Rage in the Internet Age - PKTR 18

Have you heard about the school superintendent's wife who left a harsh message for a disgruntled student?

YouTube is not new, but what is new is its use as a tool to fight bullying behavior. Now students (and others) are using it to stand up to authority figures (or their spouses) who are, arguably, abusing their positions of (relative) power.

Download the show and listen to an interesting discussion about this topic.

Chicken Soup and TV for Tweens - PKTR 17

Can you identify the author of this quote?

"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand ... Simplify, simplify."

Maybe this photo will help:

If some of us lived by his words, perhaps our lives would be more fun and less stressful.

Does all of this seem (as my daughter would say) off topic (from the usual topics found on this blog and on our podcast)? Well, tune in today to find out how it applies...trust us...it will.

The hosts started out a bit slowly on this episode, but eventually ended up being silly enough to sing a song from American Idol. You've got to hear it to believe it. Download the show now from BlogTalkRadio or listen by clicking on the "play" symbol in the blue button on the right.

Here's one of the books that the hosts mentioned on the show. We think it will help you by providing great parenting tips and words of encouragement:

The "Saturday Box" concept the hosts told you about is not in that book, so you'll have to listen to the show for its explanation.

Another series of books that will help you understand the phases and stages your children experience is written by Louise Bates Ames, Ph.D. Here's the example the hosts mentioned in the show:

Finally, the Chicken Soup story book was this one:


Thanks for listening.

Tune in again next Saturday at 2:00 pm (ET) on Parents and Kids Talk Radio.

Perfect Picture Books - PKTR 16

For a variety of reasons, the PKTR hosts felt motivated to do a show all about picture books. First of all, with the ongoing WGA strike, there's nothing on television (was there ever anyway?). Secondly, we've read about a decline in time spent reading and have heard that more and more parents are spending less time with their kids while at the same time we've read about how important reading is to our minds. So...somehow we put that all together and thought maybe in some small way we can help by providing a list of picture books that are good for kids, fun for parents to read and some of which you may not have heard about until now.

Listen to the podcast for detailed descriptions of each of these books (and a few more!).

So here it is:

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

little blue and little yellow by Leo Lionni

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry... by Molly Bang

Cows Can't Fly by David Milgrim

Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell

Good Job, Oliver! by Laurel Molk

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

The Sneetches (and Other Stories) by Dr. Seuss

Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

Leave a comment for a chance to win a prize (listen to the show for details!).

Thanks for listening! Join us again next week on Parents & Kids Talk Radio.


__________________

Images from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Vote for this post on MomBlogNetwork: .

All Things Apple! - PKTR 15

UPDATE 1/17/08:
No post about Apple would be complete without mention of the keynote speech Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, gave recently at MacWorld 2008. To save you time, I searched around the web and finally found a great, quick recap in a video done by Veronica Belmont of Mahalo. She calls it "The Steve Jobs 90 Minute Keynote (in 60 Seconds)":



Better and better and better...

_______________________

Happy New Year!

Our holidays were full of all kinds of activities and events, but what do you think inspired us to devote a whole radio show to it? You might be surprised.

For whatever reason, we repeatedly heard people doubting that there was much of a difference between PC products and Macs. We then felt a sudden urge to explain that that's simply not true. We also heard things like, "What's the big deal about the Apple stuff?" That led us to start giving iPhone demonstrations, but then we decided to just talk about all things Apple (and Macs) on our show.

So, today's show was all about the beauty of the Mac and other Apple products. To hear the show, just click here.

Have you seen the ever popular PC vs. Mac commercials like this one (below)?




Well, we started to wonder whether the people we know have ever seen them. So, we decided to throw a few of those in (in part, to provide a little humor, too).

We also love the NBC show, The Office, starring Steve Carell. So we had to share our observation that some of the show's characters bear an uncanny resemblance to the Mac/PC guys. What do you think?

Here's Dwight from The Office (or is he the PC guy from the Mac ads??)

And here's Jim Halpert from The Office

And here's another one of our favorites:




Click here to go right to the site (which the PKTR hosts referenced for this podcast) that lays out the differences between PCs and Macs. On that site, you can also view more of the Mac vs. PC commercials (including that one where the guys look a bit like cartoon characters in the Rudolph the Reindeer movie).

Here's the very informative site by John Droz where he debunks many myths about Macs (and explains how a Mac can actually end up costing 36% less than a PC). He presents an impressive amount of research within the site.

We also mentioned Apple stores which you can read about here.

Or, if you want to see an Apple store that in and of itself is beautiful, look at this:

Apple Store in NYC

Thanks for listening!

Join us again next week on Parents & Kids Talk Radio.


__________________________

Images from the sites themselves (like The Office) and DigitalTechNews.

New Year's Resolutions and Follow Up - PKTR 14

Download today's show to hear about New Year's Resolutions and follow up information from past shows!

Do you take time to reflect on the past year? The PKTR hosts believe that's the best way to make resolutions for the coming year. Think about the past year, then figure out what you'd like to change, then do it!

If you'd prefer an outline telling you just how to make a resolution, the hosts hook you up with a website that will help you write one.

We will give you plenty of ideas for resolutions as well as some tips for those who make the typical "get organized" resolution.

Here's the website for A Complaint Free World. That's the resolution the hosts thought would be one of the best you could do with your whole family.


The idea is this: you wear some kind of token (like their purple complaint-free-world bracelet pictured above) on your wrist for 21 days and refrain from complaining, criticizing and gossiping. Any time you do one of those (complain, criticize or gossip) you have to start your 21 day count all over again and switch the wrist (to remind you to start over). It's a great idea!

As for the second half of the show...

It's the last show of the year, so we wanted to clean up our PKTR house, so to speak. You'll hear the PKTR hosts clear up some things from past shows (having to do with Webkinz (grrr....), Club Penguin, Kindle and a really lousy video game).

Finally, you'll hear them announce a couple of great new online communities for tweens:

NFLrush.com


and

buildabearville.com

Thanks for listening!

Join us again next Saturday on BlogTalkRadio at 2:00 pm (ET).



________________________
Images from the websites of those companies pictured, specifically nflrush.com and buildabearville.com.

39 Great Gifts and "The 39 Clues" - PKTR 13

Download today's show and you'll hear the PKTR hosts discuss 39 great last minute gifts and "The 39 Clues."

First, you'll hear 39 great last minute gift ideas for preteens. Then you'll get information about "The 39 Clues." Some say it may be Scholastic's next big thing after "Harry Potter." Or is it? Hmmm. The PKTR hosts believe that it's not at all like Potter. If you haven't heard about it yet, listen to this week's show!

Great Gifts for Girls:

Music:
iTunes gift card ($15, 25, 50, 100)
iPod (any type - shuffle ($79), nano (from $149), classic (from $249), iPod touch (from $299))

Video:

Look at our earlier post here for our Top Picks - Video Games for Tweens
Wii --
Super Mario Galaxy (Read our earlier, detailed post about this must-have game!)
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle

PS2 --
Sing Star --80s--

UPDATE: Do NOT buy this game! Our family was unlucky enough to get it as a gift and it stinks! It is full of bad, bad, cheesy 80s music that no kid (or very few kids) will enjoy.* We apologize for including it in our show and retract the recommendation. We made a mistake. We meant to recommend SingStarPop.

Terribly sorry...

Moving on...
Karaoke Revolution: American Idol
DDR SuperNova2 Bundle

Nintendo DS --
Hannah Montana: Music Jam

Online games --
Club Penguin Membership (from www.clubpenguin.com)
[Wait...did she actually say "bummer"?? Listen to the show to find out!]


Webkinz (buy the stuffed animal at Target or Hallmark, then go to Webkinz.com)

Flip Video Camera



Sports:
Gift cards to sporting goods stores (e.g., Sports Authority, etc.)

Technology:
Kajeet cell phone (subject to parents' approval)
Firefly/Wirefly pay-as-you-go phone (same caveat)

Clothes:
Gift cards to appropriate stores
for younger girls (7-10), Ltd. Too
for older preteens (10-13), Abercrombie, Hollister, Nordstrom, or Delia's

Books/Magazines:

• Beacon Street Girls books (visit their website for more info and to get an understanding of what they're all about)
• The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau (if your budget allows, also get the sequel, The People of Sparks and/or the prequel, The Prophet of Yonwood). Psst - here's some info about the upcoming movie...
  
• anything by American Girl (especially for the younger girls), consider a subscription to American Girl magazine

Great Gifts for Boys:

Books:
Any of the Calvin & Hobbes books
Cool Stuff & How it Works (or Cool Stuff 2.0)

(and check out the website that Oprah mentioned in her recent rerun with Marshall Brain, founder of How Stuff Works)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Music:
iTunes gift card ($15, 25, 50, 100)
iPod (any type - shuffle, classic, nano, video, iTouch)

Video:
Look at our earlier post here for our Top Picks - Video Games for Tweens
Wii --
Super Mario Galaxy

PS2 --
Sing Star Pop
Top Spin Tennis
NBA 2K8

Nintendo DS --
Dragon Quest Heroes - Rocket Slime



Flip Video Camera (see photo above)

Sports:
Jerseys of their favorite players
Gift Cards to local sporting good stores (e.g., Sports Authority)

Great Gifts for Families

Here are the great gift ideas for families or for a twist on the ordinary hostess gift:

Anything from Cranium (e.g., Cranium Cadoo, Cranium, Whoonu)
Taboo, Jr.
Outburst, Jr.
Sequence
Blokus
Buzz: The Big Quiz (for PS2)

For more information on these and other games, listen to last week's podcast here.



Finally, the PKTR hosts were even more excited to tell you about

The 39 Clues

Just when the preteen kids are losing interest in books, or, at the very least, slowing down with reading and moving to computer games or video games, Scholastic helps us parents with The 39 Clues.

The 39 Clues is a sort of project, really, to be released beginning next September. It will consist of a series of books, cards and internet activities. So, it should appeal to the readers who love good writing and adventurous, thrilling, mystery novels (wait 'til you hear the authors who will be participating!), as well as the card lovers, online game lovers, and kids who just want more from their reading experience.

Different authors will write ten different novels, following a story arc developed by the first author. Who's the first author? None other than Rick Riordan, author of the popular, exciting, (and my daughter's favorite) Percy Jackson novels, including The Lightning Thief. We're so excited about this venture!

Riordan's book, The Maze of Bones is due for release in September, 2008 and the online clues and activities should begin around the same time. Each book will include six cards (with clues the readers then use online). The main characters of the story are a 14 year old girl, Ann Cahill and her 11 year old brother, Dan Cahill. They come from a very powerful family but readers don't yet know the source of the family's power.

The characters are racing other family members to uncover 39 clues to find the source of the family's power (and treasure). Readers/players will share in the excitement (and possibly even win some prizes!). Stay tuned as details unfold....and be sure to check the official website (currently in development).

Thanks for listening! Join us again next week on Parents and Kids Talk Radio!

_____________________

Images from Webkinz, Amazon, and the39clues.com

*The possible exception is ladies of a certain age who were in high school around that time. They would probably have a blast with this title, especially if they play it with girlfriends from that time period...it's just not good for kids.

Best Board Games! - PKTR 12

We love board games! What better time of year than the holiday season to bring out our top picks for board games.

That's what you'll hear when you listen to today's show (click on the "play" symbol in the blue button in the right sidebar).

Here are a few of the games we recommend (and discuss) on the show:

Blokus

The PKTR hosts tell you all about the original game (pictured above), but the company offers many other versions. You're sure to find the Blokus that's right for your family. You can find this game at Amazon, too, or can always check your favorite toy store.

For more information, you can check out the company's website.

Next, the PKTR hosts recommend Sequence and Sequence for Kids.




Listen to the show to hear the hosts' thoughts about the latest edition of the most popular board game of all time. Do you know which game it is?

The hosts also make an important announcement about a game that is not a board game...but you'll need to listen right away or the information will no longer be relevant! And it was not the VP of the company that we quoted, so please note our correction: the President of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime announced the information that we restated in the show.

Thanks for listening and tune in again next week at 2:00 pm (ET) on BlogTalkRadio.


__________________

Images from the company's website and Amazon.