Category Archives: Opinion

cc courtesy by elisasizzle on Flickr

Making sure those new BFFS stay BFs Forever

. Kids & Tweens, Opinion . , , , ,


Keeping up with Camp Friends

For the more than 10 Million kids who go to camp ever year, according to the American Camp Association, summer camp is a truly special experience that they will treasure the memories of  for their entire lives. Going off for weeks at a time (without parents around) to learn new skills and meet new people is a great way for kids to develop fast friendships that could last forever.
 
I remember by own Girl Scout camp experience and those friendships I made seemed destined to continue past the time our parents came to pick us up after 2 weeks of horseback riding in the Sierras. So, we traded addresses and became pen pals… for a while at least.  After a year or so, our letters to each other became less frequent, and since none of us lived near each other, the friendships quietly faded away. I still think about those girls I met at camp and wonder what they are doing now, but honestly, I am hard-pressed to even remember their names. Continue reading →
cc courtesy of woodleywonderworks on Flickr

Will personal reinvention become a thing of the past?]

. Kids & Tweens, Opinion, Social Media . ,

When I was seven years old, I had one of the most mortifying  experiences of my young life. No matter how many years go by, this event is scorched into my memory- even now as I write this, my cheeks are starting to burn with embarrassment by just remembering it.

On this day, I got all dressed up and went with my dad to a play at the local children’s theatre. My mom stayed home with my sister who was just a baby at the time, so it was just me and my dad- a lovely father daughter outing. At intermission we went out in the courtyard to enjoy a brownie and some lemonade from the snack stand then I decided to join a bunch of other kids in walking around the edge of the courtyard fountain. Big mistake. Trying to show off, I climbed to the top ring of the fountain to walk along its slippery, brick edge. Then I fell in. Sputtering and drenched, I was hauled from the fountain by various grownups while other kids (many that I knew from school) looked on and laughed their behinds off.  Continue reading →

cc image courtesy of woodleywonderworks on Flickr

Digital Charm School: Teaching your child netiquette

. Kids & Tweens, Opinion, Social Media, Uncategorized .

Name-calling. Hurt Feelings. These are some of the heartaches of childhood that we all experienced at some point. These days, with more kids online, these kinds of behaviors aren’t relegated to the schoolyard anymore. Heck, even some adults haven’t figured out how to be polite online yet! Here at PixyKids, we realize how important it is for you to have the tools to help your kids navigate this online world with the best etiquette — or netiquette — possible.


The Basics of Netiquette

The combination of the words “social network etiquette” form what we call “netiquette”, and it helps set some rules and boundaries for how we behave in our online world. While netiquette undergoes sometimes subtle — and sometimes less than subtle — changes along with each new incarnation of technology, there are some fundamental acceptable behaviors. Unsurprisingly, they are a lot of the same values and ideas our parents taught us, but in a new and more complicated context.
Your kids will find better social footing  by understanding some of the basic ways to stay sensitized to other people’s feelings online – a place that seems to be moving away from that concept more all the time. The potential to lose sight of the human factor in social media can be easy enough for adults, so it’s no wonder kids can fall prey to the same pitfalls involved with nearly instant communication.

Continue reading →