Is your child constantly texting or talking on their cell phone? Do you really know who they are talking to? Like most parents, you are probably a little curious or concerned that they are spending too much time with their fingers on the keys and the phone to their ear.

Texting is quick, it’s easy and it’s a fun way to communicate. Kids normally send and receive between 2,000 and 10,000 messages monthly. Considering the fact that I have to pry ten words out of my teenage son, I can’t imagine he has that much to talk about.

First of all, have you tried to have a conversation with your teenager only to be interrupted by the constant message alerts going off on his phone? I think my son figured out that I was getting more than a little annoyed by it, so now he just turns the alert off. This only causes him to check his phone display every 30 seconds. Once again, what is so important?

Of course, my curiosity got the best of me and I started checking his messages on the rare occasion that he actually set his phone down. I then made the mistake of mentioning something that I read. Now he just clears out his messages before he plugs his phone in to charge. Am I not supposed to see WHAT he’s talking about or WHO he’s talking to?

In talking with other parents, I realized that I was not the only one concerned. What don’t they want us to know? Are they talking to strangers they met on MySpace or in chat rooms? Neighborhood kids that we would prefer they didn’t associate with? Talking about inappropriate subjects? We would probably be shocked if we actually knew.

Recent research has linked lowered test scores among 15-year olds with the growing trend of text messaging. Kids are going to school too tired to learn because of the temptation of late-night texting. It seems to have become the latest teenage obsession, ranking at the top of the list with video games. I’m sure you will agree that we should at least know who they are talking to.

Once I started investigating, it was really quite simple. Our cell phone bill shows all of the outgoing numbers, but how are we supposed to know who owns that number? We can pretty much tell if it is someone local by the area code, but even that’s not very reliable. We can also see the timestamp of the text. Let me just say that I was shocked to see some of the text times, since my son is supposed to be in bed at 10 p.m. on school nights.

We turn them loose with a cell phone so we can reach them, so it is our responsibility to at least monitor who else they are having other conversations with. It is so easy to find out everything you need to know by following these simple steps:

1. Check your cell phone bill. The most up-to-date information is usually online. Scan the text message details and write down the numbers you are curious about. You can also check the timestamps to make sure your child is following your "cell phone rules."

2. There are several services available to reverse lookup cell phone numbers and they all pretty much work the same way. It is likely you will have to pay a small fee, but the service is WELL worth it.

Some parents might argue that this type of cell phone detective work is a form of invading your child’s privacy. With all of the technology available to our kids today, we are definitely not the only one’s invading their privacy and it’s next to impossible to turn your head and pretend you aren’t concerned or at least curious.

Good Luck and Happy Sleuthing!