Family Tech Blog

Tag: daniel tiger

  • Family Tech Blog’s Top Five Posts of 2018

    Family Tech Blog’s Top Five Posts of 2018

    Thank You for Everything!

    I can’t believe the year is over. During 2018 the Family Tech Blog has more than doubled in monthly reach and many articles have been read thousands of times each. I am so grateful for all of you who read and share our content and especially to those who have chosen to support BecauseFamily financially so that this blog can exist. Looking back on this past year it is crazy to think of what all has happened in the tech and family tech safety world. I wanted to write one last post for 2018 that highlights some of the most read articles from this past year. Here are the most read posts from a busy and fascinating 2018.

    Number Five

    Three Ways to Identify a Dangerous YouTube Video Before Your Kids See It

    YouTube is a popular topic for parents and educators. The video streaming site provides some of the most helpful and easy to access free resources on the internet. Unfortunately, however, when anything is as easy to use and popular as YouTube, you will have content on there that isn’t appropriate. I think this article was so popular because in it, I lay out some steps parents can take to identify dangerous or misleading videos on YouTube just by looking for a few signs. I’ve had parents, youth workers, and teachers tell me this article helped them make better choices in what their child was able to watch. Remember that YouTube is the wild wild west. Nearly anything goes. Parental supervision is HIGHLY recommended.

    Number Four

    unGlue is a Great Way to Teach Your Older Kids Screen Time Management

    There comes a time as parents that we should transition from control to guidance. unGlue (a BecauseFamily affiliate) is a great software option for parents who want to add guidance to their internet safety plan without giving up all control at once. This article came out before Apple rolled out Screen Time so it was one of the first software options to provide the kind of limits parents were looking for. It you are trying to protect Android devices or even some older hand me down iPhones, unGlue is still a great option.

    Number Three

    Do Violent Video Games Create Killers?

    Tragedy at a gaming competition in Florida spurred this article that explored some of the opinions that float around about gaming and violence every time a young man commits a violent crime. This article unpacks actual research that has been done to try and answer the question: Do violent video games create killers?

    Number Two

    Tools to Monitor Your Own Screen Time in 2018

    As parents, it is critical that we live out the lessons we try to teach our kids. They retain more of what they see you do than what hear you teach. Monitoring your own screen time, even if just to increase your awareness, can be a very helpful practice in trying to set a healthy example for our kids and teens. This article was released right at the beginning of 2018 and continued to grow in popularity all year long. It is obvious that people realize they spend a lot of time on their phones, here’s hoping they used some of these resources to keep track and make some healthy choices.

    Number One

    Parent Guide: Call of Duty Black Ops 4

    Finally, we are back to gaming. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 released on the back of a ton of hype based around their Battle Royale mode titled “Blackout.” The game released to positive reviews but had a lot of kids asking their parents if they could play it. This Parent Guide is a great way for moms and dads to see if this game would be appropriate for their child.

    Final Thoughts and Trends

    There are the top five posts from 2018. Obviously video games and screen time was a major trend with YouTube maintaining  a presence as one of the most common apps used by parents. I was surprised that there were no articles about Fortnite on the list as that game has taken the world by storm. You can’t look anywhere without seeing the dances, costumes, and merchandise. Voice control is another major trend in 2018 that I am surprised didn’t get as many readers as some other topics. I imagine 2019 will be all about gaming, internet privacy, voice control, and of course…YouTube.

    Thank you for reading the Family Tech Blog this year. We appreciate your support and sharing. Keep checking in through the next year as we have even more awesome plans including adding more tutorial content, including Xbox and Android tutorials, and a lot of news from CES2019, starting next week. Thank you again, Happy New Year, and we will see you in 2019!

  • Three Apps that Can Help Any Parent

    Three Apps that Can Help Any Parent

    We spend a lot of time on this site talking about what apps you shouldn’t let your kids have. For this Friday post I would like to share a little bit about some apps you should get for yourself. I found as I dig around the internet that there are new resources for parents being released all the time. Digital resources are a new way to help you be safer, more organized, and more efficient.

    1. Mothership (by FamilyTech)

    Mothership is a great way to organize all the tasks that you need done in your home. It will pair with other apps like chore monster to distribute some of the needed duties to the members of your family. Mothership is a great idea for the family who is looking for ways to reward kids for doing chores and ways to organize the things everybody needs to get done. There’s even an app I can help mom and dad’s reward each other for accomplishing the tasks they need to do, it’s called Honeydo. We just recently wrote about the fact that Disney circle will connect with mothership to use screen time as a reward.

    2. Daniel Tiger App for Parents

    If you have young children like we do and you may find yourself constantly watching Daniel Tiger. That’s not so bad since some of the songs Daniel tiger sings can help you convince your kids to do the right thing. This app takes that into account. With songs, ideas for conversation starters, and follow up questions, The Daniel tiger for parents app gives you some cool tools to help you bring their love of the character into their learning. The Daniel tiger for parrots app is free on iTunes or android.

    3. Life 360

    As your kids get older you’ll find yourself off and wanting to keep track of where they might be. The life 360 app makes that as simple as opening a map and see for yourself. This app is created to help you stay connected to your family runs on a mobile device and let you if you found the numbers on the map communicate with them, and receive alerts when they arrived at their destination. You can even pay for more features that will allow you to get an alert if they use the phone while driving and many other cool features. These features only cost you about $2.99 a month or $25 a year. That is a small price to pay always know where your kids are and if they’re safe.

    The internet can be a dangerous place. But it also can be very useful. If we as parents learn how to leverage the benefits of digital life we can help our family be more organized, safer, and smarter. Keep informed of the latest trends in social media and other family relevant tech news by subscribing to our mailing list. You’ll also get free access to the online version of our Setting Digital Boundaries Workshops.

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  • QUICK! Go Set Up a Kids’ Profile on Your HULU Account

    QUICK! Go Set Up a Kids’ Profile on Your HULU Account

    The benefits of having a kids’ profile on your video streaming services are many. Keeping their eyes off of some of the obviously adult oriented content, collecting all of their favorite shows in one place so they’re easy to access, and most importantly (not really) keeping your recommended shows list clear of Daniel Tiger and Lalaloopsy. While the convenience of these profiles has been known for a while, some streaming services have yet to offer the option. Well, today Hulu has been added to the list of streaming options that will make it easier to protect your kids while they watch.

    While Kids profiles aren’t meant to be parental controls, they are a place for children to browse Hulu without accidentally running into mature content. A user with a Kids profile won’t be able to access Watchlist, search, recommendations, and auto-resume functions. – HULU Help Center

    Profiles will be available right away on hulu.com and soon on their mobile apps, smart tv, and media player apps. Just select the “Add a Profile” on the welcome screen or from the “Account” dropdown on the website then follow the steps to create your account. You can create up to six profiles and you will receive the option to label them “Kids” accounts. This will, as mentioned in the quote above, allow your kids to watch their favorite shows on HULU without the chance of running into adult oriented programs and suggestions. Some other features, including auto-resume (which is a bummer,) will be disabled but you’ll have a bit more peace of mind.

     

     

    Hulu is a monthly subscription streaming service that has many HBO and NBC shows as well as movies and original programming. Similar to Netflix, HULU has been creating their own shows for a little while now and have exclusive rights to become the only place to view some shows and movies. Hulu is allowing new users to sign up and receive a month for free, after the first thirty days they will be charged $7.99 per month for access with “Limited Commercials” or $11.99 for a commercial free account. Why not go create an account and a few profiles and take the next thirty days to see what you think about it. We’re just happy more services are jumping on the “Kid Profile’s bandwagon.”

  • The Past and Future Combine with PBS Kids’ New 24hr Kids Channel

    The Past and Future Combine with PBS Kids’ New 24hr Kids Channel

    Our Young Kids are Learning from Screens

    The number of children who are viewing educational entertainment broadcasted to their home television grew by two percent over the past year. Most of those families are in lower income homes. PBS has always catered to that demographic with their free television content and now they’re extending that privilege to children. Starting today, January 16 2016, PBSKids will have it’s own 24/7 channel.

    Yes, Daniel Tiger, Peg + Cat, and Sesame Street will all be aired on a single PBS channel dedicated to children’s programming. The best part is that it isn’t just a channel, the content will be streaming on the PBSKids app that you probably already have. The online streaming content will also be free.

    PBS has said that they understand the need for educational television for those who can’t afford cable or satellite TV, while they also understand that the majority of children are watching their shows on smaller screens these days. The free broadcast/streaming content is unprecedented in a world where everyone is trying to convince you to pay this or that for their content. PBS is sticking to their model of educational entertainment for all. 

    The plan is to roll out the channel on 73 stations across the United States first and have 107 of the US PBS stations carrying the channel later this year. This will mean that free 24 hour children’s education content will be available to ninety percent of the homes in the united states. The streaming content on their app will increase the audience even further.

    Finally the plans include a Family Movie Night and integrating games into the show content. Characters will prompt the young viewers to further their educational experience by taking part in games and activities on the app that will correlate with what they are viewing. PBS says that research on children’s education has inspired this feature and that the feature will increase the opportunity to learn while consuming their content.

    What Parents Should Know.

    If you don’t already have the PBS App I recommend it for your younger children. The shows on the app are safe and educational and there are no ads or anything that would cause them to click away from the app. The games on the app are clean, safe, and fun. Learning is obviously the first focus of every show and game and short of a few annoying characters, you’ll feel totally glad your kids are getting their entertainment from the PBS App.