Upromise Toolbar

Do you have a AAA card–or an Entertainment Book?  I’ve got one of each and between the two of them, I could be getting discounts all over town.  But for some reason, I don’t take advantage of them anywhere near as much as I could.  My habits are no different online.  That’s why I give the Upromise toolbar two thumbs up.  It makes sure that you take advantage of any available savings whenever you happen upon one of their affiliated shopping sites.  (Not familiar with Upromise?)

If you or someone you know is using Upromise to save money for their kids’ college education, you’ll appreciate the value in this toolbar.  Of course you could go shopping through the Upromise shopping site directly—but who bothers to think of that?  Not me.  Just install the toolbar in your browser and you will be prompted whenever you reach a shopping site affiliated with Upromise.  Their site claims that members who use the toolbar save more than 5x more than members who don’t.

If you shop online—and you use Upromise, this free tool is a must.

Mommy and me

Read blogs, forums, articles and product reviews about everything for baby at “Mommy and Me”. This website by DIC Entertainment gives you tips about better parenting.

What do you think of the website?
Http://www.MommyandMe.com

Creative Play Plus

A new local blog called Creative Play Plus inspires parents to share tips on child rearing. CreativePlayPlus.com centers its content effectively around playing with your children, whether it’s pretend or with Step2′s toys. The website currently features entries on the psychology of children interaction with you and each other. Look for the power of good storytelling and topics that hit home.

http://creativeplayplus.com/

*Thanks to George Nemeth of Brewed Fresh Daily for today’s topic.

Digital photos for learning?

I stumbled upon an article by HP that suggests using digital photography to enhance your child’s learning. Scientific studies show that starting your kids at an early age taking pictures excels their learning because they are engaged. Exploring the world around them through pictures is hands on.

http://tinyurl.com/4ox8f9

Youth Summer Camps

I don’t know if you are thinking about summer yet, but it will be here before you know it. Why not plan some events for your kids? I just saw that TRI-C will be offering youth summer camps. They have classes in archeology, computers, dance, drama, music and sports.

Does anyone recommend any other youth camps?
http://www.tri-c.edu/enrichment

Does Shrek encourage bad eating habits?

Recently, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin is upset that the massive marketing campaign behind the recent Shrek the Third movie is having an appalling effect on our children’s eating habits. He believes that big-boned green ogre is encouraging our children to eat an array of junk food that in turn is causing them to become fat.

For example, this fictional character is sponsoring:

* Kellogg’s – Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Cheez-Its
* Cheetos – They can turn your tongue green.
* McDonald’s Happy Meal
* Pepsi’s Sierra Mist
* M and M’s

Senator Harkin said, “Why isn’t Shrek advertising fresh fruits, healthy vegetables?” Here are some tips to encourage children to eat right.

Do you think Shrek can have an effect on what children eat?
http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/article-topics.php?Article_ID=10142

Spies Like Us

Does your child know what he or she wants to do when they grow up? Astronaut? Police Officer? Teacher?

Codebreaker?

Yes, the National Security Agency, a government organization that originally “didn’t exist” to crack codes and ciphers is looking to your children.

Someday, the current generation of spies and analysts will need to be replaced, so the NSA has put together a site to appeal to kids.

Characters such as Crypto-Cat™ and Decipher Dog™ will show you and your children how much fun it is to figure out puzzles, crack codes, and keep our nation safe.

http://www.nsa.gov/kids

Use DVRs To Control Your Kids Viewing Habits

I recently bumped into an old friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in quite awhile. In the typical fashion, we caught up on life and the barrage of questions included “What are you doing now?” “Are you married?” and “Do have any kids?” When we landed on the children question, an interesting conversation transpired that revolved around how he controls his kids TV-watching habits.

To my surprise, the main tool in the TV control epiphany focused on DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) or you may also have heard of Tivo. What blew me away was that his kids have never seen LIVE TV because everything was being pre-recorded and stored on his DVR’s 80 gig hard drive. He told me that he was accomplishing two things by pre-screening TV. He was controlling the show choices that his kids could watch. My buddy was also discouraging his children from being glued to the TV because he would only play one episode at a time. There was no block of programming that his kids could comprehend. The “Teletubbies” didn’t follow “Mr. Rogers” because the shows were being played out of traditional order. In my research about DVRs, I found out later that this is called time shifting.

What else is so great about a DVR instead of your old VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) is that you can hold so much more content on your digital hard drive than on the traditional videocassette. You can also pause live TV, replay of interesting scenes, and skip advertising with this device. Tivo will also make suggestions of other TV shows you should watch based on your viewing habits. What do these devices cost? Tivo and DVRs cost about $99 for the unit and then about $10- $20 a month for the service.

With our increasing schedules and the amount of channels and programming that we now have available to us Tivo gives us the flexibility to watch a multitude of shows whenever we want. Tivo and DVRs are reshaping the way we watch TV because they make it more easy and convenient to control what we watch and when we want to watch it. In this case, here an idea to use DVRs to effectively control what your kids watch.