Oh my gosh … yet another reason to teach our kids to balance their activities … now the predators are finding kids through the hand held video games, even when the kids are on school grounds or at home! I couldn’t believe this segment I saw on the Today Show on July 17, 2008. Matt Lauer introduced Natalie Morales who was interviewing Parry Aftab, a cyber crimes specialist from New Jersey and founder of WiredSafety and the Tween Angel Network. Matt introduced the piece by telling the audience “Authorities tell us that many of today’s gaming devices as well as some popular internet games potentially could allow predators to contact your kids.” Then the conversation ensued between Natalie Morales, Parry Aftab and a computer crimes detective that went like this: (more…)

More in the news about obesity and our couch potato generation!!  The National Institute of Health released a study on July 17, 2008 indicating that teenagers aren’t’ as active as they need to be which raises concern about their long term health.  This is exactly why we need to teach our kids balance as children so that they create the habit of healthy living that will stay with them throughout their lives!  Dr. Philip Nader with UCSD  said “people don’t recognize this as the crisis that it is” and sent on to say he was “surprised by how dramatic the decline (in activity) was and cited schools dropping recess and gym class and kids increasing use of video games and computers as possible reasons.”  Dr. James Griffen with the NIH agreed that screen time exacerbates this problem - “all of the types of things that take children for outside and put them on a couch or in front of the computer”.  Check out the whole study on Yahoo:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080716/ap_on_he_me/med_couch_potato_kids

Wow, did you see Time Magazine’s  special health issue published June 23, 2008  entitled “Our SuperSuper-sized Kids”?  It was a magazine full of information about the childhood obesity epidemic in our country.  David Bjerklie wrote an amazing article about “getting our kids moving” and his number 1 suggestion was that parents “PULL THE PLUG”.  He referred to the use of TV, video games and the internet at a “stranglehold that can seem unbreakable” and he suggested that parents “set limits”!  This is exactly what Priority Patrol can help families accomplish!!!  Check out the entire article at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1813963,00.html

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than one to two hours of quality TV and videos a day for older children and no screen time for children under the age of 2.” It seems like parents around the country are scratching their heads and wondering how to make this happen.  Judy Arnall of Professional Parenting in Canada wrote a great article that was published in my local parenting magazine (Neapolitan Family) this past month (June 2008).  It is titled “Top 10 Tips to Limit Your Child’s Screen Time without Scream Time” in which she suggests that parents need to model a balanced life which should include these seven areas:  social time, physical activity, mental exercise, spiritual time, family time, financial time and hobby time.   Those are the very same habits that Priority Patrol helps develop!  Read the whole article in NJ Family.