Watch It!
What Parents Need to Know to Raise Media Smart Kids

LATEST NEWS

iPods and Hearing Loss

iPods pose a serious threat to hearing in kids and teens. In response to reports by audiologists, Apple's next generation of iPods may automatically calibrate iPod volume to reduce the risk, but, in the meantime, at maximum volume listening to an iPod is like standing ten feet away from a pneumatic drill. At this volume, iPod users risk significant hearing loss in just 15 minutes. The worst part about it is that this hearing loss is not reversible -- no amount of rest from music will restore your kid's hearing. Set and enforce guidelines for iPod use to protect your child's hearing -- once it's lost, it is gone for good!

Impersonators on MySpace

If your child has a MySpace page, learn how to monitor it. Easy instructions for creating your own account are online. Consider the tragic suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier. The mother of a classmate created a fictitious boy, Josh, claiming she wanted to learn whether or not mean things were being spread about her own daughter. The communication between "Josh" and Megan turned into a smear campaign, claiming that the world would be a better place without her. After Megan took her own life, law enforcement officials learned that there were no legal provisions that held the mother accountable for her actions on MySpace. Help your child navigate web sites with caution.

Bad News for "Baby Einstein"

Distressing news from researchers about "Baby Einstein" -- Highly respected researchers at the University of Washington have concluded that not only does "Baby Einstein" not improve a child's vocabulary -- it may actually hurt it! Their study showed that babies who watched "Baby Einstein" knew fewer words than babies who did not.

Needless to say, the Disney corporation tried to discredit the scientists, but without success.

The most important thing parents can do to improve children's language skills is to talk, read and play with them. While kids are mesmerized by the videos, simply holding their attention doesn't mean that anything good is going on.

Cyberbullying

Back in the day, even if kids were bullied on the playground, they at least could get home and be "safe." A new wrinkle in childhood bullying is that kids who are harassed online have no way to escape -- they are vulnerable 24/7. In a survey I did, college freshmen said that they suffered effects such as sleeplessness, weight gain or loss, changing their routes to school or work, and even needing an escort to and from athletic practices.

It's no longer possible to teach a kid who suffers at the hand of a bully how to fight back, or to simply ignore it. In cyberspace fighting back may be impossible, and to ignore it means to opt out of cyberspace more or less permanently -- which kids don't want to do.