Sites for Parents and kids

If you just brought home a brand new baby, and aren't quite sure what to do with it now that grandma has gone back home, check out the Baby Care Corner, at  http://www.familyinternet.com/babycare/babycare.htmYahooligans, the kids' answer to Yahoo (at http://www.Yahooligans.com) is a searchable and browsable index of Internet sites specifically designed to be used by kids ages 8 to 14.  According to the organizers of the site, Yahooligans rejects any sites from its database that are "sleazy, slimy, snarly, paranoid, hateful, hideous, harmful, pornographic or prejudiced."

Thanks to CJ Purple for this site description.Kids' Space (at http://plaza.interport.net/kids_space/) posts works and messages from kids from around the world in the following categories:  Creative Works (pictures, stories and music); Message Posting (pen pals, e-mail pals and message boards); Link Pages by Kids and for Kids; and School Project Pages (works from member schools and classes).  In addition, there is a set of help pages for kids and families which includes a dictionary and browser help files, as well as information for parents and teachers.

Thanks to CJ Purple for this site description.Jitter (http://www.jitter.com), a Web zine for 13-19 year-olds, includes articles, chat rooms, election polls, a sitcom and other features for teens. Savvy, but without too much of that in-your-face hipness that's all too common on the Web, Jitter includes content from professional writers as well as teens themselves. Users (called "jitterbugs," isn't that cute?) talk about music, sports, fashion, and the politics of "generation youth."Concerning kids, but probably more useful for adults, is Kidsdoctor, located at http://www.kidsdoctor.com. Kidsdoctor offers more than 200 kids-related health topics on everything from stomach aches to goopy eyes. You can search for maladies by keyword or from a detailed index.Perhaps the coolest way to learn about government is the White House for Kids. It's an engaging tour, led by none other than Socks, the first cat. Socks will tell your kids about the President, the history of the White House, and even about the children and pets who have lived there. (Socks is the first cat to live in the White House since Amy Carter's cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang. See what you can learn on the Internet?) It's all at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/kids/html/home.htmlOn Usenet, there are some interesting newsgroups for parents. Check out alt.parenting.solutions, where parents discuss solutions to the difficult problems of parenting. This newsgroup is used for questions and answers about those nagging that parents need to deal with--the tantrums, the wet beds, and other parental problems. That newsgroup tends to focus on the young ones. There's another newsgroup for parents of teens. alt.parents-teens is for parents of teenagers. Here parents discuss all the issues that are involved in raising a teenager. You can find some very insightful ideas and opinions on this newsgroup.

If your spouse's little one thinks you are the evil step-parent, you might want to check out alt.support.step-parents. Are you a single parent? There's a supportive group of Internet users for you at. alt.support.single-parents. There are other parenting newsgroups too -- you can find them all by going to keyword: newsgroups and searching for "parents". These newsgroups tend to be rather low-volume, but you will find a lot of supportive, understanding parents in them. The Children's Literature newsletter, at http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/childnew/index.html, is a resource for adults that promotes reading in little ones. The newsletter includes reviews of books on a variety of subjects, and is updated monthly. There's a newsletter online called At-Home Dad, which is focused on the 2 million stay-at-home dads in the USA. It's on the Web, at: http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/athomedad/index.htmlKids Identifying and Discovering Sites (KIDS) at http://rs.internic.net/scout/KIDS/indextxt.html is a new publication produced by K-12 students as a resource to other K-12 students. It is an ongoing, cooperative effort of two classrooms in the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Metropolitan School District and two classrooms in the Boulder, Colorado, Boulder Valley School District. Teachers assist and provide support, however students select and annotate all resources included in every issue of K.I.D.S. 

Students from the four schools discussed and decided on a list of Selection Criteria to be used as guidelines for evaluating all potential sites to be included in the KIDS newsletter. The first Fall issue of KIDS was published on election day in the U.S. -- November 5, 1996 -- by a group of students from Kennedy Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Publication of KIDS will continue on a bi-weekly schedule throughout the '96-'97 school year. </a>SICKKIDS is an open, unmoderated discussion list for kids who are ill. These kids all have chronic or potentially fatal illness, and benefit by having this support group to talk to each other. The list is for kids only, ages 18 and under. They can talk about their illness, their feelings and frustrations, their families and friends, or just kid stuff like what they do in their spare time, poems, tell jokes, and so on--anything to make them feel better. Since no adults are allowed, the adults that manage the list do not participate in the discussions; the direct management of the list is handled by several teenage "Discussion Managers" who are themselves also subscribers. There is also a team of adult, professionally trained counselors that provide guidance in difficult situations.

To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
In the body of the message type:
SUB SICKKIDS YourFirstName YourLastName

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)Two sites devoted to children's health are now on the web, with special emphasis on health education for kids and parents. KidsHealth (http://KidsHealth.org/), created by the Nemours Foundation, offers separate browsing areas for kids, parents, and professionals. The kids' section contains features on the food pyramid and emotions, as well as games. Parents will find a collection of resources on pediatric and parenting issues. kidsDoctor (http://www.kidsdoctor.com/) takes a different approach, presenting parents with a search box into which a condition or illness can be entered. The search term is highlighted in the results of the search, so that anxious parents can quickly locate the vital information.

To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
In the body of the message type:
SUB SICKKIDS YourFirstName YourLastName

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)For teachers looking for new ideas, for parents trying to rescue children from summer boredom,and for kids who would like to try some new activities (and learn something along the way) Houghton Mifflin offers the Education Place. This web site includes a Math Center, a Reading/Language Arts Center, and a Social Studies Center. Each Center has activities, links to related web resources, suggestions for reading, and resources for teachers. Throughout the site are ideas for parents and kids, as well as resources that specifically instruct teachers on how to enrich their curricula.
http://www.eduplace.com/
Text-only index is available at:
http://www.hmco.com/hmco/school/main.html

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)Involved parents and community leaders will find the US Dept. of Education's America Goes Back to School--Get Involved! page (at http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/) a useful one. It contains a Partners Activities Kit for 1996-7 (as well as for 1995), available in both HTML and .pdf format, and a new full-text publication, Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools. The Partners Activities Kit provides information and examples of how parents, community and religious leaders, employers, and cultural groups can become involved in improving education in their community. Reaching all Families is a "booklet intended to stimulate thinking and discussion about how schools can better involve all families, regardless of family circumstances or student performance, in their children's education." It includes sections on "Personal Contacts" (conferences and home visits), "Ongoing Communications" (newsletters, positive phone calls, homework and home learning), and "Special Practices and Programs" (parent resource centers, parent workshops, and informal school-family gatherings), among others.

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)CTW Online was created as a test site for "parenting information and Sesame Street activities for kids" but don't be fooled; the site is designed for adults. Content varies from parenting advice to a coloring book that parents can print to a current politics section to a selected entertainment (books, toys, music etc.) guide.
http://www.ctw.org/
Table of Contents: http://www.ctw.org/common/contents.htm

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)The Prince and I [requires Frames, Java]
http://www.nfb.ca/Kids/
Hop Pop Town [requires Shockwave, MIDI]
http://199.184.165.215/wonderful new, albeit browser-taxing, children's learning sites are the National Film Board of Canada's The Prince and I and the NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) Digital Museum's Hop Pop Town. Aimed at grades K-6, The Prince and I is highlighted by Java-based word puzzles (Reading Coach), a story (What's He Up To?), an interactive puzzle (The Mission), and an interactive story in which the child selects from various plot line choices and receives the story in email. The Prince and I promotes reading and problem solving, and is optimized for Windows-based Java-enabled browsers. Hop Pop Town (aimed at three to ten year olds) "encourag[es children to improvise and to create musical sequences, the vital factors for them to enjoy and learn music." It does this with the aid of interactive Shockwave files that allow your child to create music (scales, sounds of animals, and orchestra instrument sounds, among others).  [JS]

(Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)