Funky Web Kids

I’ve got two interesting things to talk about today. They have to do as usual, with kids and technology.

The first things I want to talk about is safety on the Internet. I know I’ve been encouraging children’s interaction with software and websites recently, and I stand by this choice. I want my kids to understand and be able to navigate the Internet because it’s powerful and an incredible way to get information and communicate.

But what about privacy? I was reading The Telegraph today, and there was an article about parents’ views on compulsory education in schools about internet privacy. Louis Halpern, a social medi expert basically said that this kind of education is important because kids are very eager to use online social media, but they don’t have the caution and street smarts of adults to know the right ways to use the technology.

I googled Louis Halpern, and he’s got a blog. In one of his blog posts, he talks about how to use sites like Facebook if you have high profile parents. Now, I’m not a millionnare or a celebrity, but I do want to keep my kids safe. As any adult can tell you, you don’t have to be famous to become a target. Mr. Halpern recommends that we utilise privacy settings, only confirm actual friends that we know well in real life, and think hard about what picutre is provided for the world to see.

It’s inevitable that your kids will start to use social media tools but with your help, they can use them the right way.

[marketing.blogs.ie.edu]

Barbie has been the gold standard in dolls for 50 years now, and she’s gone digital. At uk.barbie.com, you can play Barbie games and interact with her friends like Christie and Skipper.

But let’s get down to the nitty gritty. I’ll go ahead and say that I for one don’t want my kids playing with Barbie online, and here’s why. Young children tend to both project and gain their identities from their playthings. The Barbie Doll’s creator, Ruth Handler, noticed that there were no adult dolls on the market.  She also noticed that her daughter preferred dressing paper dolls up as what she wanted to be. Barbara “Barbie” Handler Segal, on a visit to Oprah, said “We projected our dreams, what we wanted to be, and we could dress up paper dolls like anything we wanted to be.”

The problem is, Barbie isn’t a paper doll. She’s a 3-D representation of what beauty should be according to SOME people. In fact, Barbie might be the first doll that defines your child’s understanding of beauty.  If Barbie were a real woman, she would be 5′9″, and have the measurements: 36 inches (chest), 18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips).  She wouldn’t even be able to menstruate because she wouldn’t have enough body fat.

Barbie Syndrome occurs in many grown women, who want to look exactly like the Barbies they played with as children. Women like Cindy Jackson, who spent 100,000 USD on surgery, or Sarah Burge, who spent 539,500 GBP on her surgery and currently holds the World Record for the most plastic surgery in the world.

[Sarah Burge]

[Cindy Jackson]

But what if the little girl playing with Barbie and getting the idea of beauty from her is not white with blonde hair and blue eyes? What does that do to her self-esteem, that the main girl is eurocentric, and her sidekicks are women of color? Barbie is not even modeled on a real woman, she’s modeled on another DOLL, a german doll called the Bild Lilli Doll which conforms very much to the  German/Scandinavian look and standard of beauty.

[Bild Lilli]

I for one believe we should give children a lot of different toys to play with. This website has reviewed products as diverse as Ranger Rick, Bob the Builder and Spongebob Squarepants. There are many, many role models your children can try out and use to define different parts of their personalities and interests. 50 years is long enough. Let’s give Barbie a rest.

Can you imagine yourself being stuck with a computer that is not connected to the internet? It sounds like a nightmare to me. It has become a necessity to be constantly online and communicate with friends, acquaintances and even people you don’t even know. The main reason we are now hooked to the internet is the incredible amount of information we can find that conventional types of research would take days to gather. This powerful tool should be utilized by your kids as well.

Introduce them to the internet and its unlimited potentials in their early stages of their life. Teach them how to navigate, use search engines (potentially Google), find information and evaluate each source in terms of quality and validity. You can also encourage them to use it for their school assignments. It is certain when they enter university they will be researching on the internet and various online journals. Moreover, moving onto adulthood, daily activities such as purchases and news updates can definitely be supported by online browsing. In alignment with the notion “invest now to be ready tomorrow”, by following my suggestions you can help your children be prepared for the future. Exploring the web can also underpin their process of becoming familiar with computers and various types of software.

How would you respond to this question in a job interview? Let me rephrase that. What are the chances of a future employer asking your child in a job interview about his/her IT skills? Probably something more than 99.9%. Take actions as a parent now!

Taking your kid to learn Spanish, French, kick-boxing, judo, ballet or whatever you can think of is definitely beneficial. But why not invest in something that will underpin his/her professional course? Take your kid to an IT class. Make him learn all the software that contemporary businesses use or specific programs that his/her chosen career may need (e.g. Photoshop for designers).

So, if you truly want to see your kid succeed, take my advice. Being literate in computer software is definitely a competitive point! Making them take IT classes might lead them to hate you for a while, but they will be grateful when they reach a certain age.

Starting off with the MS Office is somethingthat I would suggest. Programs such as Word and Powerpoint is something that your kids will be using during their studies, so start off now! Moreover, it is highly likely that Excel will help them in their job, let alone the additional software they might find interesting on their own!