Youtubing

July 16, 2008 at 5:02 pm · Comments (6)
Wordcount: 320

My kiddo really loves Youtube. I don’t mind him watching it a little bit as long as I’m able to closely monitor what he’s watching, but I think he’s been “youtubing” just a little too much. I’m going to put a limit on how long he can spend online and in particular how long he can watch youtube. I’m really not happy with youtube anyway. I have it set so that he can’t view certain stuff, but sometimes things get passed me. He basically only watches videos related to things like Legend Of Zelda, and stuff like that. That’s been his favorite lately, anyway. In particular there’s this one group of videos created by one guy and basically all he does is record himself playing Zelda and then add a narrative to it. The problem is, some of the things he says are things I don’t really think my son needs to be hearing. It’s hard because I have to explain to Eric that the things the guy says are inappropriate, but then he is curious as to why they are inappropriate. He’s 8 years old, but he’s still pretty naive about stuff like that and that’s the way I want to keep him. I don’t want him to be overly “sheltered” but I don’t want him to be knowledgeable of certain things just yet. I’d like to keep him innocent for as long as I possibly can.

Anyway, with that in mind, I’m going to have a talk with the boyfriend tonight about getting him some more educational software. He’s had some before but basically he’s mastered it, and needs more challenging stuff. I’m glad that he’s computer literate, and I’m also glad that he’s able to type and maneuver about online with ease, but I’d like him to use his computer for things that will help him increase his brain power and thought processes, and not for youtube.

Commenters: Julie, Lisa Marie

I Miss My Punkin…

June 22, 2008 at 6:03 pm · Comments (2)
Wordcount: 178

Eric has been at my mom’s for over a week now. I was supposed to pick him up on Thursday when I thought he had the nature hike on Friday, but it turns out the nature hike isn’t until Tuesday. I asked him if he wanted to stay at his Gma’s house longer and he said yes, because he wanted to be able to go to church on Sunday. Plus he really likes spending time with his grandparents. He gets to help them in their garden, and he loves helping his Grandpa out with fixing things and all that “manly” type of stuff.

I tried getting him to text me the pictures he took when he went to that fish thing while he was at day camp, but for some reason he has both my old cell phone number and my new one in his phone and I think he’s sending them to the number that’s no longer in service. LOL. I dunno though cause he recorded himself talking earlier and sent that just fine. What a nerd.

Commenters: Julie

The Kiddo’s New Phone

June 18, 2008 at 11:25 pm · Comments (6)
Wordcount: 156

So, my son has been through a few phones so far. He’s had the firefly, 3 or 4 of them actually. He’s had this cheap little Motorola, which still works even though I’ve washed it - twice. And more recently I finally gave in to him getting his own camera phone. He loves it so much. I got him the Motorola Razr v3, and he puts it to use very well. I know I previously said I didn’t think he was ready for a camera phone, but we’ll see how it works out. He really enjoys being able to take pictures. I like that the phone is so super flat, and it’s comfortable to use when it’s opened up. The speaker on it is great, also. I guess I’ll stop singing it’s praises though.. afterall it is just a cell phone. By the way, I’ve got the pink one just like it.

Just thought I’d share.

Commenters: Angelica, Irene, Julie

To Buy or Not to Buy

April 17, 2008 at 12:46 pm · Comments (2)
Wordcount: 296

Not too long ago my son’s computer was fried in a freak lightning storm. In my absent mindedness I had forgotten to pick up another surge protector from the store after I set up his computer when we moved here. Stupid, I know. I had been meaning to get it, and just forgot. So we bid goodbye to his crappy hand-me-down emachines computer. Thus began the search for a good, moderately priced desktop pc. I was considering a laptop for him for a short time, but I think he’s not old (responsible) enough to have the freedom of carrying his computer from room to room just yet. The boyfriend and I found this refurbished Acer on Buy.Com and that totally didn’t work out. You can read about that here if you like. After that incident, and him getting in some trouble, I decided to put off getting him a new computer until I felt he was a bit more deserving of such an expensive item. I realize though, that he actually does need a computer of his own. This week he had a project due and he needed to use my computer to do some research and also print off some images. I don’t like.. have anything overly bad on my computer, but there are some things I’d rather him not be going through. Also, my search filters needed to be adjusted as well as my internet permissions. I should just make him his own user account on here, but the problem with that is when he has his own account he thinks he can just use my computer any old time. So at this point, I”m undecided about whether or not I want to get him a new computer now or just wait. Hmph.

Commenters: Becca, Julie

Cell Phones For Kids?

April 16, 2008 at 2:28 am · Comments (2)
Wordcount: 541

As anyone who reads this thing regularly (all 2 of you) know, my son is 8 years old. Last year he got his first cell phone. Some people think 7 years old is too young for a cell phone, but I obviously disagree. I do, however, think that 7 is too young for a camera phone, or text messaging. Anyway, with that said, let me introduce to you the Firefly phone from at&t, previously cingular. I purchased the Firefly phone for my son because I liked the overall idea of it. He could only make and receive calls from numbers that I programmed into the phone myself. (You could program the phone online, too.) There were only 5 keys on this phone, 6 if you include the emergency 911 button on the side. He could not dial random numbers, or any numbers for that matter. I thought it was great. For a while.

The Firefly is made out of hard plastic. When it drops, it breaks. After he broke his 3rd phone, I realized that something had to change. At $40-$50 per phone, this was starting to get expensive. The thing is kids drop things, kids play rough, “stuff” happens. You’d think they would make the phone a little less breakable, if you know what I mean. Taking that into consideration, along with the fact that my son was now 8 and hated the little blue “baby phone” as he called it, I decided I’d start shopping around for a flip phone. No camera, though. I think if a phone has a camera on it, the child is more likely to play with it and this increases his or her chances of breaking it or it getting stolen.

Well, there was no way that I was going to shell out over $100 for a new flip phone from at&t. So I decided to check out the at&t Go Phones they had at my local target. I found a relatively decent Samsung for about $40. It’s a basic phone, no frills at all, but it’s a flip phone and it’s not as babyish as the firefly. Since it was a Go Phone, I simply removed the sim card, or “smart card” as at&t calls them and replaced it with the card from my son’s old firefly phone. Worked like a charm. And let me tell you, this phone has held up against a rough 8 year old boy, getting dropped numerous times and even being washed. I couldn’t even leave the firefly in the car in the summer time, for some reason anytime it got a little hot it died. Anyway, being concerned about who calls my son and who he would be calling, I looked into parental controls for his phone. For about $5 per month, you can basically do the same thing that you could do with the firefly phone on any phone on your account. But even better, you can designate a time that the phone can and cannot be used. 911 always works of course. So, if you are looking for a decent cell phone at a moderate price for your kids, I really wouldn’t recommend the firefly at all. It’s just not made to hold up.

Commenters: Julie, Tro