| Virtually addicting
For a stuffed bulldog, Calvin has it pretty good. He lives a full, if virtual, life online and has a pad decked out to his tastes, which run sort of froggy style, says owner and decorator Jake Reynolds, a 9-year-old from Forest Hill, Md. Six months ago, the third-grader got sucked into Calvin's world and hasn't left it since. He can't. Once Jake used the secret code that came with his store-bought bulldog to create an online version at Webkinz.com, he committed to feeding and shopping for the pup regularly while interacting with other kids and their virtual pets on the Internet. "You have to play it mostly every two days or every day, because if you don't then their health meter goes all the way down and they'll get sick," Jake says matter-of-factly. "I do it just about every day because I just really, really like it." Webkinz.com is one of a growing number of social-networking sites aimed at pre-teens, many of whom have watched older siblings interact online and want some of the action for themselves.
The Biggest Changes Parenthood in the Past 20 Years
Over the past 20 years, dads have become much more actively engaged with their kids, as the amount of time the average father spends on childcare increased 100 percent (to seven hours per week) its highest level since data first became available in 1965. Moms are thankful but silently pray for even a modest increase in the time dads devote to housework...
Safer kids
In 1987, both reflecting and inaugurating a new national consciousness about children's safety, Safe Kids is founded. The soon-to-be-international organization's goal: to reduce the 1 million accidental injuries to children each year. By 2002 the accidental death rate among children 14 and under has declined by 45 percent.
The focus on safety leads to the truly lifesaving (the number of states with a bicycle-helmet law grows from 1 in 1987 to 36 in 2006 and in that period, the bicycle-injury death rate for kids 14 and under plunges 70 percent), the logical (rubber flooring on playgrounds), and the absurd (several school districts around the country ban the playing of tag at recess, citing worries that kids might fall down and get hurt and gaining national attention, and derision, in doing so).
Site to Store is new gimmick for Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has opened a new front in its campaign to secure the hearts and pocketbooks of Utah consumers - especially those with a bent for shopping online.
The giant Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer is adopting a strategy first suggested over seven years ago by Utahn Thomas Grimm, who at that time was serving as chief executive officer of Sam's Club.
At a speech at Weber State University, his alma mater, Grimm explained how he wanted to establish Sam's Club as a major online retail presence by using its then-465 membership warehouses as fulfillment centers - the place where customers could go to pick up their online orders.
"The members we hope to reach over the Net are almost identical to the members who now choose our brick-and-mortar stores," Grimm said at the time.
Wresting the truth from cold, dead hands of kids
IF you are so inclined, take a wander online to the website of the National Rifle Association, the American gun lobby which has been such a financial and philosophical pillar of the right in that country for so long. There, in their online store, you will find a treasure trove of merchandise for the gun lover, including plenty of stuff for the kiddies. Accompanying the picture of the T-shirts I've included here is the following description: "It is never to (sic) soon to start our kids off on the track to protecting America's Freedom." (Don't believe me? Here's the URL: www.nrastore.com -- they call it their 'puppy toddler tee'). Such is the gun culture of the US. Now, regular readers of this column will know that I'm no great fan of the John Howard Government.
Southwest Riverside County Community News Briefs: Police hold ...
TEMECULA -- The Temecula Police Department is holding its annual Bicycle Safety Poster Contest at all 19 elementary schools in the Temecula Valley Unified School District.There are contests for kindergarten through second grade, and third through fifth grade. Winners of each group receive a bicycle and helmet and the second-place finisher receives a helmet. .
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