Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office asks people to make a New Year's resolution in 2013 that could save a life or prevent a crash.
Editor's Note: The following was taken from a Hennepin County Sheriff's Office e-newsletter. A new survey indicates that while 97 percent of teens know texting while driving is dangerous, 43 percent of them admit to sending a text while driving – and 75 percent say the practice is common among their friends.The survey found that teenagers feel pressure to quickly respond to text messages – and adults are also setting a poor example by texting while driving themselves. Make a New Year's resolution in 2013 that could save your life or prevent a crash. Take a pledge NOT to text and drive and ask your family members to do the same. Remember, it is illegal to text and drive in Minnesota. Create a new habit: Put your phone in the glove box …
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Hide and seek goes high-tech and the popularity continues to spread.
Last weekend I stood at 10,000 feet in Colorado and surveyed the breathtaking beauty around me. I was holding a treasure in my hands. I had hiked my lowlander lungs up the steep trail in search of a camouflaged, duck-taped geocache and at that moment it felt priceless. For the last few years I have entered the online and outdoor realm of geocaching (pronounced geo-CASH-ing). I quickly discovered why so many people are hooked on this hobby. Imagine using million-dollar government satellites to play a worldwide game of hide and seek with thousands of other players. Players use handheld GPS (Global Positioning System) units and specific latitude/longitude coordinates to find “caches.” A cache is a container that is camouflaged and hidden …
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
How do we let our children gain their independence while still making sure they'll have tomorrow to learn from their mistakes?
Gone are the days of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey or even wondering if kids still play spin the bottle. On Thursday, Robbinsdale Schools called and emailed all middle school parents to tell us about the choking game. And yesterday, Dunwoody Patch, just outside Atlanta, reported that a 10-year-old boy there died from the choking game last week. This is not something I wanted to think about. I fear the thought of my children getting hurt by something they did themselves. And that got me thinking—how do we save our children from themselves? When kids are young, we have to watch them at all times. As demanding and exhausting as this is, you can usually say with great certainty that you know what they’re up to—then they become teenagers. Suddenly…
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Here are 12 ways you and the kids can beat cabin fever while counting down to spring.
Yet another cold weekend and I know I'm not alone in saying I’m ready for spring. Snowmen have turned to snirt (snow/dirt) blobs, it’s so cold my snow angels need coats and I’m up to four sets of gloves with no match to be found. Did I mention I’m ready for spring? If you have children this time of year cabin fever may have turned to full on household plague. The gifts from the holidays may have lost their initial luster, and as a parent I know I often wish I had more creative ways to get my kids unplugged and using their creative energy for something other than a Mario party. Well, crisis is the mother of invention and this season has my random brain spinning with possibilities to beat the winter slumps. If you’re looking for a TV …
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Before letting your kids dive head-first into the world of social media, it's important to first get a basic understanding of the technology at play.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Laura Davis
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
When my son was almost 13, he wanted to join Facebook. Before allowing it, I signed up myself in order to understand how it worked and to provide some guidance related to his use of the social network phenomenon. Once I gained a basic understanding, I allowed him to sign up for Facebook subject to some basic guidelines which have evolved over the past two years into the following: These limits have worked well for us. I imagine some kids might not need rules while others might need more rigid ones. As parents, we cannot make that decision, however, without first having a basic understanding of the technology, which is evolving almost faster than we can keep up with it. I suspect that by the time they’re in high school, today’s sixth …
Mike E
6:55 pm on Saturday, January 12, 2013
I think the sheriff should lead by example, and do what Ft Wayne did, by not allowing use of in car computers if the car is travelling more than 15 MPH. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/08/policing-police-those-distracting-car-computers/3127/ more ›