Parenting

A full-out assault has arrived in my living room. Transformers movie tie-ins are being marketed non-stop through ads on Nickelodeon, selling everything from Burger King kids' meals to Pontiac cars. We only watch about a hour of commercial TV a day, but there are multiple ads featuring the Transformers being shown within a single commercial break. The contradiction of a violent action flick based on Hasbro toys is spelled out right in the Burger King commercial--hey kids, get your kids' meal with one of eight toys based on characters from the movie (PG-13, some material may be inappropriate for children under 13).

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has turned a spotlight on this situation but has not yet received a lot of response. Transformers star Shia LaBoeuf has said that producer Steven Spielberg fought back against a proposed R-rating. Yet the movie is being marketed to kids all the way down to the toddler years. (Opti-mash prime Mr. Potato Head, anyone?)… Read more

There truly is something for everyone in summer camp these days. Just in time for July 4, The New York Times reports on a summer camp that's a blast. The University of Missouri-Rolla engineering school offers a Summer Explosives Camp that teaches campers how to blow things up.

From watermelons to tree stumps to a 50-foot-high wall of quarry rock, the controlled mayhem serves a purpose, to boost the dwindling ranks of mining and explosives engineers.

And yes, safety is emphasized. Camp adviser and engineering professor Paul Worsey said that

There is such a thing as too much "time-saving." I worry that our 24/7 culture is creating instant-gratification expectations for even low-tech experiences.

I was worried that our 7-year old was getting hooked on high-tech immediacy, but even she realized that the TV ad for "Roll 'N Grow," the "miracle garden in a box" was pretty ridiculous. Talk about inventing a problem that isn't a problem. The pitchman blared in an alarmed tone, "You hoe and your rake, you shovel and you ache, and for what? Flowers that might not grow? Forget all that work.....Cut & place or just roll and grow!"… Read more

I enjoy walking my dog (a Shiba Inu) with my daughter, especially when the weather is pleasant. Earlier this week it was a particularly pleasant evening in Chapel Hill: the sweet air was cool like nighttime in summer, but the sun had at least 10 minutes to go before setting. All of a sudden, we both saw a bat swoop around a street lamp, eagerly pursuing its evening meal.

"IT'S A BAT!" my daughter exclaimed.… Read more

This week I am in New York for a child safety training session. After eight hours of work teaching kids how to avoid bullying and act respectfully toward each other, I went back to my hotel room and found the TV airwaves saturated with the story of Ann Coulter's continuing insults to John Edwards.

The brief on-air exchange between Coulter and Elizabeth Edwards was magnified into hours of coverage from Hardball to Good Morning America. Hardball was particularly interesting since Chris Matthews expressed a near-fawning admiration for Elizabeth Edwards, yet his show was the one that gave Coulter the … Read more

Efficiency expert Timothy Ferriss has written The 4-Hour Workweek for an audience who wants to "escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich." Ferriss uses a combination of techniques that take advantage of globalization, smart use of technology and outsourcing, and sheer brazenness to create a self-financing lifestyle that suits him.

Now, I do not have plans to ditch my homelife and move to Buenos Aires while my virtual empire churns away making money, but I wondered, could Ferriss' strategies help me break through some of the grunt work and limited thinking that typically comes with being a parent? I found that Ferriss has plenty to say that applied to busy families looking to create a satisfying life.… Read more

Today the BBC reported a chilling update about the breakup of a global child abuse network that was run from a family farmhouse in England. Over 700 suspects have been identified and 31 children were rescued--but with over 85,000 images supplied by the mastermind, we may never know how many children were involved.

This news got me thinking about the potential child abuse risks inherent in the One Laptop Per Child initiative and other "$100 laptop" projects. These well-intentioned efforts plan to give computers to poor children throughout the world, to facilitate their education and fuel economic development. Machines are being rolled out by the thousands in test programs in places like Uruguay, Nigeria and Thailand.

In America, even tech-savvy parents have a hard time monitoring children's safe computer use. We are told not to put a computer in our kids' bedrooms, and not to allow them to use webcams. What happens when we bring video-enabled, networked laptops into poor communities, where parents may not be able to read, much less understand how to use technology? My concerns were raised, and when I contacted internet child-safety expert Linda Criddle, who has worked on raising awareness of this issue for a couple of years, she brought up detailed concerns about these efforts.

Criddle says that child pornography is among the "perfect microbusinesses" waiting to explode if laptops are distributed without proper precautions. Criddle warns that "we are about to unleash on the weakest people, children in the third world, the worst that the internet can offer, as well as the best." Unfortunately, she says computer companies do not have safety plans in place, and her warning seems to be falling on deaf ears among industry representatives she has contacted.… Read more

Moms often end up feeling like their brain plays the role of the family "hard drive," especially when it comes to scheduling. Someone has to know exactly what, where and when each family member needs to be. Moms get frustrated when they have to do it all, and Dads feel left out of the process when they might like to be involved.

I've looked for a tool to manage this family scheduling and communication, which can often add up to a job as complex as managing a business team. But the products I've found have been … Read more

I've been drooling over the iPhone for months now. June 29th can't come fast enough for me. I have been an Apple user for almost 20 years now, going way back to my Macintosh 512 enhanced. In 2002, as soon as I saw an iPod I recognized it as a great tool for moms to "reclaim their mind space" by taking along their favorite music and podcasts with them on the go. The iPhone takes this a step further by combining a smart phone and mobile entertainment center in one device.

I am surprised we haven'… Read more