circumstances are they ever to give out their phone number to anyone on the internet.
  
• Whether your child likes it or not, you need to regularly review their text and call history.
  Many children will say that it is a violation of their freedom, but they are still minors and you need to protect them.
  
• Add everyone on your child's contact list to your own phone.
  Should you not be able to contact or find your child, you have a great resource to start your search.
  
• Make a list of numbers that are 'safe' and take note of the remaining phone numbers.
  This doesn't mean that all the numbers left are suspicious, but that they are new or uncommon contacts.
  Talk to your child about these contacts.
  
• If you find that your child has given their cell number to people that they have met on the internet, then give these numbers highest level of concern.
  
• Perhaps phone the unknown number and ask to confirm who the person is (if your child is happy for you to do so).
  
• Do a reverse phone lookup of any landline numbers using White Pages.
  
• You can do a reverse phone lookup on a cell phone number, but you will need to use a specialized service.
  This information is not available for free on the internet.
  

Be extremely wary of people who are using a cell phone to be in communication with your child.
People hide behind the supposed privacy that they think they have by using a cell phone and are more likely to adopt this form of communication.