Allergy Bullies, How To Catch A Falling Baby

June 21, 2013

Parenting Hacks & How To

How To Encourage Your Kids To Be Entrepreneurial

I recently came across this remarkably candid blog post by Boaz Sender eulogizing his mother who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurism. He goes on to explain her child-raising approach and how she supported him in his early experiments with business. This parenting success story told from an adult child's perspective is more inspiring and valuable to me than a thousand parenting tips.

This Week In The News

Parenting In The Age of Digital Technology

A team from Northwestern University studied 2300 parents of 0-8 year olds nationwide to understand how they use tablets and smartphones. Over 70% have a touch device in the household (w/ low income as main reason for non-adoption). While only 30% worry about negative effects on their kids, most opt for traditional tools like books, toys, activities, and even TV over touch devices to entertain the kids while doing chores (about 88% like books and activities vs 37% like touch devices) and for educational experiences (62% like books vs only 10% like touch devices). 94% of parents know less about the whereabouts of their phone than their kids do, and 98% consider their kids more helpful with problems than Verizon tech support - ok I made those last two numbers up but will swear by them anecdotally.

Children of Same-Sex Parents Doing Well, Even In Australia

Researchers of same-sex families at the University of Melbourne released preliminary findings showing no statistical difference in kids' well-being relative to male-female families and evidence that the former may experience benefits in areas of "general health" and "family cohesion". Stay tuned for the full report on whether Aussie factors like large pugilistic marsupials or uncertainty over which way water drains might somehow contradict the large body of research showing no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation.

Amazon Now Better for Kids Streaming Than Netflix?

Last week I reported on Netflix losing streaming rights to Viacom's Nickelodeon catalog of Dora, Diego, SpongeBob, et al. This week saw the announcement of Amazon picking up those rights in a record $200 million deal covering 4000 TV episodes, exceeding what used to be on Netflix. We tried out Diego Volume One on Amazon Streaming Video and it worked great. You have more control (but more complexity) in Amazon vs. Netflix. Episodes are $1.99 or free if get $79/year Amazon Prime.

Kids' Stumper Question of The Week

Why are there 7 days in a week?

Correct answer: "I don't know"
The origin of the seven-day week is the religious significance that was placed on the seventh day by ancient cultures, including the Babylonian and Jewish civilizations. Why the seventh day was annointed to the disappointment of six, eight, and other worthy numerical candidates is a mystery (I suspect papyrus attack ads were involved). A popular theory is that seven days is approximately one quarter of a lunar cycle, but there is no historical evidence of this intention.

Picks

Inventor of The WWW Can't Get A Job (Short Video)

Riffing on last week's "Teach Your Kid To Code" theme - you've got to watch these UK youngsters roast a bunch of "dubiously qualified" coding job applicants.

The Bear (Picture Book)

So often time spent with the kids amounts to: I'm doing something meant for the kids (or vice versa). Most picture books are this way for me, so it was refreshing to discover The Bear by Rebecca Dreistadt and Ryan Sohmer. Dialog that explores new parents' feelings in a way that the child can interact with, and beautiful illustration, make the original (November 2012) and the forthcoming Kickstarter-funded second volume highly rated on the parent-child engagement scale.