Clipmarks | edtechnnorris's 'parenting' clips

Are You Turning Your Child into a Wimp?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:57:44 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Overparenting is a bad thing.

A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting

these kids lack coping skills because they've not been allowed to fully function. They are the products of parental anxiety and all the lumps and bumps have been taken out of life for them, so they have no idea how to manage the normal vicissitudes of life.

The world has changed on our watch. I didn't grow up knowing how to use a computer. So that instrument alone is highly symbolic that the world has changed. It's very fast, very dynamic, very fluid. A kid in Bangalore can come up with a program that could make Microsoft obsolete in two years. This is scary. This makes for great uncertainty. So what we're really worried about is the success of our kids. That's why we push them to achieve. And that's why we're focused on the Harvard, Yale, Princeton brand name education. In a world of uncertainty, a brand name carries some cachet and it's the closest thing you can get to a guarantee of some kind of success or achievement.

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:05:28 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Interesting article about parents and children using text messaging. In some cases helping communication with parents and their kids. Parents need to learn to text.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like cellphones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents.

“For kids it has become an identity-shaping and psyche-changing object,” Ms. Turkle said. “No one creates a new technology really understanding how it will be used or how it can change a society.”

So far, parents’ ability to reach their children whenever they want affords families more pluses than minuses.

But as with any cultural shift involving parents and children — the birth of rock ’n’ roll or the sexual revolution of the 1960s, for example — various gulfs emerge. Baby boomers who warned decades ago that their out-of-touch parents couldn’t be trusted now sometimes find themselves raising children who — thanks to the Internet and the cellphone — consider Mom and Dad to be clueless, too.

Tags: optional. separate by commas., parenting, social networking

How Dangerous is the Internet for Children

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:35:05 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Great article that puts everything in perspective. The internet's danger is highly overstated. Thanks David for this great post!

Clip Source: pogue.blogs.nytimes.com

A few years ago, a parenting magazine asked me to write an article about the dangers that children face when they go online. As it turns out, I was the wrong author for the article they had in mind.

Its chief message was this: “Sure, there are dangers. But they’re hugely overhyped by the media. The tales of pedophiles luring children out of their homes are like plane crashes: they happen extremely rarely, but when they do, they make headlines everywhere. The Internet is just another facet of socialization for the new generation; as always, common sense and a level head are the best safeguards.”

I could not find a single example of a preteen getting abducted and murdered by an Internet predator.

You’ll learn that some fears are overplayed, others are underplayed, and above all, that the Internet plays a huge part in adolescence now.

Tags: internet safety, parenting, social networking

Pew Internet: Teens and Social Media

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:36:30 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: www.pewinternet.org

Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.

Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys

Online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.

Nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them, and 89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time."

many teen content creators do not simply plaster their creative endeavors on the Web for anyone to view; many teens limit access to content that they share.

here is a subset of teens who are super-communicators -

28% of the entire teen population and they are more likely to be older girls.

Tags: optional. separate by commas., internetsafety, parenting, teens

The Trouble with Tethered Teens

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:00:39 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers
clipper's remarks: Parents are way too focused on surveillance, and not focused enough on two-way conversation - we don't talk, we stalk.

Clip Source: www.postwritersgroup.com

Pretty soon, we're going have to amend the favorite mom and dad moniker of the moment. Those much vaunted helicopter parents are turning into black-helicopter parents.

latest bit of high-tech surveillance equipment being marketed to parents. A company inauspiciously named Bladerunner has begun selling a jacket with a GPS device sewn into the lining. For a mere $500 plus $20 a month, a parent can track a child, or at least his jacket, all day long.

Once upon a time

a parent had two weapons for keeping kids out of danger: They kept their mouths open and their fingers crossed. Once upon that time, the second set of ears and eyes on children were those of neighbors.

Now we have a disharmonic convergence of anxieties, the dual fear that kids are endangered and/or dangerous, out of (our) control.

At the same time, parents are expected to know and control everything their kids watch, eat, do -- where they are, who they are texting, what channels and Web sites they are viewing.

Tags: middleschool, parenting, teens

Sweepig the clouds away

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:02:57 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers
clipper's remarks: Original Sesame Street would not be suitable for children of 2007. Oh brother!

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Just don’t bring the children. According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

The show rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

Back then — as on the very first episode, which aired on PBS Nov. 10, 1969 — a pretty, lonely girl like Sally might find herself befriended by an older male stranger who held her hand and took her home.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Sesame Street: Old School” are available on DVD, which you can sample and buy on Sesameworkshop.org.

Tags: parenting

Poll: IMs help teens avoid embarrassment

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:37:40 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers
clipper's remarks: IMing important way to communicate for teens

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

More than four in 10 teens, or 43 percent, who instant message use it for things they wouldn't say in person, according to an Associated Press-AOL poll released Thursday. Twenty-two percent use IMs to ask people out on dates or accept them, and 13 percent use them to break up.

Nearly six in 10 teens say they research homework while IMing — a percentage many parents might find suspiciously low. Large numbers of people check e-mail and search the Internet while instant messaging, while a third to half of teens say that while IMing they also upload photographs, download music or videos, listen to online radio or update their blogs or social networking profiles.

Teens also dominate when it comes to high usage. One in 10 say they spend three hours or more a day instant messaging, about double the adult rate. Nearly a fifth, or 17 percent, send more than 100 IMs daily, about triple the number for adults.

Tags: internetsafety, middleschool, parenting, teens

MySpace More Popular Thank Porn

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:22:29 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: www.time.com

By examining which websites social-network users visit after logging into their profiles, we can gain a bit of insight into how sites like Facebook fit into their members' daily online lives. The data showed that after other social networks, the most clicked-on category of sites was search engines, with 11.6% of all downstream visits. Web-based e-mail services were next with 8.5%. Blogs came in third in popularity at 6.1%, claiming more than four times the number of visits to traditional news sites, which logged 1.5% of downstream visits.

If you chart the rate of visits to social-networking sites against those to adult sites over the last two years, there appears to be a strong negative correlation (i.e., visits to social networks go up as visits to adult sites go down). It's a leap to say there's a real correlation there, but if there is one, then I'd bet it has everything to do with Gen Y's changing habits: they're too busy chatting with friends to look at online skin.

Tags: parenting, teens, web2.0, internetsafety

Colleges Use Social Networking Sites

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:58:32 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: wlsam.com

Colleges and university admissions officials are finding social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and even blogs increasingly useful as some have begun perusing the sites to evaluate applicants' character, according to research recently released by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Colleges and universities are reluctant to publicize that they seek out information about prospective students online, particularly because it's not done consistently, Barnes said.

Items such as suggestive images, threats, violence, hazing, vulgar language and party scenes - particularly if alcohol is involved - should never be posted on a teen's Web page. If a teen thinks such items are protected by privacy guards, they're wrong, considering portals to their pages can be found through any of their friends pages.

University of Massachusetts study concluded that "the use of social media in the 'ivory tower' is outpacing even the business world."

Tags: parenting, teens, internetsafety, web2.0

Disney startups woo kids online

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:06:14 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Never heard of Webkinz? You will.

The site is the brainchild of Ganz, a Canadian toymaker with a popular line of plush pets. Two years ago Ganz created an online environment to entertain the owners of its stuffed animals and was quickly swept into the exploding world of virtual-reality gaming aimed at tweens, children between the ages of 8 and 12.

Ganz's Webkinz.com and a site called Club Penguin were early entries into this market, but they've been joined this year by the giants of tween marketing: Disney (Charts) and Nickelodeon (Charts).

One way Club Penguin gives kids control over their environment is by letting them "bank" points they win in games and convert those points to "money" that can be used to customize their igloos.

Another trick used by Club Penguin to keep kids hanging around is throwing themed "parties."

Disney Xtreme Digital (DXD). Users get to choose from among more than 500 Disney-branded character-and film-themed sites

Tags: internetsafety, parenting, teens, web2.0

Stickam - site for teens has X-rated link

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:58:34 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Parents and child safety experts concerned about the online activities of teenagers have been particularly nervous about a Web site called Stickam, which allows its 600,000 registered users, age 14 and older, to participate in unfiltered live video chats using their Web cameras.

Though Stickam remains relatively small compared to Web giants like MySpace and YouTube, several thousand of its mostly teenage members log onto the site each night to broadcast their own lives, often from their bedrooms. They put on makeshift talk shows, flirt with other members in video chat rooms, and often, if they are female, field repeated requests to take off their clothes.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Donna Rice Hughes, president of Enough Is Enough, an Internet safety organization, said that considering Stickam’s ties to pornography, children and their parents should exercise caution when using the site.

Tags: internetsafety, middleschool, parenting, teens

Tips to protect children from unsavory content

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:52:07 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

"For parents to not be involved ... produces in children this myth that they can go online, be anonymous and sneak back off," she said.

While kids can be light-years ahead of parents when it comes to the Internet, adults need to work through any mental roadblocks,

"It all boils down to what kind of relationship you have with your children," she said. "I've actually had parents come up to me and say 'my child will not tell me his password' ... or 'I really don't know how to use a computer.'"

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

Educating a generation of less-tech savvy parents will help them keep better track of their kids. It could also give them a feeling of comfort and expertise so they don't feel intimated.

parents need to understand that they trump the media if they are willing to talk about the issues that they are concerned about

Tags: internetsafety, middleschool, parenting, teens

Sexual Misconduct plagues U.S. Schools

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 03:13:59 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The seven-month investigation found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied, voluntarily surrendered or limited from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Young people were the victims in at least 1,801 of the cases, and more than 80 percent of those were students. More than half the educators who were punished by their states also were convicted of crimes related to the misconduct.

The findings draw obvious comparisons to sex abuse scandals in other institutions, among them the Roman Catholic Church. A review by America's Catholic bishops found that about 4,400 of 110,000 priests were accused of molesting minors from 1950 through 2002.

Tags: parenting, middleschool, teens

Not-so-private Web Profiles

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:32:43 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers
clipper's remarks: Even private settings on myspace don't protect people from online activity being discovered.

Clip Source: www.baltimoresun.com

An Eastern Shore university president posts vacation photos with potentially offensive captions on an Internet social networking site. Eight sororities at Towson University are sanctioned after members display photos showing underage drinking on their Web sites. A middle school teacher in Howard County includes revealing photos of herself that draw the ire of parents.

In each incident, those who placed them found that posting items for friends to see on an Internet socializing site such as MySpace.com or Facebook.com can be the electronic equivalent of plastering notices on billboards outside their schools. And they are not alone. Across the nation, people with Internet profiles intended for friends are being reminded that the information they post on their personal sites can be used against them.

We just have to tell teachers all the time that you really are under contract with us full time,"

teachers are being warned about their conduct outside of the classroom

Tags: internetsafety, middleschool, parenting, teaching, web2.0

Substitute teacher dismissed over tatoo photos

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:24:44 GMT

clipped by: iteachcomputers
clipper's remarks: Warn everyone about what they post on Facebook or MySpace. Kids will look you up and look for pictures to get you in trouble.

Clip Source: www.pensacolanewsjournal.com

Virginia Carter, a substitute teacher at West Florida High School, has been dismissed because of photographs of her tattoos that she posted online.

When school officials investigated, they learned that West Florida students knew about the photographs, which included a photo of Carter's unclothed back,

"It's not pornography," Scott said, adding the photographs were posted either on MySpace or Facebook.

School officials felt that, because students knew about the photographs, it hurt Carter's ability to be an effective teacher, he said.

But the position of trust teachers have with children means they are held to a high standard, Scott said.

"People need to be really careful about what they post," he added.

Tags: interesting, internetsafety, parenting, teens, web2.0