Tame that Childzilla...Old Fashioned Chore Charts with a Web Twist

I love the internet and the more things I can do electronically, the happier I am. The other day I found Childzilla, an online chore assignment, tracking and reward system. Childzilla is also a great tool for teaching behavior management and personal habits. Childzilla is completely interactive. Included is a point based reward system, a calendar function, customizable webpages for each child with kid-friendly games, daily comments field for parents, a “rewards store” and a rewards “wish list” for the kids. The Childzilla dashboard allows parents to assign chores, behaviors and personal habits, determine the amount of points per item, give extra points for extra effort, give encouraging messages, give demerits if necessary and more. I haven't tried Childzilla with my kids yet, since I just discovered it. It may be a little babyish for them since the 2 youngest are 12 and 14 but I think they'll have fun with it till I have money to try the Pay Jr. method (to be covered in a future post) which is more age appropriate for them. I would love to see Childzilla come out with a "Teenzilla" :)

Informed Parental Guidance Suggested ;)

I believe it is very important to know what's in a movie before I let my kids watch it. You just can't tell by the rating system what might be portrayed in the movie. Once I rented a PG-13 rated movie and an R rated movie. The love scene in the PG-13 movie was shockingly graphic while the one in the R rated movie began with kissing and then cut away to another scene leaving the details out. Its very confusing and almost every movie made these days says it is rated for either: sexual material, sexual content, sexuality, sexual references, etc. which seems to have a different meaning in different movies. It could range from something as simple as innuendo to a make-out scene to some moaning heard in the background to graphic.... well, you know ;) I just discovered Kids-In-Mind! Kids-In-Mind is a wonderful site to help parents determine whether a movie is appropriate for their children to see by making an informed choice. Kids-In-Mind has reviews for an extensive selection of movies that have been rated according to SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10. Kids-In-Mind also explains in detail why a film rates high or low in a specific category, and they include instances of SUBSTANCE USE, a list of DISCUSSION TOPICS that may elicit questions from kids and MESSAGES the film conveys. Each section tells in detail exactly what kinds of things are portrayed in the movie. Kids-In-Mind is an important parenting resource in a day where even Disney can't hardly seem to make a G rated movie.

Therapy Dolls for Kids Coping With Hair Loss

Komfy Kids are dolls for children learning to cope with the pain of hair loss from alopecia, cancer or other medical reasons. These dolls are bald and have specially made wigs that fit them. Also part of the cost of Komfy Kids go to the I'm A Kid Foundation who work to increase public awareness of children's hair loss, educate schools, daycares and groups, donate Komfy Kid dolls to those who cannot afford them and offer scholarships to children with medically related hair loss and more.

 

Keeping Our Children Safe

On the top of the green sidebar to the right of Web Goodies 411 is a very important tool for helping to quickly find kidnapped or missing children. This ticker is provided by CodeAmber.org with continually updated info regarding kids in danger. I can imagine nothing worse than to not know where my child is and to imagine what kind of torture they might be enduring at the hands of an evil predator. Add this ticker to your site or blog today. You can also include it in your email signature. The more of us that know quickly after a child goes missing, the quicker they can hopefully be found safely.