The Present NOT to Buy Your Children Next Christmas

Posted on January 3, 2014 at 7:13 pm

Dreamworks is teaming up with Fuhu, the maker of tablets for children to create the first tablet in which the content provider controls what the user sees. In other words, it’s more like a television. While Amazon sensibly makes sure that its Kindle Fire line gives parents control over the content available to children — and lets them set daily time limits as well — Fuhu gives parents no control at all.

The partnership is a convergence of two business trends. With children as young as 2 or 3 now routinely using their parents’ iPads or smartphones — if the toddlers don’t already have their own — technology companies are racing to introduce gadgets made for smaller and smaller hands. Fuhu itself sold more than two million Nabis in 2013, and its tablets, which are primarily designed for children 6 to 11, now collectively deliver more than 20 million video streams a week.

Entertainment companies have been surprised at how speedily children have taken to tablets, sometimes forgoing TV sets altogether. As a result, DreamWorks, Disney and their competitors are searching for ways to make it easier for users to find their characters on portable devices.

According to the New York Times piece, “Nancy Bernstein, a movie producer who is in charge of creating what she calls ‘character moments’ for the DreamTab, insists that the effort is not simply an advertising opportunity for the studio.” That is absurd. Giving content providers control over the characters and images children see is advertising. Even if the penguins from Madagascar are not specifically promoting a new sequel or toy, they reinforce brand loyalty, which is the whole point of the arrangement. I’m not in favor of tablets for children to begin with, but this is really a new low.

Limiting Screentime

Posted on January 2, 2014 at 3:59 pm

It’s a challenge to keep kids away from television and computers and tablets and smartphones, especially in the winter when they are indoors much of the time, and when they’re out of school. And it is a challenge to make sure they get the most out of the time they do spend on media. The Chicago Sun-Times has some great advice from the wonderful Nicole Dreiske, founder of the Chicago-based International Children’s Media Center, which offers workshops and festivals for teachers, parents and children that promote constructive screen engagement.

“It doesn’t matter how many opportunities kids have to interface with screens, parents are still the most important people in their lives, and the holidays are a time for family.”

Building a positive relationship between parents and children around screen time is an achievable goal, Dreiske contends, one that could result in less tension with children over media and gaming choices and time limits.

A mistake parents make, she said, is that they put themselves solely in the position of the “media warden, trying to monitor all the media coming into the home and that’s never going to work,” Dreiske says.

A more constructive approach is to give children an opportunity to talk about what they’re watching.

I’m honored that this website was one of the resources she recommended for parents. Many thanks!

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Media Appearances Parenting

I Hope This Idea from a New Jersey Restaurant Goes Viral

Posted on December 17, 2013 at 12:25 pm

Cheers to The Station in Bernardsville, NJ. They give patrons a basket for their phones and other devices. And then if the customers make it to the end of the meal without using them, they give 5% off the bill. Bravo! Families should do this at all meals, at home and in restaurants.

Guidelines for Family Movie Night from Common Sense Media

Posted on November 17, 2013 at 8:00 am

Common Sense Media has some common sense guidelines for family movie night. The range of opportunities for solitary consumption of media has led to less time for families to sit down at the same time to enjoy — and talk about — the same movie. CSM suggests making it a regular part of the schedule and taking turns selecting the movie. Younger children will enjoy the pride and sense of responsibility that comes from making a choice. Families should not object when it is the same movie they have already seen — that is appropriate at this stage of development and it is the movies seen over and over again that become part of family lore. When I was growing up, our family watched “On the Town” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” countless times. And wise parents can learn a lot from the selections of middle schoolers and teenagers.

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Participate in an Important Study of the Impact of Screen Time on Kids

Posted on October 17, 2013 at 8:00 am

Parents — Here is your chance to help scientists who are studying the impact of screen time on children. No generation has been as saturated with media as this one. Babies learn to play with smartphones and tablets before they can talk. Children expect to be able to watch movies on a 10-minute drive to the grocery store. You can help scientists understand the scope and impact of screen time on kids by taking ten minutes to fill out this survey (you might even win a prize, just for participating). The study is being undertaken by Dr. Robert Pressman who told the Boston Globe:

Technology is not all negative. It’s like water?—?we need to have water, but if we have too much, we drown. Technology is extraordinarily compelling. It’s addictive. It’s a time sink. Clinically, we have children spending hours with a screen after they go to . They may not go to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Parents are exasperated; they have given up.

And it starts at an early age. The other day, in the elevator, a mother had two toddlers in this double playing with some child-oriented screen. They weren’t interacting with each other, weren’t interacting with Mom. I try to be open-minded, to say it’s entertainment. Should it be eliminated? Definitely not. It’s an important advancement. I get the biggest kick out of seeing my 5-year-old granddaughter playing on her VTech while her older brother is engrossed in a new app on his iPad. I also wonder what impact it might have on them. Like most parents, I’m hoping to get some answers.

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Parenting