Of course, maybe that’s the point…these aren’t good forms of entertainment, but the Xbox is a good choice to keep kids entertained? I am not so sure about that either. Certainly video games are one choice for entertainment, but children will ultimate place a much higher value on the time you spend with your child vs. an Xbox.

You can learn more about ADD/ADHD in our live, online parenting seminar:

Think Your Child Has ADD/ADHD? Get The Answers You Need

LocoMatrix, which is still in beta, has developed location-based games kids can play outdoors using their GPS-enabled mobile phones. Fruit Farmer, for example, is a game in which one or more players run around a real environment such as a park, football field or beach collecting virtual oranges (visible on their mobile phone screens) while avoiding virtual obstacles and killer wasps. Multiple levels of play are available, and users can even create their own versions using a special program on LocoMatrix’s website. In Treasure Hunt, meanwhile, the player follows a set of pictorial clues to find a series of locations. The game can be configured to display information about the destination locations, while its “warm-ometer” feature shows pictorially whether the player is getting hotter or colder in relation.

Games that get kids off the couch and into the real world to play games is a very positive use of technology and cell phones as well as a great way to get kids active. As of right now, it appears this service may only be available in the UK, but I am sure it won’t be long until we see these types of cell phone based games in the US.

You can see how the games work in this interesting (if not a bit cheesy) video.

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Here is how the site tries to entice young girls into the game:

Welcome to Miss Bimbo. Enter the exciting world of the first ever, virtual fashion game !

Become the most famous, beautiful, sought after bimbo across the globe!

• Find your own cool place to live.
• Find a fun job to pay for your needs and all the clothes a Bimbo could possibly want.
• Shop for the latest fashions and become the trendsetting bimbo in town !
• Become a socialite and skyrocket to the top of fame and popularity.
• Date that famous hottie you’ve had your eye on and show the Bimbo world the social starlet you are !
• Even resort to meds or plastic surgery. Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo !
• Tackle your 104 tasks as quick as possible to become the rising star bimbo !!

Are you ready to become the hottest of hot Bimbos !?!

In today’s world, where Paris Hilton attracts raving fans for her “bimbo like” behavior,” it is not surprising an entrepreneur decided to go after this market. And for some young girls who understand that this is just a game and can see the irony at play here, participating in this game may be OK. However, for many girls, they are in a very impressionable stage of their life. If they see the characters they have created as a way to feel accepted in the virtual world, and to be more successful in this virtual world, you use meds and plastic surgery to succeed, the leap from virtual reality to reality is often not that far off for many young people today.

Parents beware. This is not a site that is going to benefit your daughter in any positive manner. Even if your child can see it as a joke or a game, there are much more entertaining ways to spend their time. We have added this site to the do not visit list at Better Parenting University - we hope you consider doing the same at your home.

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Discover more in our online parenting seminars:

I Like Me: Building Self-Esteem In Your Child
Kids And The Internet: How You Can Keep Your Child Safe
Cranked Mirror: Understanding, Addressing, and Getting Treatment For Your Child´s Eating Disorder

The demise of the traditional family is breeding a generation of children who are increasingly relying on teachers to become surrogate parents, a prominent education leader warned yesterday.

Thousands of children lacked basic social skills, said John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.
Many pupils were unable to hold simple conversations, use a knife and fork or sit at the table, he added. Others suffered serious behavioural problems because of the lack of a stable home life.

For too many young people, school was the “only solid bedrock in their lives” where they experienced clear moral boundaries.

This is a sad fact of today’s high pressure family lives, where parents are often working long hours and multiple jobs to financially support the family while also sacrificing the basic foundation that builds strong, healthy families.

Contrary to stereotype, most Internet sex offenders are not adults who target young children by posing as another youth, luring children to meetings, and then abducting or forcibly raping them, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire who have studied the nature of Internet-initiated sex crimes.

Rather, most online sex offenders are young adults who target teens and seduce victims into sexual relationships. They take time to develop the trust and confidence of victims, so that the youth see these relationships as romances or sexual adventures. The youth most vulnerable to online sex offenders have histories of sexual or physical abuse, family problems, and tendencies to take risks both on- and offline, according to the researchers at the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center.

The study was based on three surveys - two comprising telephone interviews of a combined 3,000 Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17; first in 2000 and again in 2005; and one involving 612 interviews with federal, state and local law enforcement officials in the United States between October 2001 and July 2002. These studies were conducted by Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, and Kimberly Mitchell at the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center.

“To prevent these crimes, we need accurate information about their true dynamics,” said Janis Wolak, lead author of the study. “The things that we hear and fear and the things that actually occur may not be the same. The newness of the environment makes it hard to see where the danger is.”

For example, in spite of public concern, the authors found that adolescents’ use of popular social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook do not appear to increase their risk of being victimized by online predators. Rather, it is risky online interactions such as talking online about sex to unknown people that increases vulnerability, according to the researchers.

“Most Internet-initiated sex crimes involve adult men who are open about their interest in sex,” Wolak said. “The offenders use instant messages, e-mail and chat rooms to meet and develop intimate relationships with their victims. In most of the cases, the victims are aware that they are talking online with adults.”

“A majority of the offenders are charged with crimes such as statutory rape, that involve non-forcible sexual activity with adolescent victims who are too young to consent to sexual intercourse with adults,” she added.

Current educational efforts that are focused on discouraging children from giving out or posting personal information, warning about deception online, and urging parents to monitor their children may not be effective, according to the authors.

Wolak and her colleagues say more effort should be directed at helping teens appreciate the drawbacks and inappropriateness of romantic relationships with adults. These efforts should include frank discussions of the dynamics of Internet-initiated sex crimes. Since many of the victims do not have good relationships with parents, ways to reach vulnerable teens directly, through sources they find credible, need to be found.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Internet offenders pretended to be teenagers in only 5 percent of the crimes studied by researchers.
• Nearly 75 percent of victims who met offenders face-to-face did so more than once.
• Online sex offenders are seldom violent, and cases involving stalking or abduction are very rare.
• Youth who engaged in four or more risky online behaviors were much more likely to report receiving online sexual solicitations. The online risky behaviors included maintaining buddy lists that included strangers, discussing sex online with people they did not know in person and being rude or nasty online.
• Boys who are gay or are questioning their sexuality may be more susceptible to Internet-initiated sex crimes than other populations. Researchers found boys were the victims in nearly one-quarter of criminal cases, and most cases included facts that suggested victims were gay or questioning their sexuality.

What this means to parents: At Better Parenting University, we don’t want you to read this and think the irresponsible use of the Internet is not dangerous - it absolutely can be. There are Internet predators — that is not a myth. NBC Datelines “To Catch A Predator” is not fiction. It is real. What this study shows is that parents need to take a proactive role in helping to protect their child both in the real world and the Internet.

Discover what you need to know to protect your child in this online parenting seminar: Kids And The Internet: How You Can Keep Your Child Safe

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, “Bonding While Learning’s” publisher is offering the new eBook edition as a free download between February 13th and March 5th.

Get them while they are free!

According to the results of an online survey of 501 teenagers attending seventh through tenth grade, conducted by KRC Research on behalf of Microsoft Corporation:

Fewer teens expect punishment for illegal use of Intellectual Property than stealing goods. Fewer than half of teens surveyed (48%) thought they should be punished for
illegally downloading materials over the Internet, while most thought they should be punished for things like stealing a bike (90%), stealing a video game at the mall (89%) or stealing a cell phone from a locker at school (85%).

Awareness of the law impacts teen attitudes towards illegal downloading. The more teenagers know about laws against illegal downloading, the more they will come to think it hould be a punishable offense. Likewise, teenagers unaware of the rules are more tolerant of illegal activities.

• Among teenagers who said they were familiar with the laws, more than eight in ten (82%) said illegal downloaders should be punished. In contrast, slightly more than half
  (57%) of those unfamiliar with the laws said violators should be punished.

Parents play a critical role for teens. Teens report their parents are their main source of information about what they can and cannot do online. Reinforcing the critical role of parents is the fact that some of the strongest deterrents to stealing and illegally sharing content are the thoughts of potential consequences.

Teens challenged by peer pressure and their wallets. Among teens, peer pressure and cost also have a strong impact on attitudes towards illegal downloading.

Why This May Be Important To You: Further proof (from Microsoft nonetheless) that parents need to be involved in the choices their children make while online. It’s not only for their safety from predators and cyber bullying, but also ensuring that they don’t run afoul from the law when it comes to downloading content that they legally, should not be downloading.

Discover more in our online parenting seminar: Kids And The Internet: How You Can Keep Your Child Safe

The study, conducted by family scientist, Laura Walker,  found that parents’ knowledge or awareness of what’s going on in their child’s life at college is associated with fewer risky behaviors such as:

• drugs
• alcohol
• risky sexual activity 

Specifically, students who said their fathers were in the loop had a lower likelihood of doing drugs or engaging in risky sexual behaviors. When mothers were in the know, students were less likely to drink alcohol.

The protective effect of mothers’ awareness was more pronounced when the students also felt close to their mom. Under those circumstances, the researchers found that students were less likely to be involved in any of the three risk behavior categories studied: drugs, alcohol and risky sexual activity.

“For parents, the fact that closeness plays a strong role is a message to not be overbearing,” Walker said. “Having a close relationship promotes the child wanting to open up and share what’s going on rather than the parent having to intrusively solicit the information from the child.”

The study’s findings show that the relationships between parents and children continue to be important during the transition to adulthood.

The study involved 200 undergraduate students ages 18 to 25 from two mid-Atlantic colleges, a Midwestern university and a West Coast university.

Why This May Be Important To You:  Your role as a parent never stops. Even when children are old enough and mature often to leave home, parents still can have a positive influence.  Binge drinking and other risky behaviors occur on college campuses everyday. Knowing that parents do have an influence on their children, even in this early adulthood stage of life, is encouraging - as long as parents excercise that influence.

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Discover how to deal with the issues identified in this study in these Better Parenting University parenting seminars:

• Substance Abuse: Guiding Your Child Through The Minefield
• Talking To Your Child About Sex: How To Protect Your Child Physically And Emotionally
• Kids and Alcohol: What Every Parent Needs To Know, Even If You Think You Already Know It

2) Are you holding any judgments about your teenager that is affecting the way that you are responding to them? Look at the judgment you are holding about your teen and how you see them. How can you suspend this judgment, if just only for a day, to see what happens?

3) Ask yourself if you want to move from control to choice. In this situation you always have a choice between the two. Are you trying to control too much? What choices could you make that would be different?

4) Take note of what triggers your reactions. What is your teenager doing that is sending you into a pattern of behaviour that is not serving you? What can you set up to ensure that you are not triggered?

5) Relax, find a way that you can relax and calm yourself in each situation, for example, breathing or just touching your heart, things to remind you that you are at choice in your reactions.

6) Make a decision to look at your child in another way. Ask how you want to see them and choose to see them like that in all situations, including the challenging ones.

7) Don’t focus on the poor choices they have made and what may happen in the future. Instead, focus on what is present in front of you now.

8 - Centre yourself before you start any communication. Before you start any communication with your teen get calm yourself and ask what you want from this conversation.

9) See what you can learn from each situation with them. Instead of seeing each situation as challenging, ask yourself what you have learned from this.

10) Focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

11) Get clear on your bottom line in situations and be willing to state what is true for you. In others words, get clear what is and is not OK for you as their parent and make sure they are clear about this.

12) Ignore hurtful comments; you will get more satisfaction from not reacting to them and staying calm.

13) Look at how you have more personal control, rather than control over your son or daughter. How can you manage yourself more in these situations?

14) Remember that your job is to fix the relationship and concentrate on that over the behaviour. It is the relationship that needs fixing, not your teen or their behaviour. What can you do to fix the relationship?

15) Do not focus on the way things have been, focus on the way you want them to be.

16) Have it be OK that your teen may have a different value set than you and that they may choose to reject yours.

17) Take a look at the situation from their point of view. It may have been a while since you were a teen and life looks very different through their eyes.

18) Remember, our teens challenge us in this way at home because it’s a safe environment for them. Whilst it might seem backhanded, it IS a compliment.

If you found this blog post interesting, you may also benefit from the following Better Parenting University expert led, online parenting seminars:

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* The Teen Years: The Good, Bad & Ugly - A Parent’s Survival Guide
* Can Parents and Teens Be Friends? Exploring The Consequences of Befriending Your Children

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Sarah Newton is one of the world’s leading teen coaches. She enjoys a high profile and is one of the only Teen Coaches to have hosted her own eight part TV series ‘My Teen’s a nightmare - I’m Moving Out’. Her first book “Help! My Teenager is an Alien - the everyday situation guide for parents” was launched in March 2007 by Penguin and rarely drops out of the top ten parenting teenager books. Sarah believes that parents can have great relationships with their teenagers and still get all the boring things done and to this end she offers everyday practical advice. To get free access to Sarah’s “3 easy proven techniques to instantly reduce stress in your home and dramatically improve the relationship with your teen” go to http://www.sarahnewton.com