Risk Averse
My friend and fellow blogger Lenore Skeanzy, whose wonderful blog is Free Range Kids, has been quoting Mark Twain on the risks of riding trains in 1871. It’s fascinating and entertaining reading.
Opinions
Fighting Emotion with Science
It’s getting harder and harder for facts to be heard in the high-wattage emotional arguments that accompany every issue and pervade the media. From tea parties to taxes to Tebow’s ads, there isn’t an issue that isn’t met with a storm of opinion and outrage from all quarters.
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Tweens, Teens and Body Image—It’s a Boy Thing
Boys are freaking out about their bodies. As a parent or caregiver, you may be aware of how conscious girls are about their weight and appearance, but how about the boys? A recent article in the New York Times about boys and grooming (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/fashion/31smell.html?pagewanted=1) describes the increasing number of products sold to boys. What’s remarkable is how many of these boys cite “confidence” as a reason to douse themselves in cheap cologne. The wonderfully quirky ABC show “Modern Family” has an 11-year-old character who frequently bolsters his ego through liberal application of aftershave.
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Don’t Go Down Shore Without a Lifeguard
If you’ve got teens, or even pre-teens in the house, it’s hard not to ignore the reality show “Jersey Shore” now on MTV. Kathy Griffin mentioned it on CNN New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper, who claimed to know nothing about the show. Though typically late to the party, the New York Times has become aware of the show’s popularity and its potential impact on the culture.
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Black Friday-Fun? Or Unnecessary Stress?
Last Sunday night, I was in Chicago, and Michigan Avenue was lined with people there to watch a parade-and participate in the “official” opening of Chicago’s Shopping season.
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Bad Kate Moss! But The NFL Thinks She Has a Point.
Now you may wonder what in heaven’s name Kate Moss and her comments on eating have to do with toys and play, but stay with me on this one.
Bad Kate Moss! But The NFL Thinks She Has a Point. Read More »
Wild Things: A Movie Parents Must See
I have been haunted, delighted, mesmerized and just plain thinking about Where The Wild Things Are since I saw this amazing movie a couple of weeks ago. However, I’m not going to review it here. Our own Cynthia Fuchs did a great job with that.
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Common Sense, Toy Safety and the Law
This column was never intended to be political in nature. Yet, if we are going to raise our kids effectively, we need to instill in them both critical thinking and common sense. We have so little power over what happens outside our homes and our immediate spheres of influence, but what we can do is help our kids to deal with the world as they find it as rational, thinking adults. When we can bypass the emotionalism and focus on the facts, we make better choices.
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Superhero Mythology
I always think about Super Heroes around Halloween because they tend to be the most popular costumes for boys. When I think of Super Heroes, I think of Batman, X-Men, Spiderman, Iron Man, Power Rangers, and Superman off the top of my head.
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Construction Toys – On Fire
Okay, we aren’t talking literally on fire. We’re talking about the construction toy category that is having a very strong year, despite the economy and despite the popular, though incorrect, notion that kids only want to play with electronics.
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Children and Art
There is a magnificently lyrical song in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” in which the mother of the artist Georges Seurat says that the two things that are important for the survival of culture are children and art.
Learn, Baby, Learn
Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology at Berkely in California, and she has a lot that’s important to say about learning. Last week, she wrote an insightful article for the New York Times.
What it boils down to is this: Children learn through play. No, it’s not stop-the-presses revelation, but it is important for parents, teachers and caregivers to recall. In essence, so much of our educational system is results oriented, and what Gopnik and her research show is that learning is a process. As children build mental capabilities through experimentation (aka play), they are putting in place the foundation of an ability to learn.
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Can You Hear Me Now?
“If the music is too loud, you’re too old.” Have you heard that? It’s a supposedly humorous comment reflecting the thoughts of young people regarding the, ahem, “elderly” (30-something and above). But it’s not funny: noise-induced hearing loss in children and youth is a serious problem—and getting worse.
iPods (and similar MP3 players) are everywhere today, and when not used safely, they contribute to noise induced hearing loss, the second most common form of hearing loss today. That’s very bad news. But there’s also good news: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is 100 percent preventabl
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In Ways that Can Only Be Imagined…
I love this. Over the past weeks, I’ve counted no fewer than five press releases that have come across my desk telling me that some new technological innovation (aka: gimmick) that allows kids to play “In ways that could only be imagined” previously.
What??
Did I miss something? Isn’t imagination what play is supposed to be about?
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To DVD or Not to DVD
As the summer travel season kicks in, the issue of whether or not to have DVDs in the car is heating up. As with any conversation online these days, it can be polarizing. On the one side there are those who say they keep kids quiet and entertained on long car trips and what’s the problem? On the other side there are those who are equally convinced that DVDs in the car are part of what is contributing to the decline of the family.
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Summer Semester: Technology Saves the Day
I’ve been talking to a lot of parents about summer reading and some of the challenges they’re facing getting their kids to read-even when it’s assigned by the school.
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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
I took my three teenage daughters to Transformers screening. Two of them liked it better than first movie. It was non-stop action from the moment it started! I already need to see it again for all the little things I missed. My girls were questioning why Megan Fox is always scantily dressed, but Shia never removes his shirt. LOVE Sam’s parents, the Twin Bots are hilarious, and Optimus Prime rules! (Although my youngest will tell you Bumblebee rules)
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The Beatles Children Songs
With the release of the trailer for Rock Band’s new Beatles Rock Band I’ve become all fired up. As a child of former hippies the Beatles where a staple in our house hold. Till this day they are the band to which I measure all other bands. It is if they are water, the basic necessity for life and all other bands are just flavors added to water. As a parent now I find myself playing Beatles songs for my son. And just like his father and his father before him he has taken to the fab four. Below is a list, in no particular order, of a few our favorite child friendly Beatles songs.
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Summer Semester: The Joys of Reading
Last week, I spoke about the need to be active, and I heard from tons of people who remember with fondness the ready accessibility of firecrackers, M-80s, cherry bombs and the like.
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My Favorite Toy?
I’ve been inventing and designing toys professionally for close to 15 years now. When I look back on everything that I’ve worked on it’s really hard to choose which one is my favorite. Over the years we’ve worked on a lot here at Design Edge. We’ve worked on things from Tickle Me Elmo to the Godfather Trivia Game. That’s why it was difficult when my fellow blogger, Jim Silver, asked me to write a blog entry on my favorite toy that I’ve ever worked on… what a challenge! It’s like picking a favorite child… impossible.
Summer Semester: Get Out and Play
A lot has changed since I was a kid. You probably don’t want to know this, but we had ready access to cherry bombs, M-80s and other things that blew up. A pack of matches, the gas can out of the garage and a bucket of army men was enough to entertain us for the afternoon. Left to our own devices, we had many a wonderful day, and without ongoing parental supervision, well…let’s just say it’s a good thing we all have all our fingers and toes. But it does strike me as alarming that with all the constant mini-explosions going on in our neighborhood (53 kids under 13 spread out over two city blocks), that no adults ever seemed to be worried. “Be careful,” “Outdoors with that,” and “Not near the cat,” were the most dire warnings we got. We were turned outdoors after breakfast, expected back for lunch and had to come in after the street lights came on. It’s not like that today.
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“Toy Hunting”
There’s a new radio control toy hitting the shelves, and this one will have people talking. It’s called Duck Hunter, and it’s exactly how it sounds. I first got a chance to play with this toy when I visited Interactive Toy concepts six weeks ago. There’s a radio control duck that flies around and you use your infrared shooter to first stun the duck, and on the third hit, the ducks wings will disengage and the duck will fall to the ground.
Learning to Be a Pro
Throwing a wiffle ball allowed you to feel like a major league pitcher. You could throw rising and sinking fastballs, or a curveball that really broke. It’s one of the most underrated games ever made.
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Eating Can Be Fun Too
One observation I’ve made over years is that toy companies are adverse to making food play toys. The common consensus is that parents tend to avoid such purchases in fear of instigating a mess. But seriously, what better way to teach your child than with play?
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