An onsite community for moms to gather and talk

Kaboose.com is a gathering place for moms to exchange ideas on a variety of topics, including parenting and school, pregnancy, general health, recipes and food, crafts, holidays and fun, and games. The many discussion boards offer threads on dozens of topics of interest to mothers. One special feature is Kaboose TV, which enables users to watch videos on a variety of topics, e.g. reducing your child’s temper tantrums, curbing your child’s bossiness streak, what to do when your child chooses bad friends, and protecting your child from “stranger danger”. http://www.kaboose.com/

Would you know what to do if your baby stopped breathing?

The Parents.com website has a section called ParentsTV which features six video channels. The Baby Basics channel contains a series of videos on topics like baby CPR, breastfeeding, massaging your baby, burping your baby, and childproofing your home.

Here is the link: http://www.parents.com/parentstv/

The site also has other sections containing information on toddlers, preschoolers, and teens.

Monitor your home or business computer

If you install Webwatcher on your computer, you will be able to remotely and secretly monitor all activities on your home or business computer, including e-mails, instant messaging or chat, banking activities and word processing. This amazing, highly-rated program is the answer to protecting your children online, or monitoring the activities of anyone who has access to your computers. No one will know that your computer is bugged.

Never again worry about whether an unsavory stranger is chatting or arranging a date with your teenage child. Find out whether someone in a chat room is making inappropriate advances towards your spouse.

Click on the Webwatcher icon below to learn more about this marvel of technology.

Are children’s birthday parties getting out of control?

Many parents feel pressured to put on expensive and elaborate birthday parties for their children because other parents are doing so. Does it have to be that way? One group of mothers says no, and has set up a website to help change this out-of-control custom.

On their site, they outline what exactly is spiraling out of control about birthday parties, how things got that way, how kids and parents have been affected, and what can be done to solve the problem. They offer suggestions for alternatives to the usual format of birthday parties. Visitors to the site may take a “Birthday Pressure Quiz” to determine the extent of the pressure they are under concerning birthday parties.

Visit the site: http://www.birthdayswithoutpressure.com/

Advice for parents: How to raise smart, healthy, caring, and responsible kids

Here you will find a chart of 40 “developmental assets” every child and teenager needs. Use the chart as a checklist to help you monitor whether your child is on track for success in life, and as the basis for intervention when things go wrong.

There are tips for moms and dads, describing in detail strategies for instilling in their children healthy attitudes and values, as well as suggestions for establishing boundaries and expectations for harmonious family life. Being a fully-involved parent is not easy, and this site will help you develop the skills you will need.

This kind of information is more important than ever in a society where many children learn their attitudes and values by default from their peer groups and the media.

Well worth a visit: http://mvparents.com/

iParenting: doorway to a wealth of parenting information

The iParenting website is the doorway to nine other parenting-oriented sites. Click the “Parenting Sites” tab to reach related sites, like Breastfeed.com, Pregnancy Today, Toddlers Today, and Teenagers Today. In addition, clicking on the “Lifestyle Sites” tab will lead to thirteen other sites, such as Dads Today, Moms Today, Grandparents Today, Twins Today, Special Kids Today, and iParenting Adoption.

The iParenting home page itself contains many resources for parents. Clicking “Community” will take you to more than 350 discussion boards on a multitude of parenting topics. Here members discuss topics like bedwetting, breastfeeding, choosing the sex of your baby, drug and alcohol abuse, food allergies, grandparents, home schooling, step families, and teen dating.

Click “Recalls” to find pictures and descriptions of furniture and toys which have been recalled for safety reasons.

The “Articles and Tools” section contains information on topics ranging from beauty and wellness to family finances. One personal story in this section describes one member’s homebirth experience. Members are invited to set up their own blogs on the site to record their thoughts and feelings about different aspects of parenting.

Reach the home page here: http://www.iparenting.com/

Piczo—A free website for teens

This site enables teenagers to establish a free, personal website for self expression and social networking. Piczo currently places no limit on the volume of information, guest books, comment boards, graphics, music and photos that may be uploaded to a personal site. Setting up an individual site, with multiple pages, is straightforward, requiring no advanced computer skills. Students often use their sites as part of a class project to share personal writing, including travel diaries, poetry and short stories.

The site administrators place a high priority on member safety and privacy, and include an online safety section to help members stay safe. One Piczo privacy feature is a “walled garden” function which means that members select, through an “invite-only” interface, which users may see their site. Both users and parents prefer this to an “open to the world” format common to other online networking sites.

Launched originally in the UK in 2004, Piczo expanded to the US in September, 2006, and now boasts more than 10 million monthly unique users.


Check out the site: http://www.piczo.com/?cr=4&rfm=y

TalkingWithYourKids— How to give your kids the facts about dangerous drugs

This is not just another addictive drug site. Parents, guardians, and teachers often have all the information they require, but need help in approaching the topic with their kids. This site offers accurate drug information, but suggests effective ways to deliver the facts to kids. Also on the site is a list of community support resources for each province and territory in Canada.

Check out the site: http://www.talkingwithyourkids.ca/

Francais: http://www.parlonsavecnosjeunes.ca/index.html