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Children’s ID Cards

Back when I was a kid, we didn’t have school ID cards. In fact, I think the first ID card I received was my driver’s license. Oh, we wanted to have one, because that would make us look like we were important, but we didn’t have computers which we could make them on, so we had to do without.

Leaving the kids point of view aside and looking at it from my point of view as a parent, I like the idea of my children, especially my small children having some sort of identification. Kids get lost sometimes, whether because they get off at the wrong bus stop, make a wrong turn, or decide they’re going to run away from home. A child’s world isn’t really all that big, and once they step outside of the part they know, they’re lost.

It used to be that children would be taught their address and phone number by their parents. But, c’mon, we’re in the information age, everyone uses cell phone; who bothers to learn phone numbers anymore? We just program them into our phones, and put them on a speed dial.

Okay, that works, as long as everything works, and of course nobody loses their phone. But, what about a child, who manages to get lost, and doesn’t have a phone with them. How do they find their way home again? You see, that’s where I think the idea of having a child ID card really pays off. Your child doesn’t need to have your address and phone number memorized, which they might easily forget for a moment by being rattled, that information is on their ID.

Company’s who provide these cards, also provide fingerprinting and home DNA sample kits along with the cards. That way, if your child should happen to be one of the thousands per year who get kidnapped, the police have something they can use to properly identify your child. Extra security for your children, you know, you can never get enough of it.

Filed Under: Parenting, Security Tagged With: , ,

Recognizing the Signs of Gaming Addiction

Games like World of Warcraft, first person shooter games, and even Wii and Xbox games can be very fun and exciting! After a long day at work or school, it can be nice to come home and relax in front of the computer and play a few games. But how do you know when playing a few games turns into a problem? The truth is, these types of games are a lot of fun – they are also very addicting. Just like drugs and alcohol, a person can become addicted to online gaming. If you have some gamers in your house, here are the signs for recognizing a gaming addiction.

1. Desire to be alone. If you start to notice that the person playing the game has no desire to be with friends or family, there would be a problem. Often, those addicted to games will want to be alone and refuse to socialize with people in real life situations.

2. Financial crisis. If the gaming addiction is a problem with gambling, you may notice that your loved one is often in a financial crisis. Online gambling can be extremely hard to spot, as a person does all of their gaming online, instead of running off to a casino. However, it’s just as dangerous to gamble online as it is in a casino.

3. No longer enjoys other activities. If your once social child or friend now never wants to go out with other people, this could be a sign of addiction. Gamers want to “conquer” the next level and often become obsessed with the game, caring more about the computer than people.

If you suspect someone in your life is addicted to gaming, there is help. A great place to start is Rehab-international.org. You can find many helpful resources to deal with the gaming addiction in your life.

Filed Under: Expert Advice, Parenting Tagged With: , ,

GPS Tracking Systems for Kids

I remember when the GPS system was first launched. It really wasn’t all that many years ago. With it, one who had the right kind of device could never get lost. Their GPS would tell them where they were, down to a few yards. Of course, those first units were a little expensive, rather bulky, and somewhat limited by today’s standards.

Who would have known back then what would be done with that technology. Now, anyone can place a “bug” on somebody, and track them from here to Timbuktu. While most of us don’t have much need to play James Bond, and track the bad guy across the world, we do have one thing, which is highly valuable, that we need to keep track of… our kids.

Child kidnapping for profit and other reasons is still going on in the world today. There is even a market for kidnapped white children, to be sold in other countries. While the odds are against your child becoming a victim of this type of crime, the possibility does exist.

One of the newest applications of GPS technology is specifically for keeping track of our kids. With it, a device which can be as small as a postage stamp, regularly calculates your child’s position, down to a few yards, and transmits it to the GPS service company which provided the device. You can access this information at any time to see where your kids are. Are they late coming home from school? Check on the Internet, and find that your child stopped off at a friend’s house. More importantly, if they don’t come home, the police can track on the same device, and see where your child is.

Slightly more sophisticated devices include a panic button for your child to use, in order to call for help. Both you and the service company will be instantly informed when your child hits that panic button, and informed of where they are. The company immediately contacts the police, giving them an exact location on your child. That’s enough to give many parents peace of mind.

Filed Under: Parenting, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Helping Your Child Pick After School Activities

After school activities are important for children.  They can help your child work on social skills, make new friends and learn a new talent.  Make sure to guide your child to choose the best after school activities for them.

Don’t Relive Your Childhood

Just because you were the head cheerleader or a star soccer player doesn’t mean that your child has to be.  Don’t try to have a second chance at your own childhood through your child.  Children like to please their parents.  Don’t show any signs of disappointment if your child wants to do a different activity than the one you choose at their age.

Look at Your Child’s Strengths

Look at what makes your child happy and what natural talents that they have.  If they are very coordinated, they may make a great soccer player or hockey player.  If they are very fast they may be good on the track team or basketball team.  If they are creative enroll them in an art class or acting troop.

Know When Enough is Enough

One activity per season is enough for the average child.  Don’t force your child to be in six different activities at once.  This will put them on a path to be a constant over achiever and will begin to stress them out as they get into their teen years.  It is also hard on the family to coordinate this many drop offs and pick ups, dinner time and activities for other children.

Don’t Discourage

If your child wants to try an activity you think they will not be good at, don’t forbid them just to keep their feelings safe.  There are many people not born with a natural skill who are great learners.  Your child may excel after proper coaching and training.  It is also good to learn at a young age what you like and don’t like.  Maybe after a few practices or meetings your child will see that the activity is not for them.

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Over-scheduling Our Kids

We all want the very best for our children.  We want them to have the best chance to have a great life.  We want them to have the advantages we never had. But are we serving the best futures for our children by scheduling them for too many activities? That is a question parent’s are beginning to ask.

When you have several children in several activities each week, it can feel like an unending treadmill:  school, chores, homework, dance lesson, karate lessons, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts,  basketball, baseball, tutoring and piano lessons.  As a parent, you’re exhausted.  As a child, you’re burnt out.

Psychologists tell us that children need down time, just like parents, maybe more so.  Children need to know how to entertain themselves.  Over-scheduling can dampen a child’s creativity and reduce the child’s ability to become self-reliant.  So if you think you may be over-scheduling your child here are few Dos and Don’ts to get your child’s schedule back into balance.

Do

  • Limit your child to one or two organized outside activities, such as dance lessons, basketball, or scouting.
  • Let the child choose what activities to keep and what activities they are willing to give up.
  • Do schedule family time. Experts agree that regular family time increases a child’s self-esteem and emotional balance.

Don’t

  • Give up your regular date time with your spouse to add activities for your children.  Children are more apt to form healthy happy relationships in adulthood, when they see it modeled in their home.
  • Give in to a sense of guilt or competition, if other parents in your social group are scheduling more activities for their children.

The truth is, that no amount of money, no secret combination of classes, skills, and knowledge, will ensure that our child will attain perfect happiness forever after.  It is an ideal that doesn’t exist. What we can give every child is a solid foundation in themselves and unending love.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: ,

Tips for Leaving Your Children Home Alone

Once your oldest child is around the age of 12, you may consider leaving them home alone.  Especially if there are younger children that need to be watched by the oldest, it is good to have a lists of ground rules before letting your tween be in charge.

Trial Run

Don’t allow your tween’s first time home alone to be when you will be out for the entire day.  Simply start with leaving the tween in charge while you take a quick half hour run to the grocery store.  Based on how your tween does during the trial, stay out a little longer on your next attempt.  Maybe a two hour period when you and your spouse are seeing a movie.

Tips

Make sure that your younger children are well behaved enough to respect your tween as a temporary authority figure while you are gone.  Don’t leave your tween in charge of a rowdy child who you know has trouble following instructions.  Make sure to leave a list of phone numbers including your cell phone number, emergency numbers and the number of a trusted family member or local friend.

Don’t Let Outsiders In

Make sure your children have lunch or dinner before you leave the house.  Even if they are having pizza, order the pizza while you are still home.  If the pizza delivery person comes while you are gone, that gives your child a reason to open the door.  Your child will be the safest if the door is locked for good until you return home.  Don’t allow any of their friends to come over either.  You don’t want to be responsible for something happening to someone else’s child.  Another very important issue to discuss with your tween is social networking safety.  Your child should never use their Facebook or Twitter account to announce that they are staying home unsupervised.

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How to Unobtrusively Monitor Your Child

There are countless ways a child can get into trouble, no matter how old or young they are. It’s a parent’s duty to not only teach children right from wrong and raise them to be the best adults they can be, but it is also a parent’s job to keep their children safe.

As children get older, they feel they can be more independent, they want to be trusted, and they want some privacy. But, at the same time, a parent wants to make sure their child is making good choices. When a parent learns how to unobtrusively monitor their child, they can be assured that the child is safe, without embarrassing the child, or taking aay their feeling of independence.

One of the easiest places for a child to get into trouble is online. There is a false sense of security online, because there is no way to tell if people on the other side of the chat window are really who they say they are. Parents can install monitoring software on the computer and regularly check the history on the internet browser to see what types of sites the child is visiting.

The parent should have the names and phone numbers of all their children’s friends. This way, if the child is going to a friend’s house, the parent can call to make sure the other parent is on-board with the visit. The child doesn’t even have to know about the parent to parent phone call, but you will be assured that your child is safe and that there is another adult around.

Communication is key. If you keep the communication lines open with your children, they will be more apt to tell you the truth and keep you updated with what is going on in your life. Then, you won’t have to sneak around to see what they are doing.

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A Calendar is a Mom’s Best Friend

Some days you feel like your head is spinning because you have so much going on. Whether you are a working mom or a stay at home mom, various activities can cause the days to blend together into an unaccountable mess. The best way to get organized, and stay sane, is to get a calendar. A calendar is a mom’s best friend! There are many options available when looking for a calendar to keep track of daily events.

A simple pocket calendar is small enough to fit into most mom’s purses or diaper bags. They provide an easy way to glace at the appointments for the current day, as well as future dates. But, writing space is limited. There are larger wall calendars, which provide a lot more room, but are less portable. These calendars are the least expensive of all the ways to keep track of appointments, activities, and special days.

A basic electronic planner usually includes an electronic phone book, which can be very handy for a busy parent. These devises are more expensive than the paper products, but still relatively cheap. They are also small and will fit into just about any bag or pocket. The screens may be rather small, and there is limited customization ability, but they will hold a lot more data than a paper calendar.

A personal data assistant is an electronic device that is small, yet extremely functional. There are countless bells and whistles to these little electronic friends, from holding hundreds of contacts to a calendar with several viewing options in which all your events and appointments can be indicated. Newer PDA’s are in color and can even handle spreadsheets and word processor software.

To really get the most for your money, a Smartphone has many of the same capabilities as a PDA, but with the convenience of the device also being a phone. This way, you only need one product to do the job of many.

Filed Under: Parenting, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Keep Kids Safe on the Internet

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Computers are a part of everyday life, and the use of computers will continue to grow in intensity. Just think, less than 20 years ago email wasn’t even heard of.  There was no such thing as YouTube or file sharing software like ares p2p and aresgalaxy. The internet was something only the military and government used. Computer and internet usage started to rapidly grow and now even tiny little cell phones can access the internet.

With the popularity of the internet and the invention of children’s games and websites, the number of online child predators and other people with malicious intent has also increased. Children are susceptible to these nasty people because they are naive and often do not understand the importance of keeping personal information, well, personal.

The first thing that a parent of a child using the internet should do is discuss what can and can not be said to friends online. Create a list rules that can be placed next to the computer so the child can clearly see what is and is not acceptable internet behavior. These rules should include computer time limits, acceptable websites, and reminders not to provide their real names, addresses, phone number during online interactions.

Another important way to keep kids safe on the internet is to place the family’s computer in a high traffic area of the home. This could be in the kitchen, family room, or living room. The computer desk should be positioned so the screen is easy to see, allowing parents to easily monitor the child’s online activity. And, the parent should do just so.

Next, install parenting controls on the computer, which can limit the accessibility of websites that are not geared towards kids. These programs come with various tools so parents can see exactly which websites their children are using. There are many free monitoring tools available online.

If your child is using social networking sites, than be their friend. This will make it easier for you to see what they are doing on the social site.

Filed Under: Parenting, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Creating a Child’s Chore Chart

Teaching children responsibility should start at an early age, as it is a very important lesson to be learned. Even children as young as two or three can have little jobs around the house, such as helping mommy fold clothes, putting spoons away, and helping to clean up their toys. Creating a child’s chore chart is not only a great way to remind kids of their chores, but it provides a sense of accomplishment when the child sees all that he has done. It also instills a sense of pride in children when they can easily see what they did to help out the family.

A chore chart for a younger child should be simple and placed in a prominent place in the home, and hung at the child’s height. A simple grid with the chores listed down the side and the days of the week along the top works great. Place a sticker in each box for every chore that is completed. At the end of the week, provide the child with a reward if all chores have been done. Rewards can include money, special snacks, staying up later than usually, helping mom to bake, watching movies with vlc media player or playing a game of their choice.

Older children should be given more responsibilities, such as sweeping, dusting, and putting dishes away. A chore chart for an older child can be a little more sophisticated to keep their interests. There are many magnetic charts that are fun for an older kid to use. Cute pictures and fun colors will capture the child’s interest more than a simple sticker chart. When all your child’s chores have been completed for the week, provide an age appropriate reward such as more money, a package of trading cards, or the ability to spend extra time playing their favorite video game.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: , , ,
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