How to make facebook’s changes slightly less annoying
Over the past few weeks facebook has rolled out some changes, which have been met with some grumbling. By some mystery matrix, facebook is choosing which posts show up in your news feed, rather than just serving up status updates as they come. The result is that older status updates are showing up at the top, and others aren’t showing up at all. I’ve been frustrated to see the same status updates at the top of the news feed that were there hours before. I already read that! Why is it showing up . . .
I caught my child looking at porn – what do I do?
A couple weeks ago I wrote a post detailing how to secure an iphone so that kids couldn’t stumble onto explicit content. I had a few readers email me and ask for advice on what to do after you’ve found your child looking at adult content online. I want to talk about it because I think it’s important and relevant for all parents. Kids in the internet age will be curious about porn, and they have unprecedented access to it. Despite our best efforts, kids may find ways around the stopguards . . .
Is your smartphone kid-proof? How to keep adult content off your iphone and ipad
Mark and I recently updated our phones which means we have two older iphones available for the kids to play on when they earn screen time. We also often relinquish our own phones for the kids to play on, especially when we find ourselves in a long line or another situation where we need to keep the kids distracted. In addition to this, we’ve also got an ipad that the kids use from time to time. I love the educational apps that are available on the ipad and iphone platform. I’ve . . .
How I became the mother of the little girl from Good Luck Charlie (alternate title: Why children should not be on instagram)
Late last week I was sitting in line to pick up my kids when I noticed my phone alerts for instagram were coming fast and furious – a little odd since I hadn’t posted a photo in a while. When I got home, I checked instagram and noticed I had been tagged by a number of fan pages for Mia Talerico . . . the little actress who plays Charlie in the popular Disney Channel sitcom. Apparently, several of them had made the discovery that an instagram user posing as Claire Talerico, Mia ’s mom, was . . .
how to negotiate screen time with tech-obsessed kids
It seems like I’ve been writing about screen time all over the web this month, and probably for good reason: many parents are figuring out how to maintain some balance with our tech-obsessed kids. This has been an issue in my house ever since the kids have been old enough to operate the computer. My kids are huge technology fans, which is no big surprise given the fact that they have two parents whose phones are tethered to their hands 24/7. I think technology can provide some great educational . . .
the facebook private message fiasco – how to report evidence it's happening
Well . .. . last week I posted about the rumor that private messages were showing up on people’s facebook walls, and I was not expecting the response I got. A number of people came by to scold me – to point out the snopes article or the facebook public statement saying that this was a hoax. I even got an email from facebook telling me as much. But at the same time, over half of the responses were from people who found what they are convinced were private messages hanging around on their wall. . . .
raising kids who love to read
I am far from a perfect parent . . . there are many areas of motherhood where I’m not exactly meeting my goals. I would say I’m pulling a strong B in terms of getting the kids to school on time. Home-cooked meals? Probably a C-. Taking the time to get on the floor and play with my kids? Ouch. I’m probably getting a failing grade there. However, there is one area of parenting where I feel like I am doing alright. in fact, I might even give myself an A+. And it’s an area that I feel . . .
#facebookfail: the fix for facebook’s private message breach
All week long, I’ve been hearing this rumor that facebook was suddenly publishing private messages onto people’s facebook walls instead of in the inbox. It seems there is some glich that caused all private messages prior to 2010 to revert to wall posts – meaning that anything you send someone else prior to 2010 is now posted on their wall instead of in their inbox. This sounded so preposterous to me that I ignored it. I am always wary of hoaxes about facebook, and this seems alarmist and insane. . . .
best education apps for school-aged kids
In the past few weeks I shared some of my favorite apps for preschoolers, as well as some of my favorite apps for my kindergartners. I’ve also found some really great tools for my iphone that help reinforce what my son has been learning in 1st and 2nd grade. Many of the apps I will mention are appropriate for these grades and above, and any that are grade-specific are also available for every grade, so you can find the app that corresponds to your own child’s grade level. . . .
best iphone/ipad apps for kindergarten-aged kids
Last week I shared some of my favorite apps for the preschoolers, and today I wanted to share some of my favorites for my two kindergartners. I’ve found some really great tools for my iphone that help reinforce what the kids are learning at school. At our house, we have an ipad, and we also have two iphones (the one I use as a phone, and an older model that is no longer activated but can still get apps via wifi). The kids are constantly asking to play on them . . . and since we use a timer . . .