When my daughters were young, I never had to worry about how much time they were playing video games or watching television because I was always in the room with them. Now as they are getting older and more independent, we have more televisions in our house than we have people and video games in two different family rooms. I spend more time working in my office than before, which means the kids have more free reign.

I imagine that there are a lot of working moms who are like me. In fact, I would bet that some of you are not even at home to monitor how much time your kids are playing video games or watching television. You want to trust them when you tell them that they can only play for an hour, but you also know how easy that hour can turn into multiple hours when they get involved in something fun.

Enter the Power Cop. The Power Cop is an energy managing device that turns off electronic devices based on the amount of time that the gadget is being used. Complete with a key lock on the box, you are the only one who will have access to set the electronic timers up that manage the electric flow into favorite time wasters like tvs, video game systems, and computer monitors. You can decide on how many hours a day your children will have access to the electric devices in your home because you are the only one who can set the timer and only you are able to switch it on and off.

One of the things that I loved about the Power Cop when I tried it was that although it came preprogrammed to allow one hour of electronic time each day, I was able to reprogram it to 15 minute intervals. For after school time, I usually only allow 30 minutes. Then they can play or watch tv again after dinner once I have checked over homework. It took me a little bit of time reading over all of the instructions to set it up the first time but after that I was able to make changes easily. Surprisingly, my kids did not even complain because I laid out how it was going to work in advance and they knew exactly what to expect.

Have you used the Power Cop? I would love to hear Power Cop reviews from other moms. I have a feeling that it is going to be a huge help to many of you!

It seems like every time I am out somewhere with my kids we run into friends of theirs from school and the same thing always happens. The kids get to talking and want to plan to get together. The moms and I try to exchange information. “Do you have an email account?” “Do you text?” “Are you on Twitter?” There are so many ways to get in touch with each other and most of them are more efficient than the phone numbers listed in the student directories.

Because of this, I am loving the new Mommy Contact Cards from Kodak. You can include whatever information you most want friends to use to contact you. I would include my email, my cell phone, my Twitter, my Facebook, and maybe even my blog site. It’s like a business card only more personal. And you can get 50 free Mommy Contact Cards right now (although you do need to pay shipping and handling). Get them in a variety of colors and add your kids’ pictures to them so the parents will be able to put a name with a face.

No coupon code is necessary, but this special will surely end soon. Click here to visit Kodak and get more information.

Susan and Nick

Children don’t always come into the world perfect. My youngest of four children certainly didn’t. Nick was born with a horribly malformed heart. After a heart surgery at five days old, another at three months, another at one year old, he received a heart transplant just before turning two. Today, he is twenty one and attending college. Living with Nick’s chronic illness hasn’t always been easy. Though the years I’ve learned ways of cope during tough times.

Make the most of every day

Worry doesn’t add a minute to life. In fact, it takes minutes away that could be used to make precious memories. Don’t miss out on those memories by being stymied by worry. Live for today, not for what might happen down the road. Vacations are an excellent way to build shared memories.

Be united as a family

First and foremost be a family. Parents need to support each other, especially in front of the children. They feed off their parent’s actions and attitudes. Make sure each child knows they are important to making the family complete. Siblings should be shown they are just as important as the sick child. Share meals together as much as possible. That time builds family bonds.

Life shouldn’t revolve around the ill child

An ill child should be taught to mind, have chores, and be a functioning member of the family as much as they can be. It is important that siblings don’t become resentful. Standards of behavior should be the same for everyone. The whole family should support a child when they are participating in a sporting event, a program, band concert, etc. Attend the event in force whenever possible.

Understand that everyone handles stress differently

Recognize that not everyone in the family will react to a negative situation the same way. I talk a lot and fast when I’m scared. My husband paces and goes into his own world when he is worried. We have to respect each other’s method of coping.

Look for ways to have control

Volunteer, have a hobby, exercise. Do something positive for yourself every day. It takes a good sound body and mind to deal with an ill child. It is important for the caregiver to take care of his or her self.

A chronically ill child in the family adds special challenges to life, but they also add love and laugher. Nick has certainly brought that to our family.

By Susan May

Nick’s New Heart

www.susanCmay.com

With four kids I do a lot of reading.  I’ve taught each one of them to read with phonics my way.  However, as they outgrew the phonics program we started to read together each night.  I realized that reading together can do more than just benefit your kids – it benefits me as a parent.

READING TO TEACH

When my kids were toddlers until second grade I would read a book with them each night.  I did it to teach them to read.  It was the icing on the cake of our lessons.  I realized that my younger children learned to read and memorize words even earlier than my older children.  It was an enlightening benefit to reading with them so early.  Also, they used that for their cuddle time with mommy or daddy.  Both my husband and I would take turns reading to them.  Before we knew it, they wanted to read to us.

READING FOR BONDING

Even though reading offered a learning opportunity, it also offered a time to bond with our kids.  During the reading of stories we would ask questions.  Then as the kids got older (I have a 6, 9, 13, and 15yr old) we would act out stories that we repeated.  The kids loved, loved, loved this.  Even the older kids would play with us, just to get a kick out of scaring the little ones.  It was a way to move our reading to a family bonding experience that pulled the older kids into playing with our younger ones.  Not to mention it is just darn fun.

READING FOR EVOLVING

As an avid reader all of my life, my husband and kids encouraged me to write stories for them.  It was an inspiration for writing my books Explorer X-Alpha and The Pack.  My kids became my beta readers and active in story development.  Our reading together turned into us writing together.   All of my kids come up with story ideas, and my older two have even started writing.  My oldest son has entered a contest or two, and my oldest daughter beta reads for other authors also.  My youngest two kids, love to give me story ideas and even came up with the idea for the world I built for THE PACK and BANDITS by throwing suggestions at me.

THE OVERALL BENEFITS

Reading with your kids has given me so many gifts.  It’s been a teaching tool, a bonding tool, a safe platform for conversation, and the beginning of my career as a writer.   Try it for at least a year and you will be surprised how much reading just ten minutes a day can benefit you and your family.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X-Alpha and THE PACK, http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

One of the hottest book series for pre-teens and teens this year is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Not only is the book series on fire, but a Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie is set to be released soon. The series is a mixture of fantasy and adventure, based on Greek Mythology. Some of my adult friends are reading the series and loving it as well. If you haven’t added it to your family book list yet, you should definitely check it out.

If you already have Percy Jackson and the Olympian fans in your house, you might want to consider these Percy shirts now available at Hot Topic:

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Poster T-Shirt

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Hero T-Shirt

Click here to find more Percy Jackson and the Olympians merchandise.

Last spring my husband and I just happened to be at Disneyland for a day when they were testing the new Toy Story Mania ride. We absolutely loved it!! (even after standing in line for almost two hours) Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to take the kids to Disney Studios in WDW yet to try it out.

The good news is that Toy Story Mania for the Wii will be released on September 15. It features games modeled after the Toy Story movies as well as the Toy Story Mania ride. If you haven’t been on the ride yet, it’s kind of like a carnival game where you pull a string to shoot objects like balls and pies at targets.

According to Amazon, the game is for all player levels and will even have some 3D bonus features. You can play together or against each other. My kids both love the Carnival Games for the Wii, so I know that this will be a big hit.

You can pre-order Toy Story Mania for Wii from Amazon right now and save $5 plus get free shipping. We’ll get up a review as soon as we get the game in hand and try it out.

Added! You can also pre-order Toy Story Mania from Buy.com and not only save $5 but also get free shipping and two pair of 3D glasses!

Mama Bite (part of Ideal Bite, which is owned by Disney) is giving away a trip to Walt Disney World. Here are the details:

Round trip coach class air transportation for four

Four (4) night accommodations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

Four (4) 5-day Magic Your Way tickets with Park Hopper option which include, access to the Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park

PLUS special enhancements to make your celebration even more magical including a personal itinerary planner, a VIP Tour Guide for six hours, a Disney’s PhotoPass? package and a Disney Gift Card worth $200 USD

After you enter the contest, you can watch a video about the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) and what Disney is doing to save the planet.

Can you imagine winning this contest?? It would literally be like a fairytale! So get entered today. The contest ends June 30.

Having just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I now find myself in that same position as all others who have been taken in by “The Boy Who Lived.” Will there be more Harry Potter books? The bad news is that there are no new Harry Potter books on the horizon. The closest that we have to hope is that there will be an Encyclopedia of sorts written sometime in the next 10 years that gives more information about all of the characters.

In the meantime, if you have not checked out the three “supplements” to the Harry Potter series, you need to hit Amazon. The first two are made to look like textbooks from Hogwarts. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a collection of creatures both mentioned in the series and new. The second, “Quidditch Through the Ages,” is a history of Quidditch. Both are written by J.K. Rowling under pseudonyms. You can get the boxed set for about $10 under the title Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them/Quidditch Through the Ages (Hardcover).

More publicized was the release last year of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book which figured prominently in  the final Harry Potter installment. The standard edition of the book not only contains five fairy tales but also commentary by Albus Dumbledore. The notes contain backstory about Potter-ish staples such as magic wands, Muggles, and the Dark Arts.

All three of the books above were written for charity. While I am sure that they will not give Harry Potter fans the same feeling as the 7 series books, they are sure to entertain and provide more background information for those of us who can’t get enough.

I’m afraid I can’t attribute their tastes to any exceptional quality of their attitudes or palates. I guess it’s simply a result of continued exposure to these foods and environments. According to Isobel Contento, a professor of nutrition education at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City, “Continued exposure to new foods is extremely important. Research suggests that children sometimes need to be exposed to food ten to fifteen times before they develop a liking to the food.”

Research by Contento and many of her colleagues supports my hunch: Any kid can learn to dine out and enjoy a broader range of foods, if given the chance. Unfortunately, resisting the temptation to feed kids only “kid food” ordered from “kid menus” at “kid-friendly” restaurants is no piece of Tastycake. But if you don’t, you wind up with kids whose narrow palates and general cluelessness about restaurant behavior are the self-fulfilling prophecies of Ronald, Wendy, and the Colonel.

I love going out to eat, but I don’t love anything that comes in a nugget or is served in molded plastic. My solution is this: While we do consume our share of burgers and pizza, our family also patronizes real restaurants. If you’re ready to try something a little more civilized and adventurous than another trip to KFC, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tasting Tips for Kids

The journey of a thousand meals begins with a single bite – or something like that. Here are some clues to guiding that first morsel safely into the hangar.

 
• Don’t make a huge deal out of the new food in question. Start simply – just let your kids see the grown-ups eating and enjoying it. 
• While you don’t want to flat-out lie, remember the old “tastes like chicken” ploy. You might say in your most casual tone, “Want a bite?” Then, when you’re asked what it is, say, “It’s like steak” (in other words, it’s venison). Or try, “Taste a bite and see if you can guess.” 
• Never eschew bribes: “A quarter for the first person who can guess what it is.” “Taste it and you can pick the dessert.” 
• If they absolutely hate it, do not make them eat it. If they’re not sure, you might suggest a second taste, perhaps with soy sauce, pepper, or lemon to personalize the flavor.

Rules for Restaurants

Want to get your kids through an eating-out experience without a meltdown? Here are a few guidelines to make it more fun for everyone.

 
• Do keep paper and crayons or pens in your purse at all times. This way, the gimmick of kid-friendly restaurants is yours anywhere. Older kids can play hangman and “dots.” 
• Don’t make a federal case about dressing up. Most restaurants these days don’t mind casual clothes, and by choosing one with a relaxed dress code, you’ll eliminate one area of dissent. 
• Don’t let kids have too much sugary soda before the food arrives. 
• Don’t let the waitperson serve meals to the kids first. If you do, the timing will get screwed up: They’ll lose patience before you’ve finished your main course. 
• Don’t bring other kids who have more limited palates than your own do. You don’t want to get an “ew” thing going. 
• Do allow a field trip or two to the bathroom or the lobby. Accompany your kids the first time to demonstrate acceptable behavior. 
• Don’t let your child order some expensive item she’s never had before without having her first try an appetizer or tasting portion.

Marion Winik is a writer and a commentator on NPR. Her latest book is The Lunch-Box Chronicles (Vintage).