Archive for the ‘nintendo dsi’ tag
How we keep the kids offline after bedtime
It’s a common problem, yeah? How to help our kids resist the temptation of the Internet when it’s supposed to be bedtime.
I remember when my kids were little and we parents would ask each other: Would you ever let your kids have a TV or computer in their room? My answer was always an emphatic NO. But here we are in this crazy age, barely a decade later, and my kids are gadgeted to the hilt with wifi-enabled devices: Nintendo DSi, iPod Touch, netbook. For the purposes of entertainment, who needs an actual TV or wired computer anymore??
For awhile I had a policy of collecting all the devices at night and redistributing in the morning. But that was back in the day when the only gadget they owned was a Game Boy, and those were not wifi-enabled.
So this was Scott’s brilliant idea: Our household wifi access is controlled by MAC address (every wifi enabled device has one)…
1. Wifi is open to any device from 5 am – 6 pm
Hey, if the kids want to get up at 5 am, I do not have a problem with that!
2. Children’s devices lose wifi access at 9 pm.
Yes, they hate that. (And when their friends come to sleepovers here they are appalled. Ha!) But they have gotten used to it. I kind of wish we’d decided on an earlier time in the first place, but for now this suffices.
3. Scott/Betsy devices never go down.
My husband would love to take our net access down as early as 6 pm. But he realizes that would be cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe someday I will be strong enough! But for now I really look forward to a little Words With Friends each night before I turn out the light. 
Motivation
Even if the kids turn up with a wifi-enabled device that they’ve borrowed or have been gifted with, they won’t have wifi on it after 6 pm unless they give Scott the MAC address.
Those extra three hours prove very motivational in their desire to make full disclosure about devices. From the parental point-of-view it’s a beautiful system. And so far none of my kids are quite geeky enough to cross cyberswords with Scott and subvert this system.
@SheKnows: How to teach kids to cook (using a video game)
Teaching kids to cook
My girls are 14, 13 and 10 — a great set of ages to get them really cooking. Over the years, they’ve learned some basics. My 14-year-old, Bailey, can make scrambled eggs and pancakes, grilled cheese, cornbread and brownies, among other things. But when it comes to putting the kids completely in charge of meals, I’ve been remiss. My 10-year-old hasn’t spent much time in the kitchen at all, and she is interested.
They are busy teen/tweens, and I’m a busy, multitasking mom who maybe has a few control-freak tendencies. Usually, I just make dinner because (a) I’m good at it, and (b) I’m fast at it.
The thing is, my kids aren’t learning as much about cooking as they could be. I have a feeling a lot of mamas can relate. Intellectually, we know it’s a sound investment. The trick is finding the time, the patience and the tolerance for chaos and a gigantic mess.
Fun for kids, big help for moms
When a publicist contacted me about a new game for the Nintendo DS called American’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking and asked if I’d like to try it out, I was curious. She sent me a DSi XL, the game and even the ingredients for four of the game’s recipes.
Even better, my children (well, two of them anyway!) were curious. A cooking video game? What a fun idea! They couldn’t wait to get started. Once everything arrived, for two days in a row they prepared very, very nice large family meals (there are six of us for dinner most nights) with minimal adult assistance.
As I type this, my 10-year-old, Mira, is browsing the game for recipes she can make this week. She is considering Pasta Caprese and Strawberry Shortcake. Um? Yum!
Yeah… I like this game.
Mom to 4 kids and 2 stepkids, I work at home in the heart of the chaos. Founder and executive editor of SheKnows.com and various other sites. Homeschooling. Knitter. Family chef. Gadget geek. Wordphreak. LAZY BLOGGER. 