Questions to Consider Continue reading “Video from The Atlantic Addresses Sharenting Issues”
Category: family life
Print Books: Better Than Digital for Toddlers!
Are print books better for young learners and especially toddlers? Ask almost anyone in early child development and they will likely say yes, print books are so much better in so many ways. Many educational technology specialists — people like me who love learning with technology — will say the same thing. You can also read this New York Times article by pediatrician, Perri Klass.
Dr. Klass writes about a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and published at the journal Pediatrics. They conducted their research with 37 parent-child pairs who read together in three formats — print, electronic, and electronic with extra bells and whistles such as sound effects. Readers were videotaped. Toddlers and parents verbalized but interacted and collaborated less with electronic books. Then the researchers studied the recordings and coded the verbalizations and behavior or the parents and children. Continue reading “Print Books: Better Than Digital for Toddlers!”
Should Babies Learn Alexa’s Name Before Mama’s?
Check out a fascinating article, When Your Kid Tries to Say ‘Alexa’ Before Mama, in the November 27, 2017 Washington Post. Tech reporter Hayley Tsukayama describes how a young child responds to the Alexa voice assistant in his house, calling out her name before learning his mom’s. She also writes about the personal voice assistant universe and expert opinions.
I am not sure what to think and, yes, it is amusing.
Yet I keep wondering whether digital toys and devices, especially those that talk, tend to distract babies and toddlers as they go about learning words and begin to carry on a basic conversation. Babies are hard-wired to learn the language that their parents speak — the words, the pitch, the intonation — and it seems like inserting digital conversations into the equation could slow down the process, or at least not be helpful. Twenty-first Century life is becoming more complex for every age as we sail nonstop into an increasingly digital world.
Continue reading “Should Babies Learn Alexa’s Name Before Mama’s?”
Can You & Your Kids Balance Life With So Much Social Media & Tech?
Take a few minutes to read Five Ways Parents Can Help Kids Balance Social Media With the Real World, appearing in the July 11, 2017 Washington Post.
Written by Adrienne Wichard-Edds, the Post article offers common-sense suggestion that parents can use to establish a sense of balance between digital endeavors and the rest of a family’s activities. Most of the ideas come from Ana Homayoun’s, Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World. Continue reading “Can You & Your Kids Balance Life With So Much Social Media & Tech?”
Let’s Also Think About Grown-up’s Screen Time
With so much conversation about screen time for kids of all ages, it’s also useful to think and talk about adults’ screen time. Adults model, but not always well, screen time habits for the young people in their families. When asked, most 21st Century children can share all sorts of stories about how much time their parents spend on their devices, even at inappropriate or inopportune times.
In his New York Magazine article, I Used to Be a Human Being, writer and contemporary thinker Andrew Sullivan contemplates the overwhelming “full immersion” that he and many adults experience with the online world.
Continue reading “Let’s Also Think About Grown-up’s Screen Time”
A Positive Story for Younger Digital Kids: Meet the Von Awesome Family
As parents and educators, we quickly come to understand how stories help young people learn.
Unfortunately, when it comes to digital parenting and digital citizenship, we do not have many positive children’s stories — the kind you can sit down and read with a child. We know what we want children to learn as they grow up and use more and more digital devices in a connected world. We are also gradually coming to understand that citizenship and digital citizenship are one and the same.
We need lots more stories that illustrate the way digital life should be lived — stories that we can share with 21st Century children when they are young.
Continue reading “A Positive Story for Younger Digital Kids: Meet the Von Awesome Family”
Digital Opportunities That Make Life Better — Thanksgiving 2015
It’s Thanksgiving 2015 and time for my annual list celebrating what’s good about our digital world.
As a parent, teacher, and 21st Century learning advocate with a digital parenting focus, I spend lots of time suggesting ways that families, educators, and children, can strategize, enrich, and improve their digitally connected lives. And, of course, I am always encouraging people — kids and parents — to learn and understand enough about digital life to avoid potential problems.
This year I am especially grateful for a young new family member and for the digital tools that allow me to continually stay in touch. The ability to see, chat, laugh, watch reactions, and almost touch family members who live at a distance enriches life in countless ways.
My 2015 Thanksgiving List
I am thankful that digital life allows me to: Continue reading “Digital Opportunities That Make Life Better — Thanksgiving 2015”
Media! Tech! Parenting! 
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