A Sweeter Halloween for St. Jude's Hospital

I can't believe a month has almost passed since Halloween! Families everywhere are preparing for Thanksgiving. I love turkey day but I don't cook so tend to just show up for this event, which is very unlike me. Maybe I was trying to make up for this at Halloween. Actually, this post may seem a bit late, but it's an important time of year to think about giving, and how we are going to teach our children to do that. And so a bit late, but here's the story of our Halloween...

See, we decided to host a "small" party. The idea came to me as I was over-thinking my son's costume. Was I really going to prepare for a month so that I could walk my 11 month-old down the street for 5 minutes? NAH!

I figured my friends would want to show off their kids just as much and I was right.We had over fifteen kids under the age of 2 in an apartment! And you can multiply that by two for the rest of the guest list! It was very cute and not as hectic as you'd expect. It was a perfect age. If many of the kids had been much older it would probably have been nuts!

To make the showing off even better, I distributed a flier in our neighborhood and promised a very cute Little Monsters Halloween Parade! I also asked our neighbors to make Halloween even sweeter by donating $1.00 (or whatever they could) to my son''s Trick-or-Treat bag on behalf of St. Jude's Children's Hospital. We asked party attendees to do the same.

We had a blast and raised money for a good cause. We did the same at Lucas' baptism, and will make a small personal donation in honor of his first birthday. See, I consider it our responsibility to teach Lucas to do as much as he can for others in need. I hope that makes him appreciate how lucky he is in so many ways. If we make this a normal part of his celebrations, he'll never ask "why" but hopefully wonder "why not".

We choose St. Jude's because being a parent is the best thing I'll ever be, and having a child has been life's biggest blessing. I don't dare imagine having to fight for the life of a child. St. Jude's does amazing things for their families. We have also had our own battle with a family member's cancer (an adult), and we want Lucas to always honor that person and his bravery.

Child Safety & Technology - Cell Phone Texting and Driving Can Now Be Stopped

Where do you draw the line between protecting your child and giving them privacy and freedom? How do you control the use of your child's cell phone?

This blog entry is being driven by a new article I am researching for a work website. I've known that this cell phone tracking/managing technology was coming for a while, and I have been drooling to hear which side of the privacy issue people will sit on. Me?

FACT: Every year texting and driving injures 2X more teens
THAN DRUNK DRIVING

FACT: 25% of fatal car accidents involve a cell phone

FACT: 20% of teens admit to texting nude pictures of themselves

Folks, let me start by saying that I would probably chip my kid - that's right, like you can chip a dog - if they'd let me. I know, I know that sounds terrible. I'd let him turn it off when he was 18 or 30, or something. Nobody wants the villains to know (which of course they would) that your kid is traceable and try to carve out the chip and cause them harm... you can see I've thought about this. It's would be a tough choice. But we can't do that - well, now we kinda can. Read on.

Here's the deal - for $10 per month, parents can now STOP TEENS from TEXTING and DRIVING. This CellSafety* technology apparently SHUTS OFF the phone if it senses movement while your teenager is driving (or in a moving vehicle). It has a SPEED ALERT (and you are notified immediately).

There's more. Using keyword technology (same as other web safety services that are in the marketplace), it can tell if teens are texting about nudity, cyber bullying, guns, suicide, porn. You can block texting in certain areas (like the classroom). Last but certainly not least (and here's where there might be more on that 'chipping' debate), it uses GPS technology to tell you where your kids are, and where they have been.

Thing is fellow superheroes, there are sick bastards/villains in this world that want to harm my child and I know how easy it will be for them to find him. Particularly now that kids are plugged in all the time. Imagine what the future will look like? Nobody likes to hear about those Amber alerts. So if you could buy some extra time, find them faster - would you? What if you could teach teens that what they are doing is putting them in harm's way in real-time?

Spousal Disagreement!
My husband and I completely disagree on this issue. He hates when I mention the "chipping" idea. Probably because (shut your eyes mama-in-law) his parents would have locked him up if they knew half the things he got away with. Yes, I know that we have to let our kids learn a lot on their own. He believes that sometimes you just have to 'let them fall'. And so do I to a certain extent (see last blog entry). My husband survived all the craziness, and so did my brother. But I think they GOT LUCKY. Don't get me wrong, that GPS technology would have probably kept me out of by high school bo's house many a nights!!!! Or not? ;-)

So, how DO YOU manage your teenager's cell phone (and internet) use and will you start taking advantage of child safety technology as it enters the marketplace? I am very curious about your points of view on this. Please comment!

*NOTE: TBrightgeist Media (company I run) WILL BE PAID if you sign up for this offer. That's how I found out this product was coming into the marketplace. This isn't a pitch for the product. I am writing about this because I think its important,. I just like to be transparent when there is any financial gain (even when it's not directly to me) on product links or offers. They also offer a very good WEB SAFETY product that provides similar controls. Ditto on the financial gain thing.

I'll publish the www.Accidents.com when we finish it. Follow Accidents.com on Facebook for other accident safety articles. Yep, THAT was a shameless plug!

It's the difference between superman and superparent...

We LOVE this article by Parenting Bliss. Here is an excerpt:

All kids get sick, all kids get hurt and all kids receive insults and disappointments. They are better served when we try to teach them how to live in a world that has many challenges, than pretend life is all cushions and pillows.

The ultimate point here is that for sure we should try to protect our children, but they also need personal challenges in order to grow.

It’s the difference between superman and superparent. As much as we would like to remake the world with no rough edges or nasty people – it just isn’t so, nor remotely possible. However, some parents don’t want to believe it -- they think they have figured out how to make it so no one gets sick or says a mean word, so they play superman sweeping in to save the day.

*******

My mom called this the "fishing line" effect. She would cast out the fishing line and let us pull it out (testing the waters) but when she thought she needed to reel it in, she would, but very slowly. Her hope was that we would learn a little through that process.

I don't know how I'll react when Lucas starts to test more dangerous waters. I hope I can use that fishing line effect, but right now I feel like I have to play superman and over-protect. I know my husband tends to disagree. But if I can avoid some extra scrapes and bruises... well then, I will!