It's a great headline in Kotaku.com – "Confessions of a failed gaming parent" – and what he's confessing to is that the loophole his all-too-smart son Tristan found was ... his parents! "My wife and I set up parental locks on the [Xbox] console and on Tristan's Xbox Live gold account," so Tristan found "human error" workaround. Among other measures, his parents didn't allow Tristan to play Halo … [Read more...] about Videogaming: Parents can be workarounds too
Parenting
Moms’ tech concerns & countermeasures: Survey
To me, the most interesting slide in the BlogHer/Parenting magazine national survey of moms is the one about the difference between their fears vs. their kids' experience of what they fear: Mothers' biggest concern, quite naturally, is inappropriate communications with an adult online (62% share this concern), but only 1% of moms surveyed said their kids had experienced such communication. Next … [Read more...] about Moms’ tech concerns & countermeasures: Survey
When to get the kid a cellphone
Oh good. Some things about kids' first cellphones haven't changed. The latest article on when to buy kids their first cellphones says what I've been saying for awhile: "There is no age that suits all children, developmental psychologists and child safety experts say," the New York Times reports. "It depends on the child’s maturity level and need for the phone, and the ability to be responsible for … [Read more...] about When to get the kid a cellphone
A new kind of online kid monitoring
Kid online safety needs to be a conversation. You know what I mean. The part of the Net that really interests youth is the user-driven, social part that is, by definition, unruly. SO safety on it is an ongoing conversation at home and school, in the community, among policymakers, etc., and any tool or talking point promoting that conversation promotes safety. SafetyWeb could just be considered a … [Read more...] about A new kind of online kid monitoring
Most teen social Web users well-adjusted
"Kids most likely to spend a lot of time texting and on Facebook, among other networking sites, may be more well-adjusted," the Los Angeles Times reports, pointing to several new studies. The body of research on how kids use digital media is growing fast, and new articles in academic journals are confirming what we collectively already knew: that a child's experience online is very much a … [Read more...] about Most teen social Web users well-adjusted