The new craze in our elementary school is Webkinz.  If you don't know about them, they are cute little stuffed animals that come with their very own computer registration code.  You register them on-line with their code.  From there you enter a password to gain access to an adorable and creative website that allows you to  care for your Webkinz by feeding him, putting him to sleep, decorating his room and even inviting friends over on-line.  You can also play games to earn pretend money so you can buy him things.

Webkinz has allowed my 2nd grade son to learn his first lesson in why we don't give out our computer passwords to others. He decided to share his password with kids in his class because he didn't know better.  One not so nice kid decided to go into my son's site and deplete the pretend money that my son had earned.  I guess we will just call this another teachable moment.  Who would have ever dreamed that at such a young age our children would be learning about  protecting passwords?  Is you child obessed by Webkinz yet?

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What child needs a cell phone?  My 5th grader seems to inquire frequently about when he can get a cell phone.  Though I don't have a definitive answer to his question, it is certainly not now!  If I thought it would make him safer, I would be the first to buy him one.  I can't seem to think of any situations where he would be without supervision and the adult would likely have a cell phone if he needed me.  If he was at someone's house, they would have a good old fashioned land line!  Does your child have a cell phone?  In what situations would they need one?  I would love to hear from you!

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I was watching the Today show recently and there was a segment about parents who had been bullied by another parent. As I listened to this show, I realized that while I hadn’t ever experienced bullying outright, there have been times when I have felt that I couldn’t approach another parent about an issue with their child because I was afraid of how the other parent would react. I have always welcomed feedback on my children’s behavior because I truly believe that it does take a “village” (not that I’m a big fan of the creator of that phrase!) to raise children in this day and age. Much to my children’s dismay, I am sometimes quick to assume their involvement in a situation before I have heard their side of the story. However, I have found many times that some parents refuse to admit or see that their kids are ever in the wrong. Are there other parents out there who have been bullied by another parent or feel the same way I do?

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As I was reading the Connect with Kids news story this week titled “Most Parents Have Trouble Talking to Kids About Sex”, I had to admit I was one of them, at least until recently.

For the past year my husband and I have been trying to figure out the best way to introduce the topic of sex to our fifth grade son. He is a little naïve and not necessarily ready for the information, but our peers convinced us that we should begin the discussion. It seemed like all of my friends with girls had already had the “big talk” with their children. We figured it was best for our son to get the facts from his parents rather than his friends. It seemed somewhat easy for us to talk about hygiene, respect for girls, and bodily development.

This discussion helped us realize quickly that we had never had a quality conversation about the correct anatomical name for body parts. This made for a fun conversation since my husband was out of town on the particular night that I decided to give my son this part of the anatomy lesson! Shortly thereafter, the school offered a puberty class for 4^th and 5^th graders (divided by gender, of course). My husband and son attended the four-week class and it got into some pretty detailed information. The stuff my son retained (which was not much) he has asked about. The details that were over his head, he has not asked about but down the road we will bring them up again.

We now see that beginning the discussion of sex with you children instantly takes you to a new level in your relationship with your child. If you are comfortable talking to them about difficult topics, hopefully they will be comfortable talking to you about difficult topics! Don’t do to your children what our parents did to us by tiptoeing around important issues!! Maybe you can help others by letting them know what has worked for you!!

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Some studies have shown that girls are developing much earlier with some start ing to show signs of puberty (pubic hair, breast develpment) by the age of eight now.  I have used hormone free milk for my two daughters since they started drinking cow's milk and try to buy hormone free meat, as well.  Mine are not old enough to confirm this theory yet.  Does anyone else use hormone free products for this reason and have seen the benefits?

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There is a large part of me that wants to believe that on-line sexual predators exist only in remote areas. Obviously, this is the extremely naïve side of my personality - or the denial side. As I am reading the paper Saturday morning, I see that a 69-year-old man has been charged with having sex with a teenager he met on-line and then lured into a relationship. The man charged lived approximately 15 miles from my home. Now that I am in reality, I know that it can happen anywhere!

Now is the time to start thinking about how we can protect our elementary age kids from the dangers of the Internet. My opinion is that if your computer is in a remote area of your home, move it to a very public place. Currently ours is upstairs in our bonus room but we will be moving it to a more well-traveled and visible area of our home. Make sure your children never give any identifying information about themselves or your family on-line. Engage your children in continuous conversations about the pros and the cons of the Internet. Don’t be afraid to be in their business! Do you agree that it is a parents’ job to do all they can to protect our children from future dangers?

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