Digital Nation

Did anyone watch the Frontline episode called Digital Nation?  If not, you should check it out online.  It's quite enlightening and shows how wired our kids really are.  Certainly not all kids, but a good majority of them.  It is changing everything, from the way they are taught in high school and college to interactions in the workplace in the future.  Even their hearing is being altered from being wired all ...

Time wasters - all of them!

Facebook. Twitter, MySpace, Cell phones, Blogs, iParentnetwork....

Time wasters. Time thieves.  At least that is how the media has sometimes portrayed them.  Not real.  Online friends?  Get serious.  That's not really human contact.  Those are trivial connections that take up time that we could be spent with our real friends, right?  Those using social media, such as iParentnetwork, are the lonely folks, the isolated.  Social media must adds to that sense of isolation.

Nope.

A ...

The Generation Gap of THIS Century

I read an article the other day that I just had to share.  A little toddler picked up a book and said "Daddy's book!"  How cute, you may think. Except the item in that toddler's hand was a Kindle, an e-book, not a book at all, in the traditional sense.  

It was at that moment that I realized that each generation will have their own little generation gap to deal with and it all ...

Why Facebook may be unwittingly exposing your kid to underage drinking

Facebook wasn't even around five years ago and now it is may be a central part of your teen's social activity. With over 250 million users, it's doubtful that Facebook hasn't impacted your teen's life in some way, even if they are not registered users of the social networking site.

Roughly one third of active users are under the age of 21. One of the revenue streams for Facebook is through advertising. Facebook pages, applications, ...

This should be the online mantra for our kids

The FCC recently published guidelines for social networking safety for tweens and teens.  There are some really good tips in here that every parent should read.  We all know that we have to teach our kids to look both ways before crossing the street.  That's a no-brainer.  What is less clear is how to guide them through this new terrain - the world of social networking.

The first concept you must get across to ...

Wondering what all those Instant messaging and chat icons mean?

happy  :)

sad  :(

big smile  :-D

wink ;-O

frown  :-(

crying  :'-(

screaming  :-@

yawning  I-o

tongue-tied  :-&

bummed out  ;-c

steamed  ~:-I

uh-oh  :-O

raspberries :-P

clown  *:0)

angel  O:-)

dunce  <:-I

Not all parental monitoring software is alike

Wow.  It seems as if not all parental monitoring software is alike.  Two of the leading brands -- brands rated as tops by trusted source C-net - have been found to be mining kids chats and posts for information so they can tailor their marketing better.

http://tinyurl.com/krqf4b

Personally, I'm in favor of open dns as a way to safely monitor our kid's activities online.  It not only gives you flexibility in monitoring your kids ...

Welcome to iParentnetwork!

Welcome to the brand new iParentnetwork!  We hope that you will use this site to find information, help, and support and to be that help, information and support to other parents.  

Our vision was to create a virtual town square of sorts to enable parents to connect with each other to talk about parenting -- anything about parenting. This is a tough job and over time, we have each figured out techniques that work ...

A Must Watch Video

Wow - this is a GREAT video that all parents should take the time to watch. It's 28 minutes long, so set aside the time to be able to watch it in its entirety. This is an interview of the guy who wrote Wikinomics, an internationally best selling book and a brilliant primer on the profound changesoccurringin our society, primarily by our kids and their generation.

He touches on how this generation ...

Should I use my real name as my user ID? Hmmm....

Hmmm......signing up for iParentnetwork may seem daunting to some and even downright scary to others. I'd like to point out some of the security features that are built in to this site.

This site is built with a big ol' WALL which separates the non-members (and the entire world wide web) with the logged-in members. The only stuff that can be seen by the outside world is the information that accessible without logging in.....in other ...

A Beginners' Guide To Social Networking

Social Networking is either a buzz word or a way of life -- depending on your age and demographic. If I can put it broadly, if you are under 30, social networking is a bit like breathing. You do it without thinking about it -- and if you don't, it is simply because it is isn't useful to you right now.

If you you are over 40, social networking can sound either cool, scary, or ...

Are social networking sites appropriate for younger kids?

If you have kids under the age of 12, then you may know about the world ofWebkinz, a virtual Web world built around real-life stuffed animals. These Webkinz "pets", range from a horse to a dog and everything in between. These cute little plush pets that come with a unique secret code that can be plugged into the Webkinz World, where your child can feed the pet, help it sleep, play games, exercise it, ...

Me, Myself & I. Parenting the Net Generation

I ran across a great book that I recommend all parents today read. It’s called Me, Myself and I. Parenting the Net Generation by Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D.

The reason I liked this book so much is that, for me, it really demystified how the whole social networking world worked. It walked me through, step by step, how to use sites like Facebook and probably the most important thing it taught me was to ...

Parenting In A Connected World

Parents tell me they are so overwhelmed because kids seem to understand technology better than most adults do. Because they are so connected to each other today, it has become very difficult to effectively parent our kids. After all, when was the last time one of your kid's friends actually called your house to talk to your son or daughter and you got to answer the phone and actually hear who was calling? Most kids today have cell phones, email accounts, Facebook or My Space pages and a slew of other ways of connecting to one another in ways that basically shut parents out of the loop. Am I right? It's time we mount a challenge to that by getting smarter about how all this technology works! B As Cnnctd As Ur Kids R! I'll try to help you understand the power of what has become known as Web 2.0 and how to embrace it. It's not going away.