The Internet is a maze of dangers for kids, right? Cyberstalkers, bullies, online predators and callous jerks lurk, waiting to lure your child to a dark alleyway or call her names on Facebook. Video games and chat programs seduce kids away from homework while viruses and porn throng the shadows.

That’s how it’s often portrayed, but that’s not how Danah Boyd sees it.

She knows a thing or two about the Internet, too. Boyd is a researcher at Microsoft and a professor at NYU. She’s also something of a rock star in the world of social media research, where she studies how young people use the Internet.

It’s not as bleak as it seems, she says.

In fact, the Internet can be good for kids.  Continue reading »

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Every time I turn around there is a new study about the danger of allowing children online. But there is also this: a recent video of a baby using an iPad like she was born to do it. The other day my small girl sat down in front of my Mac and began to use it as though she had never used anything else … when in fact, she first played with a mouse and traditional keyboard.

Computers and the online space represent my children’s future. And so I am okay with them being online. And by “online” I mean, YES, I let my second-grade daughter start a blog.

Part of my willingness to do this is that is that I do not have a fear of the unknown. I KNOW I will be next to them and involved in their online business as long as they have online business to do.

At seven years old, she doesn’t question me looking over her shoulder. And while I know this won’t always be the case …  she will, AT LEAST, understand her time on the computer = my involvement.

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Will she hate me for this?

Writing about your life is tricky business.  The stories you’re telling are true. The people in them are identifiable. And when you write online, you’re writing them in indelible internet ink. It’s something that anyone who writes about her personal life must think about. But when you’re a mother who’s writing about her children, things get a  lot more complicated. A mommy blogger is playing two roles at once.  In her role as a mother, her work is protecting her children. Her role as a blogger is to write something that people will want to read. What happens when those priorities clash?

Bloggers aren’t the only people faced with this question. Anyone who uses Facebook, twitter, or any other social networking platform has to consider how much information to share about her kids and their lives.

What is a mother’s obligation to her kid’s feelings…current and future? Where do you draw the line?

Continue reading »

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That's one way to get mom's attention.

Most parents truly want to instill in their children healthy media habits.  We forbid texting at the table and taking calls during dinner time.  We discourage constant Twittering, tetxting and Facebook status updating. We  put limits on television time and monitor Internet use.

But while all that is certainly important when it comes setting boundaries for our kids’ media use, it’s not enough.

Dr. Jeffry Evans, a Family Practice specialist at the Hannibal Clinic in Missouri, says that in order to drive the point home, parents need to set a good example of appropriate media use. That means, of course, examining your own behavior and perhaps setting some boundaries for yourself.

Do you ever put your kid off – for just a second – while you read an email or answer a text?  Do you answer your phone every time it rings?  Do you spend all your free time surfing the Internet or watching television?  If so, Dr. Evans says you are sending your kid a message.  The wrong message. Continue reading »

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Kids can drive us crazy

My colleague Danielle had a lousy dinner out with her husband recently.

The service was terrible, the food was bad, and worst of all, her kids were a disaster. They crawled under tables, threw food on the floor and attracted the hostile attention of onlookers. Onlookers who, like they so often do, did nothing to help but just glared at Danielle like it was her fault her kids are acting like all young children do.

I have so been there. Danielle, first off I’d like to share with you some of the best parenting advice I have ever gotten. The magic secret to taking a baby or young child to a restaurant is simple: don’t.

Restaurants are, for the most part, terrible environments for kids. They’re expected to do a whole lot of things little kids don’t do well, under a lot of social pressure, while mom and dad are distracted by trying to enjoy their own meal. My husband and I have been much happier since we started ordering take-out and enjoying date nights at home after the kids go to bed.

But this post isn’t really about that. It’s about the comments Danielle got when she blogged about it.

Total strangers felt perfectly comfortable telling her to get her tubes tied because she was frustrated by her kids’ antics at dinner. For real? Back off, people.

Continue reading »

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While some might insist that the proliferation of social networking sites, email and text messaging have allowed us all to have closer connections with more people than ever before, is it possible that just the opposite is true?  Could all this technological interaction actually be turning our kids into a generation of anti-social creatures who someday might not even know how to have a real face-to-face relationship with another human being?

Psychologists and other experts say that might very well be the case.  What’s happening might more accurately be described as anti-social networking and is perhaps changing the nature of childhood friendships forever. Continue reading »

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As part of their efforts to make surfing the web safer for children, an Internet provider in the U.K. has partnered with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to age-rate websites.  As a result, everybody’s favorite search engine has been deemed unsuitable for kids under the age of 12. Continue reading »

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