babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
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 »
I’m more techy than my husband. Every once in a while, I need to help him with some snafu that involves his email or a social media account. A procedure that involves quietly looking away while he logs in with his secret password.
We have three kids and a mortgage. We share a bed and a car. We’ve given each other the legal right to make life and death medical decisions for each other.
But we don’t share passwords to our personal email accounts.
That sets us apart from a lot of teenagers, it turns out. High school sweethearts are trading their email and Facebook passwords the way kids back in the day swapped class rings as a sign of commitment.
The difference is that sharing a password is a lot more dangerous than sharing jewelry.
Kids today.
If they’re not demanding to wear provocative, age-inappropriate clothing without recrimination, they’re posting preternaturally articulate vlogs about a woman’s right to wear provocative clothing without recrimination. The thirteen-year-old girl at left celebrated her two year anniversary on YouTube (!) by taking on the topic, explaining why calling a woman a “slut” is just plain WRONG.
Our young heroine barely seems to have reached puberty. But she is clearly doing some very advanced feminist reading, and it’s quite impressive to hear these ideas distilled down to a teenage level (or at least framed in teen cuteness). I loved getting a glimpse of how a girl growing up in this deeply sexualized culture processes how she might be seen by others. The ever-increasing expectation for girls to look hot and sexy (at younger and younger ages) is disturbing in itself. But the blaming of women who are victims of sex crimes in the face of the dominant aesthetic is truly gross. The past year has seen a few really horrendous examples, some involving very young girls. It’s also created a groundswell of resistance, including Slut Walks and other protests. It’s pretty excellent to hear these powerful words coming out of the mouth of a girl who has barely begun to explore her own sexuality. If all girls could go into adolescence armed with this much awareness and confidence, we’d be looking at a very different kind of future.
See her video after the jump. Almost 200,00 people have checked it out so far.
Q: Should your sexually active teenager be tested for HIV?
A: Yes.
That seems pretty straightforward. And yet it’s news.
A new recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics says that all sexually active teenagers should be tested for HIV. The recommendation is hardly surprising. What’s a shock to me is that it’s new. Where has the AAP been for the last 30 years?
Jezebel’s confusing response to this news seems to suggest both that it’s an overreaction to a relatively small risk and that it’s a good public health move. I’m going to have to come down firmly on the side of it being a good idea. Such a good one that I thought it was the standard already.
A new report on teens finds teen pregnancies are at an all-time low.
This just in: Teenagers are still sleeping together, and we don’t mean resting.
The newest National Survey of Family Growth report finds 43% of teen girls and 42% of teen boys report having had intercourse, rates that have essentially stayed the same over the last nine years.
For those that are having sex, condom use is up, particularly among boys, 80% of whom report using one during their first “encounter.” Despite this though, use of condoms is not consistent. USA Today reports that only “… 49% of girls and 66.5% of boys said they used one every time they had sex in the past four weeks.” (In the past four weeks? How often are they getting it on?)
How many wedding rings will these kids wear?
The teens on reality TV show Sister Wives aren’t allowed to date while they’re in high school. Their dad also discourages them from having premarital sex, in mellower terms than I’d have expected.
Bringing up the topic of premarital sex also raises the expectation that these kids will one day be getting married. Are they interested in the kind of polygamous marriage their parents have? Not so much. Only one of the four teens said she’d like to have sister wives when she grows up. The other two girls and one boy were not enthusiastic about the idea.
Every day I’m nearly run off the road by some driver texting with one hand on the wheel…. the other wrapped around his or her phone. Sure, I know it is dangerous. Sure, it makes me crazy. But it also made me crazy the other day when I watched the guy in front of me swaying in and out of his lane while taking his shirt off. (Yes, I could actually see that was what he was doing — and when I drove past him — just to get away from him — I confirmed — he was, in fact, shirtless…..) it also frustrated the heck out of me that he was weaving while reaching across the passenger seat for his food.
I see people chatting on their phones every day. And in some states, like California, talking on the phone while driving, without a hands-free device, can get you a ticket. But what about all of the other things people do while driving that provide distractions? Eating, GPS, applying makeup, hassling with kids? These are all still ‘legal’ activities…. what are you thoughts on cell phone and hands free device laws?
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
1