My kids left NJ today and headed back to CO so they can spend the summer with their dad. I’m sad that they’re gone, but can’t wait to explore as much as possible, doing things that I wouldn’t have time to do otherwise.

In fact, my two best friends in the world are coming to visit me next week and I’m going to show them my new haunts and even brave NYC with them. I’ve been there plenty of times since I moved to NJ, but this will be my first as “hostess”. I hope they have as memorable a time as I did when I first visited in 2008. Actually, it was two years ago this month that I flew out here with my then-boyfriend for a whirlwind visit with my parents, who have now been here about 5 years.

The documentation of my trip back then is extensive but, seeing that it’s an anniversary of sorts, I’d like to share some of those memories with you. Here is the first entry, originally blogged with words, but recorded now for your listening pleasure.

I have an 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter who are just now beginning to use the family computer (specifically, the Internet) for school homework and projects.  As their wish to use this medium increases, so has my knowledge increased in regards to keeping them safe online.  There is so much information “out there” that’s it’s easy to become over-whelmed.  Do you agree?  What are you doing to keep track of your kids?

June is National Internet Safety Month and, in recognition of this, Yahoo! partnered with Ipsos OTX, to conduct an online survey in an effort to gain insight into consumer behaviors and perceptions about online safety.  2003 respondents were recruited via Ipsos OTX’s internet panel for an 18-minute online survey, with interviews conducted from April 16-21, 2010.

What they found is parents are taking action, especially dads:

• 70% of parents talk to their kids about online safety 2-3 times a year; 45% talk once a month
• 74% of parents are connected to the profiles of their children on social networking sites
• 71% of dads (compared to 63% of moms) are taking at least one action, including having conversations about respecting the privacy of others
• 53% of dads plug the names of their children into search engines at least 2-3 times a year (compared to 38% of moms)

The survey also indicated that, while 81% of parents know what cyber-bullying is, only 37% know what to do about it.  For those of you who are curious about what you can do about preventing cyber-bullying, Catherine Teitelbaum, Director of Child Safety at Yahoo! offers several points to consider:

• Own your digital reputation
• Keep your private information under your control
• Be nice (and pass it on)
• Know your rights
• Have a family chat

So, what is cyber-bullying?  It is bullying done through e-mail, cell phones, pager text messages, instant messaging, Web sites, online personal polling Web sites. It is done by kids deliberately and repeatedly and is used by an person or group with the intention of harming other kids and teens.  Doing this online is easy because the bully can remain anonymous, with no fear of consequences!  Be aware: if your child is the cyber-bully, you can be held financially responsible for mental and emotional harm your child causes another child.

While I have your attention, do you believe children should be punished for being a cyber-bully?  If so, to what extent?  If not, why?

BASIC INTERNET SAFETY

If your child is 7 years old and under:

Sit with them and closely monitor the websites they visit.  If kids aren’t supervised, they may stumble onto sites that scare or confuse them.

If your child is 8-12 years old:

Consider keeping the computer in an area where the child has direct access to you, or another adult, and carefully consider how much time they are spending online.

If your child is a teen:

• They need to understand that not everything we read on the internet is true, that people may or may not be who they seem to be, and that information and images they share can been seen far and wide
• Remind them that once something is posted, it is nearly impossible to “take it back” and that their online actions can reverberate into real-life situations
• Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on their profile
• Review your child’s friend list and talk to them about avoiding sex talk online
• Encourage them to trust their gut if they have suspicions
• Encourage them to create a safe screen name
• Help them understand what information should stay private (Social Security number, address, phone number, family financial information)
• Create consequences for “sexting”.

The internet offers a world of opportunity to communicate and socialize with others, but there are certain risks, such as: inappropriate conduct, contact and content.  You can start early with teaching your children about protecting themselves — as a parent, you have the first opportunity to talk to them about what’s important before anyone else does and research suggests that when children want important information, most rely on their parents!  Keep communication with your kids open by initiating conversations and talking with them about your values — it’s the best way to keep them safe.

Contributed to the Yahoo! Mother Board.

More resources:

Yahoo! Safely: Safety site operated by Yahoo! that offers distinct resources and links for teens and parents, as well as informative content from safety experts including Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely and WiredSafety.  Yahoo! is a longtime leader on child safety and commits to helping foster a safer online environment.

COPPA: The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Cyberbully NOT: A parent’s resource.

Love Our Children USA: Keeping children safe and strengthening families.

Michele Borba: 10 Secrets to Stay Connected – Even Civil – With Your T(w)een

National Criminal Justice Reference Service: Special Feature on Internet Safety

AnComm’s TalkAboutIt(R): AnComm’s TALK ABOUT IT ® enables organizations to rapidly improve communication, collaboration, culture and safety. Developed by AnComm, ‘Talk About It ®’ is the nation’s first and only anonymous online and text based reporting and emergency notification service for schools.

OnGuard Online: Stop. Think. Click.(TM)

Throughout the course of his career, Michael Bolton has sold over 53 million records. He has earned multiple Grammy trophies for Best Male Vocalist and countless other honors, including six American Music Awards. He has performed with such powerhouses as Luciano Pavarotti and Ray Charles, written songs with Bob Dylan, and penned hits for the likes of Barbara Streisand, Cher and KISS.

With his latest album, One World, One Love, Michael wanted to meet two goals by co-writing most of the 12 songs:

• Create something current without sounding like he was trying to pass himself off as contemporary
• Every song has to make you feel good (no more “heartbreak” songs, no more soul classics)

I believe he’s done what he set out to do, with this album being musically and vocally brilliant, and it inspires me to take another look at some of his “old” albums, too.  You can have a listen here:

Michael Bolton – One World, One Love

Tracks included on this album:

1. Just One Love
2. Ready For You
3. Hope It’s Too Late
4. Murder My Heart
5. The Best
6. My Lady
7. Need You To Fall
8. Sign Your Name
9. What You’re Doing To Me
10. Survivor
11. You Comfort Me
12. Crazy In Love

One World, One Love is in stores now, with a six-month World Tour through September 2010.

michaelbolton.com
twitter.com/mbsings
facebook.com/MBsings

Disclosure: I received a complementary copy of this CD from Universal as a member of Music Moms.

I’ve been a lover of music for a long time. People who know me best are those who know I was raised on Neil Diamond, John Denver, and Sousa marches. In regards to my own tastes growing up, I wasn’t like most of my school friends. Instead of listening to pop sounds of my youth in the 1980s and 90s, I became lost in the classic sounds of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and, later on, doo-wop. I recall nights with my boom-box on my bed, right next to my ear… and falling asleep to “Doo-Wop Sunday Nights” on Denver’s KXKL-FM.

And, as an adult in my thirties, nothing’s changed.

Enter the ever-powerful Celtic Woman.

Are you familiar with Celtic Woman? In short, it’s a musical group of five women: Chloë Agnew, Lynn Hilary, Lisa Kelly, Máiréad Nesbitt and Alex Sharpe. And, as luck may have it, I was recently privileged to review the group’s latest CD and then see them performing in New York City at Radio City Music Hall.

[I almost missed the show, due to a massive snowstorm that broke through the area the day before which meant getting in an out of the city would likely be difficult. I called the theatre to see if they would reschedule the show; even though they acknowledged the snow, the show was to go on.]

As a viewer of the PBS special, I felt confident going in that the performance at Radio City would be just as good, if not better. My mom joined me as we sat down in our seats, which were perfectly aligned with center stage, and watched the “magic” unfold.

Okay, dream sequence over.

The venue itself was fabulous, but the production was a little overwhelming for me. Each piece was superb on its own but, put together, it was too loud and too flashy. In fact, I’m still trying to figure out if Máiréad was actually playing the fiddle while she was flitting around the stage.

The singing was lovely, but what really stole the show for me was the bagpipers. Holy moley, were those guys good! And, I’ll concede with other reviewers who have complimented the percussionists enthusiasm and vigor.

That being said, while I am grateful for the opportunity to experience going into the city and my first show at Radio City, and although these girls have been wildly popular for many tours, I would encourage people to really think about spending their hard-earned money on this show.

I would have just stuck with the CD.

I was provided with a CD and two tickets to the NYC show at Radio City Music Hall in exchange for a review.

This past November, I wrote a post on Writing to Sanity about encouraging literacy in our homes. I started off by explaining that Ethan and Mary are voracious readers, and nothing pleases me more than to hear both talk excitedly about a new book that they’re reading.

At the time I wrote the post, they were reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book with my dad. Since then, Ethan has received about ten different CYOA books because of his entrancement. Say it with me: reading is a GIFT you give your child.

Colorin Colorado, a bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners explains the importance of child literacy:

“By giving your child the opportunity to read, you are giving them the opportunity to become stronger readers and students. The gift of reading may start with a simple book or story, but its rewards will be discovered years later when an adult remembers his favorite story as a child, succeeds in achieving her goals, and remembers story time as a part of the day that he/she would look forward to. The gift of reading lasts so much longer than the holidays — it truly is the gift of a lifetime, and is one of the most special things you can share with your children.”

Inspiring our children is easier than you might think!

• Share conversations with your child over meal times and other times when you are together. Children learn words more easily when they hear them spoken often.
• Introduce new and interesting words at every opportunity.
• Read together every day. Spend time talking about stories, pictures, and words.
• Be your child’s best advocate. Keep informed about your child’s progress in reading and as the teacher about ways you can help.
• Be a reader and a writer. Children learn habits from the people around them.
• Visit the library often. Story times, computers, homework help, and other exciting activities await the entire family.
• Get involved in your community! The NIFL has a Literacy Directory you might find helpful: http://literacydirectory.org/

Reading can (and should) be enjoyable for every child. As a mother, I’ve seen first-hand with my own children how much a child can love to read, if given the right tools.

This post is my first as contributor to the Yahoo! Mother Board.

There are Ten Commandments, my friends, and I’ve broken nearly all of them at one point or another. Sometimes repeatedly.

I had a real moment of truth in the not-so-distant past, while I was sitting with a small group of friends during fellowship at my church. My moment of truth had to do with the hypocrisy of claiming to be a Christian, yet consistently subscribing to the “do as I say, not as I do” way of living. Is this where you’re at these days? I know I am not alone.

Read the rest of this article on New Jersey Moms Blog.

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. has always fascinated me. He was gone long before I was a twinkle in my mother’s eye, but it’s his message that endures, even now, 42 years later. I believe, like so many others, that he was a man with a heart for ALL people; with his eyes on the prize, Dr. King valiantly voiced some of the greatest speeches of all time (click the links to read the texts and view video):

I Have a Dream (text and video)

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (text)

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (video – part 1 of 2)

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (video – part 2 of 2)

Our God is Marching On! (text)

Our God is Marching On! (some video)

Friends, I leave you today with this [from the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech "Our God is Marching On"]:

I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?” (Speak, sir) Somebody’s asking, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?” Somebody’s asking, “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?” Somebody’s asking, “When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?” (Yes, sir)

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.” (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because “no lie can live forever.” (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because “you shall reap what you sow.” (Yes, sir)

How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long)

Truth forever on the scaffold, (Speak)

Wrong forever on the throne, (Yes, sir)

Yet that scaffold sways the future, (Yes, sir)

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Not long) because:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; (Yes, sir)

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes)

He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; (Yes, sir)

His truth is marching on. (Yes, sir)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir)

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. (That’s right)

O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on. (Yeah)

Glory, hallelujah! (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! (All right)

Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on. [Applause]

This Friday past, I returned to New Jersey from a brief trip to Westminster, Colorado, where I was tying up loose ends of a personal matter. While the trip was a success for me in terms of completing my “mission,” I left my hometown with a feeling of emotional unrest as the airplane I had boarded just a few moments earlier launched into flight.

Read the rest of this article on New Jersey Moms Blog.

This is an open letter to parents in a certain northern New Jersey Cub Scout Pack.

Dear Parents,

You know, I’m really disappointed in you. A good majority of you are just plain rude and disrespectful and I’m about to lose my mind over the stress of it all. Perhaps it’s my terrible luck to have been subjected to your ways. It’s not like I’ve never known such behavior; and, even though I try my best, Lord knows I’ve been one of “those people” before. Unfortunately, I’m starting to re-think my opinion of you, and I don’t want that to happen. I want to like you, I really do. So, help me out here, will ya?

Scouting.org explains the purpose of a Pack Meeting:

“The monthly pack meeting brings together boys from every den, their leaders, and their families, to participate in a large-scale event that serves as a showcase for everything the boys have learned and done in their individual den meetings. The pack meeting gives the boys a larger experience beyond their own den, and helps them to connect their individual activities to the entire Cub Scouting program. …”

Yeah, um… hold that thought, ’cause I’m thoroughly confused.

Read the rest of this article on New Jersey Moms Blog.

It’s official! You can now read my first post on New Jersey Moms Blog. Have you ever had your heart broken? What did you do to move past all the heartache? Or, are you still struggling and just trying to get through each day? Has it been any easier to deal with situations like this the older you’ve become? Maybe you’ve been the one to break someone’s heart. Tell me your story.