Several grandparents show up for Hattiesburg High School’s ‘Tiger Grands’ brunch

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - Several grandparents showed up for the Hattiesburg High School’s ‘Tiger Grands’ brunch

The event is a part of the school’s efforts to provide resources to grandparents who may serve as primary guardians/parents of students in the district.

Tuesday’s session focused on protecting children and teens on social media.

“If we’re giving the children access to phones, giving the children access to Internet, it is our responsibility to monitor that just to ensure they’re using that for the good and not the evil,” said Latosha Myers, chief of police for the Hattiesburg Public School District.

Myers said with technology constantly changing, it’s important for parents and guardians to always be in the know.

“It’s a plethora or a platform for children to communicate, to purchase, to get caught up in financial situations,” Myers said. “It’s a whole platform, and we can’t just scratch the surface and stay on the surface and thinking that it’s just one avenue.”

Joe Wiley, a grandfather of two, said he had no idea just how many ways kids could be active online.

“We’re finding out when you see your kid, and it seems like they’re idle, just not doing nothing, on the computer, thinking that they’re doing their homework, they’re on different websites doing things that you don’t even know about,” said Wiley.

Wiley said he believes keeping kids safe on and off social media requires more involved parenting.

“My parents came to school. Now you don’t see none of the parents coming to the school until one of the kids got into some trouble,” Wiley said. “We need to come before that trouble starts.”

“We need to have a connection with the teachers and the principals.”

Myers said she hopes more parents and grandparents will stay open to learning about social media and other aspects of society that affect children.

“It’s just gonna be a greater tool under our tool belt to be able to get our kids where they need to be and be a global impact,” Myers said.

The next Tiger Grands session will be in January, and the topic of discussion will be gang violence.

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