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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” — Mahatma Gandhi
In June of this year, a teenage girl in New York City was charged with arson, burglary, criminal trespass and felony aggravated animal cruelty after she broke into her ex-roommate’s apartment seeking revenge. Among other destructive actions, she confessed that she put her alleged ex-girlfriend’s kitten in the oven to die and afterward told investigators “I hate cats.”
He loves playing Batman and Diego and entering his name as the “highest scorer” at the end of each game (well, most games). He also enjoys playing PBS Kids games and the games at KidsAreHeroes.com.
Playing Video Games
And while I’m not a child psychologist, I believe that too much time in front of a video game, is not good for his development. I also believe that the most important thing I can give my son, and what he really wants the most, is my attention.
So we’ve developed the habit of frequently playing these games together.
This allows us to connect with each other on his terms. Plus it allows me to be the game’s “teaching assistant”.
Playing Together Developing our own Games
As we played together, these games would start to “play out” in the other activities we did:
Drawing pictures
Very naturally, my son started drawing pictures of the characters in the video games. He outlined the bowling lanes, the race car tracks, the mazes. This allowed him another way to understand what he was learning. Drawing also allowed me to extend my role of “assistant teacher” into these drawing activities. More… »
“Mentoring is not just your relationship between you and the child, but their relationship with their environment (parents, siblings, friends. and authority).”
During the 11 years that I mentored I learned a lot about parenting and I’m also doing some of the same things with my boys that I did with Renee. Some of the lessons my mentoring experience taught me were:
1. Kids are more respectful to those who respect them.
2. Kids learn more by mirroring what they see not what you say.
3. Kids truly want to please adults.
4. Kids need positive feedback more than negative.
5. Kids want and need quality time with you.
6. Kids need to feel special.
In the previous articles we’ve talked about a variety of tools you could use to keep your kids safe online. There are browsers, suites, and toolbars, but each requires something not included in the package.
That something is parental involvement.
Increase Your Knowledge
Internet safety is more about knowledge of the pitfalls and coming along side children instead of waging a war of prevention. Each of the tools already mentioned require downloading, installing, setup, and monitoring.
That said, they lull parents into a false sense of security. They make us tend to set and forget, and hope for the best. What can we do to step out off attrition mode?
Get safety smart and get involved.
Get Safety Smart … Get Involved
So what’s a parent to do to get educated and take part?
I recommend play! You can have a good time and learn a bit at the same time, so dig in!
Get an account on your kid’s favorite network – (let’s take Faceboook for example, very popular these days)
Step 1: Set up your profile
Don’t share your birthdate – real friends will know, for the rest it doesn’t matter
Don’t share your phone number – again, your real life friends should already have this
Leave the address information blank – it adds no value, and those that need to know do
Leave the Political views blank – not only do your friends know, this is a magnet for trouble
Religious views – this is a safe one to fill in – but realize this won’t ward off folks of opposite beliefs
Instant message – leave it blank to start with
Work and college info – leave it blank – this is not picked up on by Facebook except for ads – there is no automatic connection with others involved
A little more common sense about our profile
What is in your profile is visible and searchable by others, at least in part?
When you make someone a contact, they have much higher access to your profile information.
Leaving fields blank isn’t dishonest. (Don’t be trapped into the myth that only predators keep information private)
Anything shared with your profile that’s public is not only searchable, but likely to be permanently available in Internet archives.
I see my son Thursday through Saturday night and sometimes Sundays. Because of my limited time with him, it’s important that I focus my time with him in the best possible way. But this is not as easy as it sounds.
Managing My Time
In addition to being a Dad, I also run my own business. I consult with non-profits and businesses on how to use social media to get more customers. There are times when my customer workload keeps me up until 1:00AM. There are also times when business is slow, but I’m still up late using the inbound marketing strategies that I teach. In either case, I’ve learned some valuable lessons about making my time with my son 100% about him – not Twitter, my Blog or LinkedIn. I’ve learned these things the hard way, which is how I learn most effectively. These are five lessons that I’ve learned that help me make 100% of the time with my son about him.
Five Time Management Tips That Work
1. Create High Barriers To Distraction
Sounds simple enough, right?
Not so easy though, as I’m sure you’ve found.
For me, closing the laptop is not enough. I need to take the darn thing on tuck it way up high above the kitchen cabinet – where it’s really hard for me to get it back down.
This essentially creates a higher barrier for me to even begin to entertain checking email or Twitter.
2. Work in Short Spurts
On the weekends, if I have to do work, I’ve learned to keep it within short bursts. This way, the majority of time is spent together – enjoying each other.
Two or three (max) mini work sessions is what works for me. My son is almost six – he needs my attention – a lot! More… »
