Posts filed under 'children'
As a parent I am all to aware of the problem parents have in helping their children to be happy with who they are and how they look. The perfect image portrayed in magazines, newspapers and online of the Celebrity often makes children feel very insecure about themselves. I was shocked to read over the weekend that a new ‘virtual fashion game’ had been launched targeting girls between the ages of 9 and 16 called Miss Bimbo. The aim of the website is for girls to create a Bimbo that is ‘the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world’.
Players can choose where to live, what job to do, shop for the latest fashions, become a socialite, date a famous hottie and even resort to plastic surgery and diet pills. It is free to register but apparently you buy ‘dollars’ to spend on your character by texting at £1.50 a text.
It amazes me that such a website can be launched. It clearly plays on the desire of young girls to be famous and encourages them to take diet pills and have plastic surgery in order to be the best. As adults we can differentiate between what’s online and the real world but children can’t do this so easily. Dee Dawson, the medical director of Rhodes Farm Clinic, treats girls from the tender age of 8 who are suffering from eating disorders. He was commented in The Times Online as saying “This is as lethal as pro-anorexia websites. A lot of children will get caught up with the extremely damaging and appalling messages.”
Mr Dawson isn’t the only one to be outraged. Many of the national newspapers has picked up on this new website and I am sure that there will be lots of debates on this over the next couple of weeks but in the meantime, this is definitely one of those websites that I will be blocking on my home PC. Will you?
March 25th, 2008
It seems that this year’s ‘Most Wanted’ present - or at least ‘Most Wanted But Hard to Find’ present is the Nintendo Wii. This is the games console that famously comes with a wireless controller that lets you simulate playing golf or tennis by waving it like you were swinging your club or racket. From the reports in the media, there are going to be a lot of disappointed children - and adults too - who don’t get their Wii for Christmas. One article suggests that the shortage is a deliberate ploy by Nintendo so that parents buy the software games now and then are committed to buying the hardware (the games console itself) later. This seems too far fetched to me: I’ll bet that any child old enough to want a Wii will not be impressed by a couple of games in boxes that they can’t play until some unspecified future date.
Anyway, if you are still on the hunt for a Wii, then you could do worse than visit this clever website. You just leave the site open and every 60 seconds it crawls though webistes of a wide range of retailers and pops up a message telling where if anywhere a Wii is available as new stocks are added online. Just be sure to check the delivery dates when you order if you really need it in time for Christmas!
December 17th, 2007
Reading bedtime stories to children can be a great pleasure - and sometimes a bit of a chore, especially when you’re tired, and it’s at the end of a long day. I found these audio stories on the Times Online website - classic fairytales read by celebrity story-tellers - and I am going to download them all if I can, or at the very least begin to stream them at bedtime for the kids. The complete set of stories - produced in association with Ford Galaxy and by Classic FM for the Times Online includes:
- Robert Lindsay reading Rumpelstiltskin
- Ashley Jensen (from Extras) reading Cinderella
- Maureen Lipman reading The Gingerbread Man
- Julian Clary reading Puss in Boots
- Shane Ritchie reading The Tin Soldier
- Samantha Morton reading The Princess & The Pea
- Greta Scacchi reading Rapunzel
- Miranda Richardson reading Little Red Riding Hood
- Imelda Staunton reading Alice in Wonderland
- Sanjeev Bhaskar reading The Ugly Duckling
- Tom Baker reading Aladdin
- Jack Davenport reading Jack and The Beanstalk
- Tamsin Outhwaite reading The Little Match Girl
- Geoffrey Palmer reading Tinderbox…
…and many more besides. Now, I enjoy bringing the stories I read to life, but having listen to a couple of these already, these really are wonderful productions and will really provide a special story-time at bedtime or on a car journey…
November 7th, 2007
With half-term on the horizon, many people will be thinking of things to do with the children. Having recently tried ten-pin bowling with my kids - and quickly learned a few things:
- small children trying to pick up heavy bowling balls can be dangerous - mind those toes!
- you really do need to get the side rails up so their bowling balls don’t all slide off to the side
- it might be more diplomatic to let your children win, but its hard to resist the opportunity to smack all the pins down!
- it can be quite expensive unless you take your children during school-term time and in fact during school-time too
To remedy this expense aspect I have recently been playing on a free online ten-pin bowling game - and I think it is almost as good as the real bowling experience itself. Just follow the link below and see what score you can get - you’ll have to top 149 to beat the best score round these parts, but I would say anything over 100 is okay.
Worth noting that this game has proved to be a big hit in my household with everyone aged 3 to 30+ all enjoying it. Easy to play, totally free, great fun and ideal in case it gets a bit too wet and cold to go out over half-term.
Fee l free to let us know the best score you can get - and if you can beat 149 then send in a screen grab and we’ll post it up and honour you!
October 17th, 2007
It’s going rain this bank holiday weekend. Or be sunny. Or perhaps something in between. Apparently. For many this is the last weekend of the summer before the kids go back to school, and all your colleagues show up again at work. So what can you do on a wet weekend. Here’s what the Telegraph have come up last week - mostly family-oriented ideas, though one of them - going for a swim in an outdoor pool - will probably win few votes from parents!
For those of you more inclined to hide away and embark on a catch-up of some good films here is the list of the Top 250 films of all time from the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) website, the ‘biggest, best and most award-winning movie-site on the planet‘. To my shame, I haven’t seen the all-time number one or number three but I am glad to see Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and Memento in the Top 30, three masterpieces that absolutely stunned me when I saw them at the cinema when they came out. Though these do all have some violence in them, I still think I am too squeamish to watch the numero uno on the list. Maybe I’ll take the plunge this weekend. Not in the outdoor pool, but watching ‘officially’ the best film of all time!
August 23rd, 2007
If you’ve got school-age children, then you’ll know that getting them out of the front door each morning is easier said than done. Every morning can be a real drama what with getting them washed and dressed, fed and teeth-brushed, and ready with packed lunch and other acoutrements ranging from sports equipment to homework or something to show and tell the class. With the new term looming, you may find these tips on the M&S website aimed at reducing the school-day stress helpful. There’s ten tips in all, but if I can successfully get just one or two adopted in my house then I’ll be pleased. See what you think - and please do add some tips of your own if you have any below.
August 21st, 2007
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