EmpoweringParents.com

This question came in on the blog from a reader named Dawn, and I thought I’d share it with you all. She’s wondering about using the timer on the XBox to limit her kids’ video game time. Has anyone else out there used it?
Here’s Dawn’s question:

“My son (12)also has become a “basement vampire” for about 10 hours a day, if I let him. He wants GTA - the new one and I said no. I have read the ratings and I talk to the guys in the store. My philosophy is that all of his friends have the games but at my house I keep it to No strong language and No nudity at all. There are M rated games that he can watch as long as he is killing aliens or some other nonhuman thing. I read every game before he buys it. I call the parents of his friends and say no GTA. My newest thing is that XBox has a timer. I haven’t used it yet. Has anyone else - some thoughts?”

Here at EP, we’re also wondering how other parents set up video game time in their homes–do you set limits on the time your kids spend playing, or do you take away video games as a consequence for bad behavior? And would anyone out there be interested in a resources page on Empowering Parents that would help you navigate the maze of video games, online concerns and technology? Let us know!

I came across this article on Internet Safety and thought I’d pass it along, since we’ve been talking about this topic a lot on EP and in the blog. Some good info in here for parents of tech-savvy kids.

And by the way, if you have any other good Internet Safety tips, please pass them along!

Grand Theft Auto IV is now on store shelves–until it sells out, that is. The wildly popular video game series, which takes the gamer on a rampage of car theft, murder and brutal beatings across a NYC-like landscape, is predicted by many to break all sales records.

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Turns out the Florida cheerleaders weren’t alone. Teens are posting girl bullying episodes and girl fighting to MySpace, YouTube, and other social networking sites. Some experts classify this behavior as cyberbullying–but is it something even worse?

Click here to read the story…

Do you know how much time your teen-ager spends online? Or how many “friends” they’ve made through social networking sites? The Norton Global Online Living Report came out today, and according to the study, 41 percent of teens said their moms and dads “had no clue” what their kids were doing online.

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