Google Launches YouTube Kids
I know kids love YouTube, although, being the parent of teenagers, I was a bit surprised to learn that YouTube is also a hit with the preschool and early elementary school crowd. While YouTube rejects inappropriate content, there can be some pretty dodgy videos out there that younger children inadvertently find. Parents asked, and Google listened, this week launching an app for iOS and Android that provides kid-friendly content—both educational and entertaining—with easy parental controls including a timer and the ability to disable the background music. The app is geared toward younger children, and it’s free. Check out C-Net’s review of the app.
Washington Parent Articles from PEP
As you may know, for many years PEP has been a contributor to Washington Parent magazine, providing the monthly Ages & Stages column. It’s always interesting to get a sense of which articles resonate most with parents, and one easy way to do that is to look at the “most pinned” articles on Pinterest. Not surprisingly, it’s PEP leader Robyn DesRoches’ Parenting the Difficult Child (June 2012). Check it out, and note Robyn’s three P’s of Prevention when setting limits with (not for) your child.
The winter weather and frequent cancellations have all of us spending a little too much time indoors, which can magnify problems. In this month’s Washington Parent, PEP leader Emory Luce Baldwin tackles the issue of When Parents Disagree about Raising Their Children.
How to Talk to Kids About Scary and Violent News
The daily news can be disturbing, so much so that we become deaf to it, but our kids are still listening. Canadian psychotherapist Andrea Nair has published a great post about this. Her advice is to turn the news off, in order to limit exposure to graphic images and words. Because it’s “the news,” we somehow have a different attitude about it; in reality, however, the Motion Picture Association of America would probably give the nightly news an R rating: “Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material.”
Submitted: Teenagers Do Not Need Smartphones, So They Should Pay for Them. Discuss.
Ron Lieber’s thought process regarding the expense of a cell phone for a teen, which he detailed for The New York Times Motherlode blog last May, is not so different from something you might hear in a PEP Thriving with Teens class. With the recent release of his new book, The Opposite of Spoiled, we’re curious to hear your thoughts on the topic. Read Lieber’s article here, and then let’s discuss in the comments section below!
Compiled by Trish Pannuto, PEP leader and president of PEP’s board of directors.