Should Parents Care About What Their Kids Are Doing Online?

 When it comes to technology, there is often an asymmetry between what parents and kids know. 

Being older, parents are much less likely to be the first to hop on the latest apps, while children tend to use them much earlier. And that means that adults usually only discover the dangers of various platforms well after their kids have begun using them. 

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The reasons for this are sociological. For kids, social status is everything. They want to be the most popular person in school. And modern technology provides a route for doing just that. Kids are jumping on whatever platforms they can so that they don’t miss out. 

These developments, however, are worrying for parents. Many simply can’t keep up with the changing online environment. And the vast majority have no control over the type of content that their kids view. 

The strangest part of the entire process is how the digital world is fragmenting identities. Teenagers can often wind up with multiple personas, depending on the platforms that they use. That’s leading to a range of unexpected behaviors that parents might struggle to manage. 

For parents, concerns usually fall into the following categories: 

• Reputational: Parents are concerned about how their children’s behavior will affect their prospects in the future. They already know that many companies trawl people’s social media accounts, looking for more information on the type of person they are. If they find something they don’t like, they’ll flat it up, potentially denying that person a job.

• Criminal: Enticing a minor by computer might be illegal, but that doesn’t stop thousands of people from trying to do it every year. Parents worry that criminals will use new apps and platforms to hoodwink their kids into meeting up with them. 

• Search risk: Once something is on the internet, it appears to stay there for life. Thus, once you say something, it can potentially follow you around for decades to come, potentially impacting everything you do in the future. 

In general, parents understand the risks that the internet poses. Things hang around for a long time, anything you post is highly visible, and messages can often go viral. We’ve seen dozens of examples of young people’s lives being destroyed by mistakes that they made online, and we don’t want it to happen to our own offspring. 

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The good news is that most teenagers are managing all of this rather well. Most understand the risks of posting with reckless abandon. They know that it’ll likely follow them around for years to come if they do something controversial. And it could land them in serious trouble at their school. 

If they do post something contentious, they need to go into it with a full understanding of the drawbacks. Sometimes they might want to say something they think is true but other people will not like. 

Parents need to bear this in mind too. The internet is a forum to act disgracefully and heroically. And young people need the opportunity to do both when exploring their characters. 

Keeping Your Carpets Clean (For the Kids!)

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay 

If you have kids, you either have already or will at some point have to deal with spills and stains on your carpets. It’s an inevitable part of parenthood.

You of course aren’t holding it against your kids, who, bless their hearts, don’t have fully developed motor functions. It does, however, pose an immediate dilemma when it happens and it can cause some stress.

Hardwood or tile floors can make cleaning spills easier, but we know how expensive those options can be. Carpet is a more inexpensive option that many young parents choose (or at least choose not to replace). It has the added plus of being soft and cozy for your kids to play on.

Spills are an obvious impetus for cleaning your carpets. You of course don’t want a big red juice stain in the middle of the room.

What’s less obvious is how much dirt and dust gets trapped inside your carpets and builds up over time. That dust and dirt can be shaken up by your kids as they crawl, walk, or run over your carpeted floors. Dust goes into the air, and without you even realizing it, you and your family are breathing in all kinds of nasty particles.

There are some obvious ways to protect your carpet (and your family) from this kind of build-up. Vacuuming regularly is a must that will keep your air healthy and your carpets looking fresh.

Still, even vacuuming regularly won't suck out all of the dirt and particles that inevitably build up. Eventually this will cause the textile material of your carpet to become matted. Imagine what would happen to your hair if you didn't wash it for a year! That's effectively the same that would happen to your carpet. Instead of soft and plush, your carpet will develop a rougher texture and will begin to look worn and flattened.

The longer you go without a cleaning, the more of this damage becomes harder to undo. That's why it is said that cleaning will extend the life of your carpet. If you do it regularly, you will prevent your carpet fibers from becoming too damaged and dirty.

As a general rule, you should make sure to have a professional carpet cleaning done at least once a year in addition to regular vacuuming.

Your kids, who are often the ones spending the most time of all the family on or close to your carpet, will thank you for a softer, cozier surface and you can have peace of mind that they have a healthier environment to play in.

How To Choose The Best Childcare Option For Your Little One

There are different options parents can choose from for childcare such as family day care, in-home care and a child care center. No matter which choice you decide upon, as a parent you are tasked with finding a provider you can trust. If you are looking for reputable child care centers near me Tampa FL, consider letting your child attend the center found at www.pandahugs.com. Below are some tips for finding a good center to allow your children to attend.

Visit Centers

If you plan to put your child in a daycare center such as toddler newmarket, it is important to plan a visit beforehand. Take note of how the children are interacted with. Ideally, good caregivers are participating with the kids they are watching. Also, be sure there is a good caregiver-to-kid ratio. Some states have specific laws regarding how many kids a single caregiver can watch.

Ask For Commitment

A baby will need consistent, predictable care. According to the experts, this is how a baby or smaller child will be able to get a secure attachment to those who are taking care of them. If you are considering a center, find out how long each of the current caregivers has been working there or if they have a high turnover rate.

Perform Policy Check

Before you commit to a caregiver or daycare center, be sure their philosophies on certain topics are the same as yours. Discipline is one of the more important topics that you and your child's caregiver should be on the same page about. If you don't believe in spanking your child, you won't want to leave your child with a caregiver who gives them out for bad behavior.

Solve Problems Quickly

Conflict at some point is inevitable with you and your child's caregiver. It is crucial to address any problems as soon as possible. Ignoring any issues can leave them to grow until it may not be something that is fixable any longer.


These are just some of the things that need to be looked into when searching for a daycare option for your child. Your child is the most important person in your life. They need and deserve adequate care when you are not with them.

               

Top Family Travel Topic Ideas For Your Mom Blog

There are many truly rewarding benefits to running a mom blog.

But at the same time, coming up with topic ideas is also one of the most challenging aspects of being a blogger, and especially when you want to come up with ideas that have been written about very rarely by other mom bloggers so your own blog will stand out better.

Here are the top family travel topic ideas for your mom blog:

Your Biggest Family Travel Failures

One idea is to be vulnerable and open up about any family travel failures you’ve encountered in the past and how you could have. Of course, don’t assign blame to your other family members in the trip, and only focus on things that you personally did that you could have done or handled better.

For one thing, other moms and people reading your blog should probably appreciate your honesty, and you’ll appear much more genuine. For another thing, you can give ideas to other m moms on family travel mistakes to avoid.

Your Biggest Family Travel Successes

On the flip side of things, you can also write articles about your biggest family travel successes. This type of article will serve two primary purposes to readers:

For one thing, it will inspire them to actually take their own families out on fun trips and vacations if they’ve been on the fence about it.

In addition, the article could also serve the purpose of teaching other families on how to travel successfully and properly by listing out and describing everything that you did.

Many people may have an idea that a family trip is certain to be an all-out disaster due to the myriad of things that could go wrong, but writing a positive article on your family’s biggest travel successes could easily help to convince them otherwise.

Your Favorite Things To Do In Different Locations

Anyone can research the best places to visit in any given location online, but writing about your family’s personal favorite things to do in any given location will be much more unique.

You can even take things a step further by turning the article into more of a story. If you write an article about taking your family to a specific location, such as ‘Taking The Family To Myrtle Beach’ or something along those lines, the article would be much more interesting in the form of a story rather than a listicle type of article where you simply outline and describe your favorite locations.

How You Keep Your Younger Children Entertained En Route To Your Destination

This could actually be a fun article to write about. It’s no secret that younger aged children especially can be very difficult to entertain while traveling, such as during long flights or on road trips.

The article, at the very least, could help convince other parents that all is not lost in regards to keeping their younger children busy and happy during longer travel experiences. Your pieces could focus on strategies that you have used to keep your own children entertained, and again, it would no doubt be more interesting to read if it were told in the form of a story from your personal experiences rather than simply outlining and discussing the different strategies that you have used before.

How To Save On Family Travel

This is a big one, because family travel is one of the biggest expenses that any family will incur beyond paying the mortgage, car payments, health insurance costs, and setting aside money for college for the kids.

This is why many other moms, especially those who will be on a budget, are always on the web searching for strategies to reduce the cost of family travel. And while there are undoubtedly many other mom bloggers talking about the exact same subject, you can nonetheless make your article or articles unique by focusing on unique money saving tips that you use.

Top Family Travel Topic Ideas For Your Mom Blog

In all honesty, there’s really no shortage of family travel topic ideas that you can write about on your mom blog.

The challenge is in finding topics that haven’t already been written to the point of repetition by other mom bloggers, but fortunately, any of the above topic ideas should be unique enough to your blog.

Keep Your Whole Family Warm This Fall: Top Advice Moms Need

Now that fall is here, the weather has taken a dip. It means that our family are more likely to pick up a chill. After all, we know how easy it is for kids to pick up cold bugs. And once one child has got it, the other kids in your family will get poorly too! Therefore, you need to keep them warm this season to avoid them getting ill. Here are some top advice on keeping the whole family warm this fall!

Make sure they are wrapped up when leaving the house

When our body gets cold, our immune system drops, and we are more likely to pick up flu bugs. Therefore, it’s so important to make sure the whole family are all covered up before they go outside. That means, making sure they all have thick wooly jumpers that are going to keep their body insulated. Also, it means getting them a scarf, hat, and gloves to ensure they stay nice and toasty. Even if you haven’t got much money, you can easily knit them some that they can use on a daily basis! That way, they will stay toasty, and it will prevent them from getting cold bugs this season!

Pixabay

Fit their beds with warmer duvets and blankets or maybe even consider a Bedjet

You should also make sure that your family are all warm at night time. If they are cold in bed, they will start shivering while they are asleep and are more likely to pick up a flu bug. Therefore, you should ensure they have a warm duvet which they can wrap around themselves at night. Also, you should get them an additional blanket which they can also cover their body with, so that they keep at a good temperature. That way, they will avoid bugs and stay cozy this season.

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Make sure the heating is set to a moderate heat

You should also ensure you have the heating working efficiently if you want to keep your home toasty. Set it to a moderate heat so that it fills the house with warm air. You should make sure you get it maintained so that it will work efficiently. You can look online and discover Save Home Heat and other companies who will come out and maintain your boiler. Also, getting it maintained will ensure it’s working efficiently to lower bills too! Just make sure you draft proof your home so that you don’t lose any of the heat from your home.

Buy a log burner or an electric fire for your living room

When your family are sitting in the living room, it’s easy for them all to start feeling a bit chilly. Even if your heating is on, it might not keep the living room warm during the fall.  Therefore, you should buy a log burner or an electric fire for your living room to keep the room warm. Putting a fire on for an hour or two can keep the room nice and warm so that your family can stay cozy while sitting in the living room. It also makes a lovely feature when you have friends and family over.

Image from Pixabay

And remember to make warming food for your family. Food such as chili and soup will help to keep your kid’s body warm and will keep flu away.

Kerrie Debates a Popular, Viral #Motherhood Graphic

When I first saw this graphic on Facebook I was like YEAH! RIGHT ON! WOO HOO. IN YOUR FACE, people who don't like my messy house!

Then I was like, hmmmmm. Let me think about all that for a moment. So I shall pick it apart for your reading pleasure.

1. It's not just moms who have messy houses. I was a super pig before I ever had kids, and you can verify that with my parents and my husband.
2. So my house won't be too spotless. I don't want it that way anyway because then I'll be all anal and mean when the grandkids get a muddy shoe on my rug and I never want to be like that. I never want my grandkids to feel like they are a pain in my ass or that they are intruding on my quiet time.
3. It probably won't be too quiet because I like to have a radio on and I will also be talking off Mr. Kerrie's ear like I like to do. He loves it.
4. I hopefully won't be lonely because I will hopefully still have Mr. Kerrie, assuming he puts up with me that long.
5. I'm an only child so lonely doesn't scare me. Bring it on.
6. I bet the kids will come around sometimes so I won't be lonely 24/7. I bet they bring girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, spouses and eventually kids.
7. Even if I live in the country there will be neighbors and friends and townsfolk (like that word?) who will yack my dang ear off most likely.
8. My parents had me young and I'm their only kid so I bet you 5 bucks I get to help take care of them. They are divorced, so that means double time for me, dammit.

Pretty sure I won't be too lonely or bored when the crazy kids are gone, but I will miss these times with a heartache like no other, that is for sure. You might find me scrapbooking and also looking at old scrapbooks while crying because I am missing my kids being little so badly.

Then I will hop a jet to Italy to take my mind off the sadness.

This ends another episode of Kerrie Dissects a Popular, Viral Graphic. Please join us next time.

Sunday Family Fun at My House, June Edition When Daddy is in Town

Sunday mornings.

My kids gripe because it's going to be a boring day because we go to church and we pick up the house and we don't go anywhere to spend money, don't go to the pool, aren't allowed to get online or play games and yet by the end of the day ...

we have all had the BEST DAY EVER.

Callie and I walked home together from church and chatted. And yesterday I got a nap, people. A nap. Shocking. And while I did that Mr. Kerrie baked and cooked with various kids while others did iron-on (Perler) beads and played in the water with the neighbors.

Sam got funky and tried on Joel's old Scout shirt and ended up wearing it all day and sleeping in it. Here he is also sporting his new haircut given by Mommy!

I also scrapbooked while the kids did their iron-on beads and we chatted and joked and had fun.

And my amazing gourmet cook husband made Joel's belated birthday dinner and banana cream pie! This included a grilled appetizer of bacon-wrapped shrimp stuff with cream cheese and jalapenos!

We watched Men in Black II while having some pie!

And Mr. Kerrie is off work all week so pretty much all week is going to be like Sunday only WITH some Minecraft and SkyWars and WITH the swimming pool. Toss in a Scout meeting, a birthday party (click here to fast forward to this boy turning 16), a little homeschooling, feeding a friend's cat and a potential spend-the-night for one or more of the kids, and you have a fun week!

Here's hoping your week is just awesome!

My 4th Baby Lost Her 1st Tooth!

Little Eva lost her first tooth today while her Poppy and Nana were over visiting! She is 6 1/2 and Poppy took this picture of her gap! Also, Joel lost another molar the other day. He is 13 and still losing teeth! Sometimes this is the best way to communicate with my mom and Aron's parents, so I know they will enjoy this photo! Later we went to the pool for an hour and a half until lightning was spotted and we had to leave. I will be staying up late watching for The Tooth Fairy!

Eva is Swimming!

Yesterday we went to the pool. We hadn't been in a while because of cool weather. Mr. Kerrie just got back from Wyoming and he came with us. I got to lay in the sun while chatting with my friends, reading a book and getting a tan while Mr. Kerrie played with the kids. Then Eva, who is 6 1/2, asked me to come to the deep part. I did and she showed me that SHE CAN SWIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe she is my youngest one to swim! The boys were both 7 and Callie was probably close to 7 but I would have to go back through old online and paper journals to check! We've gotten to go to my aunt Cathy's pool twice, and they get to use floaties there and I think that helps them a bit with learning to get comfy with water (we can't have them in our big public pools). My oldest 2 did swim lessons once for a few weeks and that is all. Mr. Kerrie, myself, my mom and my aunt Cathy, our daughtersitter Jordan and a few others have been the swim teachers over the years! OH, and that trip to Branson to the waterpark sure didn't hurt.

I am not thinking my life will be easier now ... it will, in fact, be a little more difficult. Why? Because a new swimmer thinks they can do anything and they are little daredevils sometimes ... so I have to REALLY watch her more in the deep part. This only leaves Sam to hang in the shallow end with while keeping an eye on Miss Fish now. But let me tell you, that boy is determined and will not be left behind for long. We are fortunate enough that we know someone with a backyard pool and we can swim there usually through September. It would not surprise me if Sam started swimming, too!

These days my 3 oldest kids are off playing with friends or each other at the pool, going off the diving boards, going down the slides. I miss the days of them jumping to me over and over, while at the time it seemed so exhausting!

Have a great weekend!

The McLoughlins Go on the Road Day Four! #VacationInBranson (Part Two)

More Thursday fun in Branson!

Eva with kitty cat

Samuel with kitty cat

Callie with kitty cat

Joel with kitty cat

Michael with kitty cat

Gorgeous kitty cat

We love zoos but hate them at the same time ... hate the animals caged up

After the zoo we had some waterpark fun

Later, some mini golf fun at Dinosaur Canyon

Ball in water!

I cut my mini golf teeth at Jellystone Park in Branson and am not too shabby

Cherry Berry fro yo!

Callie's concoction

My little sweethearts!

The McLoughlins Go on the Road Day Four! #VacationInBranson (Part One)

SO MANY PICTURES and SO MUCH FUN! This day was packed so it will take 2 posts to show all the photos!

This was taken in the Castle Rock Waterpark restaurant, where you could find us most mornings with the kids eating their breakfast buffet!

We then headed to the Promised Land Zoo ... expensive but worth it. You could spend a day at this small zoo just walking around and messing around and checking out all the cool stuff. You can pet and feed many of the animals.

Turn your head for these next ones! SAMUEL

EVA

CALLIE

MICHAEL

JOEL. When they are in their 30s we will awkwardly recreate these photos.

Feeding camels

Promised Land Zoo in Branson rocks!

Baby alligators!

Feeding birdies peanut butter and seeds! We spent a lot of time in there!

I could do this all day!

The birds love Sammy

Bird hoarder Joel

Petting a ... um .. can't remember

Petting another thing

And another

And another

Hairy thing with shell

Massive frog

 Check out Part Two for more animal fun and pool fun and mini golf fun and fro yo fun!