The other day I had the pleasure of talking with author, quilter, and fellow mom Meg Cox, who's updating her 2003 The Book of New Family Traditions, and – within seconds, as she was describing her plan for it – I was picturing all these potential tech-related traditions my work has turned up since 1997. Via emails, tweets, comments, and conversations, so many fellow parents whose stories have … [Read more...] about Summer’s ‘peaches more powerful than Apples,’ but…
Parenting
U13s on social sites: Who’ll get the equation right?
The number of social sites aimed at children under 13 is suddenly growing again. Now joining Everloop (which just raised another $3.1 million, TechCrunch reported), YourSphere (for young people under and over 13), and Togetherville.com (recently acquired by Disney) is WhatsWhat.me. National Geographic-branded AnimalJam.com for kids 5-11 passed the 1 million player mark in a matter of months with … [Read more...] about U13s on social sites: Who’ll get the equation right?
Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
Last week a look at social networking U13s on Facebook in the US; this week, a fascinating, more in-depth look at Europe, thanks to the thorough, recently released pan-European research of EU Kids Online. Though there's a lot of variation country by country, European youth as a whole are just as avid a group of online social networkers as American kids and teens are, if not more so. Among … [Read more...] about Kids’ & teens’ social networking in Europe
Hawk drama (& human drama) in the digital age
The subhead might be: "Birth and growth under the digital microscope" or "The 'observer effect' with digital media." And a red-tailed hawk family in New York City is the metaphor. In this case, mom and dad hawks built a nest outside the window of the 12th-floor office of New York University's president, and "furnished it with three speckled buff-white eggs," the New York Times reports. The Times … [Read more...] about Hawk drama (& human drama) in the digital age
Kids these days: Overparented?
"We are raising our children in captivity," British psychologist Tanya Byron has said many times (including here). Some kids are monitored and scheduled to within an inch of their lives, it seems, leaving little time for reflection and creativity. In a thorough look into this question of over-parenting, USATODAY found a US psychologist, Laurence Steinberg at Temple University, who agrees with … [Read more...] about Kids these days: Overparented?