Yea, yea, yea…summer is just about over. The kids are heading back to school. The fall is near and we’re all getting back into the routine that’s better known as life.
The months of October through March bring cold weather here in the Northeast, which I’m totally fine with. What it also brings, however, is that caged rat feeling.
I recently wrote a story about how the iPad was created to keep parents sane. it caused quite the crap-storm with some readers, but parents who read it, agreed with me wholeheartedly. It covered a variety of ways for parents to keep kids corralled in sticky situations.
This post, however, is not the same, but rather, talks about how the iPad can make education fun for kids. While my kids love school, the iPad (or any tablet for that matter), can supplement the education they are getting in school.
Here’s how:
At the very basic level, kids, as young as 2 or so, have an eagerness to learn their ABCs. The ABC Animals app helps you do that.
After kids start to learn their alphabet, they want to start spelling. It’s part of their curiosity scale. They are like sponges and want to continue to learn and after ABCs, spelling is next in line. The Word Magic app can help kids with their spelling curiosity.
Kids are also visual and audio learners. The interactivity of some iPad apps really help kids soak in the knowledge. The Spell and Listen Cards app is a cool way for kids to become the sponge.
Want to teach your kids about the history of the US. Check out the Manual for the United States of America. Believe me, you’ll learn a couple of things too because you were probably falling asleep in history class.
How about Astronomy? Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy is pretty bad ass.
Another great way to learn, though the industry is dwindling, is newspapers. Keeping them up to date with world events is a great educational experience. Newspapers is good app to check out.
What about tunes? You gotta teach your kids about music. The Preschool Music app is fantastic. You’ll find yourself playing this one for sure.
There’s a slew of other apps I’d add to this list. What would you add?
With the recent rash of tornadoes throughout the US, death and destruction at the hands of mother nature seems to be everyday news this week.
Being new residents of Kansas, my family and I spent two of the last five days in our basement when tornado warning sirens sounded. Having lived in California the better part of the last 30 years, I’d become accustomed to earthquakes and wildfires. Tornadoes though is a different thing.
A few nights ago we were awakened by the blaring sirens and had to reluctantly wake all four kids to run down into the basement to our “safe place.” Luckily, the warning only lasted about an hour and we were soon back in our beds.
On Wednesday, something similar happened but it made this Dad feel a sort of helplessness I’d never felt before.
Tucked away in a conference room at my office with about 15 people for a major business meeting, the conversation was interrupted by an announcement in our building to take cover due to a tornado warning. Having it so fresh in my mind, and the rest of my coworkers being more used to it, we quietly moved to a safe place in our building.
But soon after, I started thinking of my wife and three kids at home, and one at school some 10 miles away. The protector in me suddenly shuddered. What would I do if a tornado was heading for them and I was stuck in the office helpless to do anything?
It was an odd feeling. I’d die in a moment for my family but I stood their completely dependent on nature to not harm my family. I have a strong desire – like most fathers – to always protect my family. It was impossible for me to do it on that day.
Then, as we huddled around the one television, the anchor talked about a tornado possibly touching down just a few miles from my house. I immediately called my wife but the cell network was completely overwhelmed and I could not reach them. Where they safe? Did they know a tornado could possibly be near by?
I had no idea of knowing. I was worried yet I could do nothing to help them.
Luckily, I knew my wife would be safe and that my son was safe at school. It’s times like these that you realize there are larger forces in charge and you have to accept what will happen will happen.
But as a loving father, the helplessness was not something I liked at all.
Just another reason to kiss my wife and kids with even more meaning these days.
A lazy weekend at home, most dads are watching their favourite sports teams or poker or even playing a few video games. Me, I could watch HGTV for hours on end and not get sick of it. I’m pretty sure one weekend my Hun and I watched HGTV from the moment we woke up, to the moment we started seeing the same shows played again that same afternoon. Yup. That’s how much I love HGTV.
I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that we own our house. When we lived in a condo, we certainly didn’t watch it that much. But as soon as we moved into a bigger place with a yard, large interior space to work with, and the occasional needed maintenance, HGTV became a staple. There, I’ve said it. I feel better now.
My kids are hung up on Club Penguin. They love it. It’s interactive. There are games to play. There are other people to interact with (to a certain extent).
My oldest is the one that plays it the most and she’s seven. My youngest, of course, wants to do what her big sister is doing. As a result, I succumbed to pressure this morning and got her an account to the tune of 60 bucks for the year.
Now they are both happy, doing their own thing on Club Penguin, but I have to ask myself, is it too much? Should I limit their computer time or let them explore the digital world as much as possible? It’s a tough call because I’m a gear head and love technology. But there’s something to be said about playing and using your imagination?
How do you limit your kid’s technology in-take?
Don Martelli is just a dad, moonlighting as a PR exec, photographer and civilian journalist. Known on the social web as “The Big Guy,” Don is a former journalist for the Boston Globe, long-time PR executive, co-founder of Every Other Thursday and the lead digital strategy writer for the PR Finish Line, the blog for his agency, MSL Boston. Connect with him at www.donmartelli.com or @BigGuyD via Twitter.
I love the holiday time. It’s the one time of year that I truly unplug (as much as I possibly can). It reminds me of how much time I need to spend with the family, getting back to what’s important in life — just like my fellow EoTer wrote today.
One of my favorite things about the holiday’s is watching my kids in their pageants. They sing their hearts out and it’s really an enjoyable experience as a parent. They are typically classified as one of those moments that make you well up — a true parenting moment.
So if you take those moments and mash them up with the new iMovie, here’s what you (or I in this case), get:
Don Martelli is just a dad, moonlighting as a PR exec, photographer and civilian journalist. He’s the executive editor for Technorati, a co-founder of Every Other Thursday and is a contributing writer for Shamable and the PR Finish Line. Connect with him at www.donmartelli.com or @bigguyd via Twitter.
Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom
Two to three times a month I do school drop off. I feel like Mr. Mom when they said to Michael Keaton, “You’re doing it wrong! It’s the South to drop off MORON!!!”
I don’t know where to stand. Not sure of the protocol. I am also one of the few dads there. We are the proverbial fish out of water.
The scene is best described as controlled mayhem. Kids are screaming, fighting, dancing, yapping, etc.
It makes me long for the office. Then again, it doesn’t because these are the days I’ll miss when my girls are teenagers and I just drop her off. She’ll be too cool to hang with dad. She’ll want to kibitz with her friends. Gossip about boys (brutal).
I’m not looking forward to those days at all. How do you moms do it everyday?
God bless ya.
As a co-founder of the Every Other Thursday blog, I’ve felt extremely guilty as of late as it’s been a few months since I’ve penned anything in this space.
My last post outlined the big changes I’ve had in my life the past three months. Just to get you caught up: accepted a great new job, moved my family to Kansas from San Diego.
The past few months have been a blur. Between taking on a new job and moving the family, there hasn’t been time to write. I’ve missed it and besides my EOT brethren shouldering the load while I was gone, fellow co-founder Curtis Silver has also been extremely patient with my lack of contributions over at Technorati.
Through all of it, I was prioritizing correctly. God and family always come first, followed by my career and then my writing. But the time away has made me realized how much I miss the writing. By putting thoughts in this space, on Technorati, and my own blog, I’m able to get more clarity. I also hear from many of you which always helps with perspective.
The move and all of the challenges have certainly been a stress on just about everything. But as is usually the case, demanding times and high amounts of anxiety eventually lead you to see again just how important your family is to your sanity. Without my wife and my kids, I can’t imagine who I could have made it the past few months. At the same time, knowing that I’ve yanked them 1700 miles across the country for an opportunity also has its only special pressure.
Through it all, everyone has been resilient. It marks as a reminder that you’d be surprised at how much change is sometimes the best opportunity for your family. You’d think kids would be resistant to change and being taken away from support network but they are not. We could learn a lot from our kids about challenging our comfort zone and going out and taking on calculated risks.
For me and my family, the move has been a great change for all of us despite all of the stress and unknowns. It’s all worked out as our new community has been overwhelmingly welcoming and quick to help us adjust. We left some great people back in San Diego, but the difference between the hustle and bustle of Southern California and the down-home realism of suburban Kansas City is huge. And we’re loving it.
The move has created a bunch of different stories, reflections and new questions that I’ll turn into posts here on EOT over the next several weeks.
It’s good to be back. It’s good to be writing again with such a great bunch of Dads.
Hold on, the ride going into 2011 should be a blast.
Disney is one of the most magical places on Earth, or so they say. Try spending seven or so days with kids under the age of 10 and let me know if the experience is still magical.
Yea, I’m speaking from personal experience. While Disney is a magical place, it does comes with its downsides. And, as a parent, those downsides are usually related to the temperament of your kids or yourself, believe it or not.
Despite all that you’ve read or heard about Disney, the experience does create life-long memories for both the kids and the parents. However, there are some simple things you can do to help make your experience somewhat sane — tips that can help parents get through the Disney World experience without wanting to pull their hair out or strangle one of the characters.
My daughter’s school experience is totally different from mine when I was her age. The biggest difference is language. Spanish curriculum started in Kindergarten and has continued into the first grade. While some people might not like this (the whole “this is America” argument), I’m not bothered by it.
It would be great if my daughter can learn two or three other languages. That diversity can help her get a long way personally and professionally.
I barely got through French in high school and basically ignored any language requirements in college. Things were a little different back then. If I was in school today, I’d understand the need to learn different languages (not that it’s ever too late to do so).
Regardless, when I see things like this I realize that my daughter is growing up fast and is a human sponge, soaking in everything she’s learning in school.
Every Other Thursday 