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The phone heralded the sound of an incoming text message for Ace and he pounced on it with alacrity because he's a teenager and the cellphone is now an extension of his body. I've seen him reduced to frantic agitation when he couldn't find his phone for the better part of 36 hours. Some days I wish cellphones have never been invented and then others I'm completely irritated if my kids don't immediately answer when I call. Instant contact gratification at its best. And worst. 

ROFLAO - that's what he did after reading the text and then his nimble almost manhand fingers tippity-tapped away on the phone keypad to send whatever response was required. Once that was done he plopped down next to me and demanded I read the funniest joke ever and thrust his phone into my face. So I read and I laughed, because it was funny. It was also so completely inappropriate that had I been thinking more parent-like, and if my sense of humor wasn't just as inappropriate, I would have stifled my chuckles and rebuked my kid for even thinking something so crass could be funny. But I am weak and sometimes inappropriate humor can be funny or most stand up comedians would be out of work.

Then I realized that this joke had come to him via text and, knowing my kid, he had just winged it back through the wireless network to any number of friends to share the funny. He's all about sharing, my boy.

Of course I asked him if he forwarded the text and he rattled off any number of friends and then I took a deep breath, mostly to get my chuckles under control because it was funny, and so I could put my Mom face on and talk about inappropriate text messages and how that one, while entertaining on some levels, levels most closely aligned with rancid potty humor, could be deemed offensive by any number of people and maybe before he decides to spread the funny, he should think about how such material could be perceived as offensive.

He immediately scoffed at my suggestion and went on to show me several more saved text messages containing similarly offensive jokes and I realized we had to have a more serious talk about how texting can cause trouble that might not immediately seem to be a problem.

The big question is what shape should that conversation take? I'm at two different ends of the texting spectrum here as Ace is entertained by the less than appropriate jokes and Giggles gets excited by animated sparkling kittens as her screen wallpaper.

We have an open dialogue all the time about the benefits of technology use and the pitfalls but texting and how it can be used in cyberbullying, sexting and texting while driving are all new issues that I find myself wondering if they really understand the ramifications of a careless action in this space. Chances are I'm not the only parent in the same boat. Me, LG and Blogher are huge advocates of these conversations and to that end, I'd like to take YOUR questions and interview my kids about their thoughts on texting, cyberbullying, sexting and texting while driving and then we'll give you, my friends, a view from the teenage texting seats on 12/15. Maybe we'll learn something.

So, please pepper me with questions to ask my kids in the comments section or email them to me at catutes at gmail dot com. They are, as always, more than happy to share what's on their minds and direct the conversation of this space. My daughter actually wants to write the next post about this topic so she is very eager to field your questions.

Because this topic is so important for our kids and their futures, BlogHer really wants to get the conversation about texting, sexting and safety going – both with our kids and among parents. It will match LG’s donation of .50 to dosomething.org for every comment on this post, so please give me your suggestions on questions for my kids. Dosomething.org will get a $1.00 for each and every one.