“Encourage kids to play board games” plus 3 more |
- Encourage kids to play board games
- Are kids old enough to be playing adult games?
- Kids Face Temptation When Buying Online
- Two Kids Facing Multiple Capital Murder Charges
| Encourage kids to play board games Posted: 03 Sep 2010 07:10 AM PDT Friday, September 3, 2010 Jessica Baltera enjoys a game of checkers at the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School library in January 2008. Board games like checkers are a great way for kids to learn all kinds of skills — and have fun in the process. Classic board games — Psst! Don't tell! — are a great way to teach your kids everything from basic math skills to strategy and spatial reasoning. Even as school has begun, these games tend to go beyond what kids learn there, experts say. "Games are a great way for kids to extend their thinking and do different kinds of thinking than they would in school in a very positive, pro-social way," says Janine Remillard, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of education. "This is a great thing to encourage." Remillard was asked to match classic games with age-appropriate skills. Here are some of her picks: Pre-counting skills • Ages 3 to 5: Candy Land is a tad slow for adults, but preschoolers can't get enough of this rainbow-bright board game. No numbers are required, so even very young children can tackle ideas about sequences (one thing comes after another) and work on matching colors and pictures. Counting skills • Ages 5 to 12: Counting is one of the most important skills your kids can learn, and Trouble is here to help. Five-year-olds (and precocious younger siblings) love the retro dice-popper and the mad race to the finish. Sorry!, with similar thrills but a tad more strategy, is a hit with ages 6 and up. (Chutes and Ladders is another top pick in this category.) These games help kids learn that numbers correspond with values (1 equals one space, 2 equals two spaces) and do some basic addition. Strategy • Ages 5 and up: Many kids can enjoy the higher pleasures of checkers and chess by kindergarten or first grade. Both games are more complex than counting games and great for teaching pattern recognition, thinking ahead and cause-and-effect ("If he does this, I'll do that and then he'll have to do this.") Another big favorite is Clue Jr., which encourages kids (ages 5 to 8) to use their powers of deduction to solve a mystery. Kids graduate to Clue, which is recommended for ages 9 and up. Spatial reasoning • Ages 2 and up: Very simple puzzles help toddlers with basic geometric concepts. Connect Four is a fun, fast-moving introduction to graphing points on a grid for kids age 4 or 5 and up. (Caution: This game may be addictive for adults as well as children.) At about age 7, many kids are ready for Battleship, which encourages them to visualize shapes they can't actually see and imagine possible patterns on a grid. Another great pick in this category is Blokus (recommended for ages 7 and up). This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Are kids old enough to be playing adult games? Posted: 04 Sep 2010 11:07 PM PDT AP National Writer Article Last Updated; Sunday, September 05, 2010 12:00AM  Photo by APPeter Lenz, center, poses in this undated photo with California Superbike School staffers, from left, chief mechanic Will Eikenberry, riding coach Dylan Code, riding coach Misti Hurst, and founder Keith Code. Peter died last Sunday after falling off his bike and getting run over by another motorcycle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They're kids, some not old enough to get into an R-rated movie on their own. Last Sunday, a 13-year-old became the youngest person to die at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he fell off his motorcycle and was run over by a 12-year-old during a race, raising the question: How old is old enough when it comes to extreme sports? "They're not just small adults," said Dr. Lyle Micheli, director of the division of sports medicine at Children's Hospital of Boston and an adviser to the International Olympic Committee's medical commission on youth sports. "Kids are different. Kids have to be protected by society." Peter Lenz fell off his motorcycle during a warm-up lap for the U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union event at the speedway. Then he was hit by 12-year-old Xavier Zayat. Kids pushing boundaries is nothing new. Mozart was composing music when most children still are mastering their ABCs, and an 8-year-old's paintings are fetching six figures in Britain. Tiger Woods first showed off his golf skills at the grand old age of 2. But several child psychologists said there's a big difference between academic or cultural prodigies - even phenoms in traditional sports - and kids who risk their lives. In the last six months: •13-year-old Jordan Romero became the youngest climber to summit Mount Everest. •16-year-old Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail around the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted. •14-year-old Laura Dekker from the Netherlands currently is at sea trying to top Watson's record. "A lot of teens, physically, are very much able to do similar things as adults because their body types have developed, and they've got the muscular strength," said Dr. Robyn Silverman, a psychologist who specializes in child and teen development. "Where we go wrong with these teens is that they have problems with impulse control, stress management, abstract thinking. "They really need to be able to understand the risks," Silverman added. "It looks so cool, and teens have this process in their heads: 'It's cool, let's just do it.' There's not the 'Let's step back and look at the pros and cons of the situation,' as adults would." That goes beyond the physical risks, Silverman said. Lenz had been riding motorcycles for six years, winning nine national championships and nine regional titles. He appeared to be a rising star in a series that bills itself as a prep for riders 12 to 18 who hope to compete at a higher level. Photos of the crash show Lenz sitting on the track with his arms raised and then getting up, raising his arms so other riders could see him. But one rider did not. In some cases, parents can't - or aren't willing - to impose boundaries on their children, said Kiki Weingarten, an education and parenting coach. "You have some parents who enjoy their children's notoriety - good, bad or indifferent. You have the Lindsay Lohan moms, the 'Toddlers and Tiaras' moms," Weingarten said. Some parents are concerned their children won't like them. "No, no, no, no. You don't have to be their best friend. They don't have to like you. You have to be an authority figure. "Somebody," Weingarten said, "has to be the authority figure." But kids, like adults, are different, and some are able to handle the physical, mental and emotional rigors of extreme or high-level sports. Four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon was driving Quarter Midgets at age 5, and two-time Cup winner Tony Stewart raced go-karts at age 7. British diver Tom Daley was 15 when he won the world title in the 10-meter platform last summer. Rather than imposing hard-and-fast age limits, each child should be considered individually, said Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today and author of Teen 2.0: Saving Our Children and Families from the Torment of Adolescence. "Look directly at competence and maturity and then decide," Epstein said. "In our society, we treat all young people as equally incompetent and irresponsible, and we don't really nurture their confidence. So end up nurturing immaturity. ... As long as you're holding people back, holding them down, you don't see what they can do." Marianne Sunderland understands the concern - and disapproval - over children taking on what seem to be very adult pursuits. She's had the same reaction herself. "I think of a 13-year-old climbing Mount Everest and I think, 'Are you serious?' But I don't know mountain climbing," Sunderland said. She does, however, know her own two children, Zac and Abby, and what they did to prepare for their around-the-world sails. Zac Sunderland set the then-record for a solo sail around the world last summer at 17. Abby, at 16, failed earlier this year in her attempt to top her brother's mark. The Sunderland kids are experienced sailors. But when Abby Sunderland first talked of sailing around the world, her father tried to dissuade her by taking her out for long voyages in tough conditions. That, however, only fueled her passion for sailing, Marianne Sunderland said. After making sure their children were emotionally ready for their voyages - including knowing that they could stop at any time - did the Sunderlands let them go. "All I would say is that the parents should know their kid better than anybody," Marianne Sunderland said. "I wouldn't send Abby to climb Mount Everest next week. She's not ready. You try to train them. Or give them the experiences they need. If they continue to have a passion for it, you have to be able to judge if they're skilled enough or mature enough." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Kids Face Temptation When Buying Online Posted: 04 Sep 2010 08:25 PM PDT , On Sunday September 5, 2010, 2:24 am EDT Going through my credit-card statement online earlier this month, I noticed an item that seemed odd. It was a small expense, just $4.95, but it meant big trouble for someone in my family. I walked into the family room where my 13-year-old son was watching TV. "Buddy, I've got a problem," I told him. "Come here." I always pull my son into my office when I'm having technology problems, so he jumped up, probably figuring that I needed help reprogramming my frustratingly dumb smartphone. "What is this?" I asked, pointing at my computer screen. As we both looked at the statement, I noticed another small expense...and another...and another. He looked at me sheepishly. The jig, he knew, was up. Many times in the past several years, either I or my wife, Amy, has allowed our son to buy something online. We typically complete the transaction for him, inserting the required credit-card details and then deleting the data. If, that is, we remember. I'm sure most parents these days get requests from their kids for online purchases. They buy songs online, or join online communities. They buy monthly game subscriptions or pay for tech support. Even our 7-year-old daughter is now in on it. Thanks to her friends at school, she has found Club Penguin, the online hangout where kids her age congregate and play games. Just recently she got a Build-A-Bear teddy bear for her birthday and immediately wanted to join the online Build-A-Bear community. Amy and I don't mind paying to give our kids access to these websites, within limits. The costs are typically low (as long as you remember to cancel when your kids stop using the site). And our kids get to hang out in safe places online with their friends. But when I start seeing expenses I didn't authorize on my credit card, then it becomes a problem. A friend in New Jersey has dealt with the same issue with his daughter, and he made a good point when I told him about my son. "When you separate the payment from the purchase, it's what gets adults into trouble," he says. "Think of 'buy now, pay later.' People too often don't think of the financial consequences when they can have something immediately and pay for it weeks or months or even years later. Now, offer that same deal to kids, who have even less control of their impulses, who want what they want and they want it now and never have to pay for it themselves, and it's especially difficult. To them they're not really spending any money. They're just pointing and clicking." He knows this all too well. A couple of years ago, he set up an iTunes account for his then 12-year-old daughter. He had set the preferences so that the emails confirming purchases went to a secondary account he rarely looks at. Big mistake. "She spent nearly $300 on songs one month," he says. "I never knew it until the bill came. And while I understood the temptation, I also knew that she understood at some point -- perhaps when she was buying song number 200 -- that she shouldn't be doing this. She got in big trouble, and I hope it was a good lesson for her. It was for me." His daughter hasn't bought a song from iTunes in the past two years, unless she has received a gift card from a friend or relative. No exceptions. Clearly, part of the problem with my son's unauthorized expenses was my fault. After all, I gave him my credit-card data to make a purchase we agreed on and for which he repaid me, but I was too busy and too lazy to go back and make sure he had erased the data. To put the most benign face on it, I chalk it up to my son's one-track mind. (He gets that trait from me.) He wanted to immediately play with what he had just bought, and figured he'd go back and erase the data after he was done with the game. He never did. And I never thought to check on it, just as my friend never thought to check his secondary email address. At some point, you have to trust your kids to do what you ask. Until they don't. The thing is, he could have easily afforded to pay me. He has the money in his wallet. But as many kids do in a culture of instant gratification, he didn't want to take the time to go through the effort of seeking my permission, and then tracking down his wallet and returning with the necessary funds. (Again, the most benign interpretation.) He says he knew my credit-card data was still stored in his in-game profile. He rationalized his actions, as he told me, by telling himself, "I'll pay Dad later." I suspect, though, that as my friend says, he didn't think all that much about it. All he had to do was click. No money involved. Either way, he never remembered to mention it to me, or to repay me. The lesson in all of this: vigilance. There are just too many ways nowadays for kids to spend without actually touching a unit of currency. I know many parents hand over their credit card to their kids this time of year, so their kids can buy school supplies or clothes at the mall with friends. I know many parents don't think twice about letting their kid buy something small online, and never follow up to make sure their credit-card data isn't still sitting there, tempting them into future purchases. You want to trust your kids. I understand that. But as the axiom holds: It's OK to trust... Just verify, too. Write to Jeff D. Opdyke at jeff.opdyke@wsj.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Two Kids Facing Multiple Capital Murder Charges Posted: 03 Sep 2010 08:27 AM PDT By FRANK HEINZUpdated 10:15 AM CDT, Fri, Sep 3, 2010Two kids, ages 12 and 13, will face capital murder charges in connection with the shooting deaths of Darlene and Alan Nevil. On Aug. 17, Garland police responded to a call of a man being shot on the 600 block of Rilla Drive. When they arrived, they found Alan Nevil injured in his neighbor's yard. Nevil was able to tell officers who shot him before he was transported to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas where he underwent surgery. A short time later, Nevil's wife, 46-year-old Darlene, was found dead inside of the couple's home. Police arrested two children, a 12-year-old female and a 13-year-old male, in connection with the crime based on information they received from Alan. The two were later charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Garland police. With the death of the second victim, police said the Dallas County District Attorney's office will seek capital murder charges against the children. The two remain in custody in the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center. First Published: Sep 3, 2010 10:03 AM CDTThis entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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