The InbeTWEENs
|2.Feb.2008
Remember how I asked you guys just how far you let your kids go on the internet? Well, you guys really did broaden my scope of websites a LOT, thank you. Plus, I really like the idea several of you guys had of developing a landing page for your kids.
Since each of mine log-in to the internet with their own username, I can also customize their landing pages – making each of them age appropriate. I’ll be sure to share the links when I get them up in case you want to use them too. If you’d like to share the links to your kids’ online landing pages with me, I’d love to see them. Feel free to leave them in the comments, or if you’d like, send them to heather [at] ohmystinkinheck [dot] com.
Also? Do any of your kids have sites of their own? I know a few of you contacted me personally about your kids’ sites – thank you. I’m working on a site for Emelie, and although she’s decided to keep hers focused right now (a school project she’s come up with to promote reading using her website as a medium for kid-written book reviews), I know she would like to have a number of “safe” sites where she can go and interact with other kids her age.
Please note: If your child has a MySpace account, please don’t send the link. It isn’t that YOUR child’s site is inappropriate, but I don’t allow our kids to go to MySpace, period. The advertising alone is enough to make my skin crawl.
And now, I’m off for beans, cornbread and a movie night with the kids.
12 Comments
dianeinjapan
My kids don’t have their own sites, at least not yet. And I tend to be deeply skeptical of sites that allow kids to interact with other kids (well, hopefully they’re kids!), especially after reading Caitlin Flanagan’s piece in The Atlantic on this topic last summer. But I don’t mind sites like Groovy Girls, where all the responses and actions are scripted.
Kim
My 9 year old just started a blog. She’s going to do some storytelling, book and music reviews and some of her school journaling. It’s brand new and she’s a little nervous about it. Her link is: http://cuppycakecutie.blogspot.com/
She also plays on WebKinz.
Mrs. Wilson
A landing site? Never heard of it. I’ll have to learn!
c
Just wanted to “second” you on those MySpace ads.
eeeew.
Jeanne
Has anyone used The McGruff browser http://www.mcgruffbrowser.com/? It sounds like a good idea to me (my 6 year old only goes to PBSKids and Webkinz). I worry about bugginess. Being a mac user and having suffered through safari frustrations, I don’t have high hopes for McGruff browser!
Jeanne
One more thing, found out about McGruff from comments on this article: http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-children/2008/01/internet-safety-growing-up-online.html
Andrea
My 7 year old has a blog – http://emma.homeschooljournal.net
My two teens have blogs there as well. (Mommy can read *everything* because Mommy is the site admin ;) )
ashpags
Ugh, I third about the MySpace ads! And the unsolicited messages I receive through my account, even though I’ve never had anything remotely scandalous on there, and my profile is private (which cut down on those messages a lot, but not entirely). I just have friends who are only on MySpace (not Facebook as well, which is is a much cleaner interface) and that’s the best way to keep in touch with them. Thank goodness for the Ad-Block Firefox Add-in! =)
Pam
Will email you
SmockLady
My oldest’s blog:
Moggie’Spot and a shameless plug for her shop: Moggie’Shop
mommyknows
I sent you an email with Lizzy’s blog. Trying to keep it to friends and family only for a while.
She is only 8.
One site she loves, is scrapblog.com. I don’t let her publish her creations for comments, but she spends hours and hours scrapping and creating and many of the skills could move over to other software applications.
I have fun with it too.
Your girls would probably enjoy it.
MK
erik
Landing page – is that the page that opens when you start up the browser?
Internet and kids – that I don’t have to deal with yet. I hope we can keep up having just one family computer in the living room because I don’t like the idea of them using the internet out of our control before they’re, say, 28…