I feel like the Grinch mentioning this around the holidays, but it’s a fact. Kids get homework even as the holidays approach. The rule of thumb is that kids get 20 minutes of homework per grade. So by junior high school you’re looking at between 2-3 hours of homework each evening–and that’s after a long [...]

I like to remind parents that the Internet is not an all-or-nothing place for kids. Just like you wouldn’t give your kids the keys to the car and tell them to “grab a bunch of friends and drive across the country” on the first day that they’re licensed drivers, you don’t want to give them [...]

What if your life were just an example to be parodied? That’s how I felt when I watched this perfectly executed parody of an earnest mom explaining how she can keep tabs on her college kids. If you’ve ever been part of the Internet safety discussion you’ve got to see this clip from The Onion.

Never mind you, which netbook will your kids be carting to and from 1st grade this year? Will it be the one with SpongeBob or with Little Mermaid? This week Dell announced a new netbook designed for the 6- to 12-year-old: the Inspiron Mini Nick Edition.

The Hidden Park throws the whole techno-kitchen sink into creating an extraordinary scavenger/treasure hunt for kids. Clues about where to go for more clues are location-based and use GPS mapping. The game knows where you are and can serve up the right information. The phone’s built-in camera documents the landmarks (and you as the explorer) [...]

There’s something really creepy about paying your kids to learn…or is there?
The New York Times recently ran an interesting piece on whether or not kids learn better when they’re given material incentives. Historically, educators have frowned on rewards. They want very much to believe that education, the pursuit of knowledge, is reward enough.

“Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.” —Walt Disney
For a child, today’s play is tomorrow’s work. Whether it’s playing with a toy doctor kit, a tea set, a digital camera and editing software, or inside of a virtual world, the skills they’ll need tomorrow are being honed.
But their skills will only be [...]

Disney is set to revive fairies in a big multimedia way.

Preschoolers can’t understand the difference between content and ads on a website and like to shop despite the fact that money is an abstract term. Parents don’t mind straightforward advertising, but they can’t abide sites that try to blur the line between the two. Those are just two of the takeaways you’ll find [...]

It’s raining new websites for kids, and ZooKazoo is one of the newest in the shower. ZooKazoo is both a social network and a casual gaming site. It’s housed inside a safe environment that you enter with a subscription bought by parents.