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Tampa moms combat teen text-driving
I loved this story by our colleague Tia Mitchell on the Tampa moms who came up with a business aimed at curbing teens' texting while driving. The best weapon: Telling the kid's mother! Parents buy bumper stickers from icudrive.com and place them on their teenagers' cars. The stickers feature a phone number and encourage other drivers to report any unsafe behavior they observe.
Other companies have similar programs, such companies include GoTellMom.com, SteerStraight.com and HowsMyTeenDriving.net, with services that cost between $39.95 to $120 annually. ICUDrive costs $97.99 a year.
Laura Myers, the Wesley Chapel mom built ICUDrive.com from scratch, created a website, ordered bumper stickers and purchased a toll-free number. Janis Labusch, her friend who lives in New Tampa, grew so passionate about the venture that she became a partner.
The company rewards teens who go an entire year without receiving a negative report with a $10 iTunes gift card. Different from similar companies, ICUDrive makes a donation of $1 per month per membership to a school or nonprofit of the client's choosing. Myers and Labusch hope this will encourage student groups or parent-teacher organizations to use ICUDrive as a fundraiser.
We'll see if this catches on. Other companies have gotten great press for this idea, but few actual sign-ups for the service.
Would pay to have the rest of the drivers snitch on your teen?
Sharon Kennedy Wynne
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Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.
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Freelance writer Courtney Cairns Pastor wasn’t so sure about having kids and how she would balance child-rearing with her journalism career. It turned out that her journalism training went to good use. As the mom to a funny, active toddler, she learned to handle him like she did her sources. Never ask yes or no questions (the answer will always be no), get him to be specific (are you crying because you’re wet or your tooth hurts?) and be prepared for anything because no two days are the same. When she’s not playing trucks, Courtney crams for her book club, trains for races and occasionally bursts into showtunes. E-mail her at 
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