Monday, January 05, 2009

Social networking and Kids!

The start of the year has been a nightmarish experience for me in terms of tech and phishing scams of Twitter. When we are facing such problems which disrupt our thought process, it becomes difficult to concentrate on writing and adding to the blog as most of the time, we have to devote managing these issues of concern.

I wonder, how safe can be the kids? Social networking sites which do not allow children below 18, are full of children below 18! They are adding friends to multiples and even uploading pictures which seem to be a hobby of even the adults. We find people adding friends and pictures - I wonder, how do we remember 500 friends in our list!!! And why do we have to show pictures to people who are just in friends list and mean nothing to us!

Here's Telegraph on A new poll reveals how their parents are embracing new technologies to keep in contact with them during term time. Three quarters of parents (75 per cent) are on social networking sites such as Facebook and over two thirds (64 per cent) are 'friends' with their children, enabling them to have regular contact and updates on what their children are getting up to while away from home.The majority of parents (78 per cent) feel that new technologies such as SMS text messaging, Skype and Facebook have made it easier for them to communicate with their student children, according to a poll released today from the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS). While old fashioned landline telephones remain a popular communication tool (44 per cent), many parents are relying on mobile phones (52 per cent), emails (35 percent), social networking sites (23 per cent) and the internet (16 per cent) as their main way of contacting their children. One in ten (10 per cent) have even set up a blog to communicate with their children and 12 per cent are using web cams, according to research which questioned 1,000 parents with children either currently at university or whose children have left in the last five years.

What is required is 'Safety' - Here's the vision of K-12 students video and here's on Social Networking and kids which might interest you and keep kids safe on the web. Also here's on chat and email etiquettes which I've written earlier.

Well, this reminds me - January is a Hobby Month. In case, you missed the Projects Page, do find January Projects here.

When we ask kids, they have their choice like stamp collecting, pets, marble collection, singing, drawing, dancing ....and the list go on. Computing and playing games is a hobby that is favorite among children today.

Albert Einstein thought ‘Nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail’
All we need to encourage is Creativity. Lessons apart, a child needs to be nurtured to create a Genius. We need not insist children to follow a hobby we like but instead, find their intelligence skills and nurture their Genius minds in the category they fall in like:

1. Linquistic skills
2. Creative skills
3. Logical skills
4. Music
5. Bodily movements
6. spatial intelligence
7. Empathy and self understanding
8. Harmonious and intra personal capablities


As John Watson, the American psychologists and father of Behaviorism sets down in his theory saying ‘Learning is conditioning.” The kid is to be motivated to be a Genius and this is where the ‘Temperament style’ of every kid needs a keen observation from the very start.

Find How to create a Genius in your Child - Follow the Projects here and let kids enjoy Hobbies for the whole Month January.

- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids

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