Woman Hands Working With A Laptop At HomeThere’s a new threat to our teens that has gained popularity in Europe through social media. It’s called the Game of 72.

The game is very simple. You run away for 72 hours and see how much panic you can cause. Sounds fun, right? (insert sarcasm if you didn’t all ready)

From what I’ve read online, it’s quite popular in Europe but has yet to gain any momentum here in Canada or the US, which is a good thing.

No, scratch that – it’s a GREAT thing.

As a parent of teens, I appreciate hearing about this stuff as soon as I can – and while my own teenagers are not on Facebook yet – they are on other social media sites. My role, as their parent is to inform them and give them enough information to make wise decisions.

So what can YOU do as a parent to help stop this Game of 72 from growing widespread and affecting our children? Simple.

Talk to your kids. Keep them informed. Explain what happens or what can happen to teens/children who run away. Talk to them about the millions of missing children in our society and the effects on families. Yes, it might be 72 hours – 3 days – but that’s 3 days of hell for any parent to go through.

This is also a great time to create a safety word within your family. Something that they can send via text or phone call to you to let you know they are in danger. A word that lets them know if someone ‘comes to pick them up because you are late’ is lying…a word to help keep them safe. It’s also a great time to discuss what they can do to keep safe.

(note…I realize that there are articles that say this Game of 72 is fake. It doesn’t matter if it is or not – this is a great time to talk to your kids. Use it wisely.)