Thanks in advance for your help.
Yesterday I was contacted by a woman (who lives in the same town as I do) who told me that when she confiscated her daughter's cell phone, she found that my 16 year old son had been "sexting" with her daughter this weekend (May 28/29), and one of these texts was a picture of his penis. She came over to my house to show me the texts. Here's a summary of some things that may or may not be relevant:
* My son is 16, turning 17 at the end of June.
* Her daughter is 15 and is considered a "troubled teen"...she attends a special school for girls who act out because they have personal problems.
* The girl was simultaneously 'sexting' about 5 other guys, one of whom the mother tells me is a 38 yr old man.
* The mother was extremely nice, we had a lovely conversation, we know some of the same people (for better or worse), and it was clear that she had no intention of doing anything about this, other than sending her daughter back to school (she was here for the holiday weekend), and asking me to please speak to my son about the fact that his behavior is inappropriate.
* One of the pictures my son texted was of the upper half of his body and his face is showing. The other is only of his penis, so it's impossible to tell whose penis it actually is (although i have no reason to doubt it's my son's!)
MY CONCERN is what happens if this woman changes her mind about letting the issue go and/or someone convinces her to make this an issue. My son will obviously be receiving a very stern conversation about "consequences" from me. That said, he's a teenager, he doesn't engage in deviant behavior (i honestly believe 'sexting' is pretty standard for teenagers, and while i'd like him to show some class, there's only so much about 'class' you can teach a 16 yr old), he doesn't get into trouble, he's really quite normal, and he's a boy so it's not surprising that he thinks with his penis. However, none of this may be relevant when it comes to the eyes of the law.
SO my question is...do I have anything to (potentially) worry about here?
Thanks for your time.
Yesterday I was contacted by a woman (who lives in the same town as I do) who told me that when she confiscated her daughter's cell phone, she found that my 16 year old son had been "sexting" with her daughter this weekend (May 28/29), and one of these texts was a picture of his penis. She came over to my house to show me the texts. Here's a summary of some things that may or may not be relevant:
* My son is 16, turning 17 at the end of June.
* Her daughter is 15 and is considered a "troubled teen"...she attends a special school for girls who act out because they have personal problems.
* The girl was simultaneously 'sexting' about 5 other guys, one of whom the mother tells me is a 38 yr old man.
* The mother was extremely nice, we had a lovely conversation, we know some of the same people (for better or worse), and it was clear that she had no intention of doing anything about this, other than sending her daughter back to school (she was here for the holiday weekend), and asking me to please speak to my son about the fact that his behavior is inappropriate.
* One of the pictures my son texted was of the upper half of his body and his face is showing. The other is only of his penis, so it's impossible to tell whose penis it actually is (although i have no reason to doubt it's my son's!)
MY CONCERN is what happens if this woman changes her mind about letting the issue go and/or someone convinces her to make this an issue. My son will obviously be receiving a very stern conversation about "consequences" from me. That said, he's a teenager, he doesn't engage in deviant behavior (i honestly believe 'sexting' is pretty standard for teenagers, and while i'd like him to show some class, there's only so much about 'class' you can teach a 16 yr old), he doesn't get into trouble, he's really quite normal, and he's a boy so it's not surprising that he thinks with his penis. However, none of this may be relevant when it comes to the eyes of the law.
SO my question is...do I have anything to (potentially) worry about here?
Thanks for your time.