IX. GREAT CHILD-FRIENDLY WEBSITES!

Learning proceeds from the "known" to the "unknown", so don't advance to the next level until the current one your child is on is mastered. Parents, remember to be there to play the math, spelling and phonics games with them at first and answer questions to avoid confusing them. Then, let them explore the sites themselves and find their favorite games…just make sure they chose a level that’s not too difficult. Have fun!!

For toddlers to preschool and 1st grade:
http://www.infostuff.com/kids/a.htm teaches abc's
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/default.htm for basic number concepts
http://giraffian.com/kids/alphabet/ for the alphabet
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/phonics/default.asp for ingenious preschool phonics learning games. http://www.lettertv.net/pages/brickwall.htm to see letters and hear the sound and see pictures of upper and lower case letters with coloring pages and songs.
http://www.storyplace.org/storyplace.asp for great interactive digital sound videos
http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html that offers a neat math arcade to choose activities from.
http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html for an excellent math baseball with different levels and skills to play. You’re at bat and can score a run or an out!

I can't emphasize enough: Younger children need paper, crayons and a chalkboard so they can draw, trace, and touch to reinforce their visual system. Just staring at a computer screen doesn't "cut the mustard" with younger children. They need the information put into their little brains by using as many modalities as possible, besides just "looking." Long ago, a famous education came up with the use of V-A-K-T (Visual (looking)-Auditory (hearing)- Kinesthetic (using large muscles)-Tactile (touching, tracing, and using small muscles). That's why I like chalkboards and large 81/2 X 11 inch paper. Why? Because you can have your child make LARGE numbers and letters, then have them trace them with their fingers. In that way, they call into play their large shoulder muscles and their smaller and finer finger and arm muscles. By having them look and say the numbers and letters as they trace them, young children can actually combine V-A-K-T modalities as inputs into their brains.
Also, I've always encouraged parents to use 3-dimensional plastic or wooden letters and numbers so younger children can "feel" their shape while they look at them. You get the picture.

OK, now here's a bunch of other neat "kid-friendly" sites to bookmark on your computer:
http://www.beritsbest.com/ Berit's Best has hundreds of a activities from fun stuff to serious stuff, like learning about our environment.

www.ala.org/greatsites The American Library Service to Children (ALSC) has announced exceptional Web sites for children. It has hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for kids, organized by subject headings such as animals; literature and languages; mathematics and computers; the arts; and history and biography. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers and an area devoted to sites in Spanish.

Here's a list of Children's characters and their websites for ages two to six:
Barney
Bear in the Big Blue House
Berenstain Bears
Bob the Builder
CBeebies
Clifford (Scholastic)
Disney Online
McGruff
Nelvana
Nick Jr
Paddington Bear
PBS Kids(Arthur, Barney, Berenstain Bears, Between the Lions, Caillou, Clifford, Dragon Tales, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, ZOOM, and more)
PEEP and the BigWide World
Sesame Workshop
Seussville
This Is Daniel Cook
The Toy Castle
Thomas and Friends
Veggie Tales

...And here's a list of websites to characters that appeals to children from age 6 to age 12:
American Chillers
American Girl
Barbie
Bionicle
Cartoon Network
CBBC
Dav Pilkey's ExtraCrunchy Website O' Fun
Disney
Dragonball Z
Garfield
Harry Potter
Hello Kitty
LEGO
Nickelodeon
Nintendo
Scholastic Kids(Captain Underpants, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Goosebumps, Harry Potter, Maya and Miguel, The Magic School Bus, & more)Snoopy

Spider-Man in Amazing Adventures
Strawberry Shortcake
The Official Peanuts Website
Veggie Tales
Warner Bros Kids
Winnie-the-Pooh Character Guide

Note: Scroll down right margin to code IX and find free videos, updated newspaper & journal articles about this topic!

(I) BUSINESS OWNERS WANT TO DE-STRESS THEIR LIVES

Dear Mr. Morton- Our lives are too stressful due to our both working full-time in our family-owned business! There’s no time to do what we want to do, like spending more time with our kids.- Anonymous.

Dear Anonymous- Recent studies show occupational pressures and fears stress Americans more than ever. Employee interviews reveal that ¼ feel their job is the number one stressor in their lives and ¾ believe they have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago (Princeton Survey Research Associates).

In today’s world where bankers loan you money only if you show them sufficient evidence that you don’t need it and where fraud intrudes upon corporate and political morality, perhaps it’s time to step back and de-stress your lives. I enjoyed the book, “Living the “Simple Life” by Elaine St. James. Rich corporate executives, Elaine and her husband could never enjoy their wealth. So, they changed their buying patterns; said “No” to social and civic activities; turned off the cell phone, TV, radio, CD player, Walkman, and iPod; tossed the smut (romance) novels;
simplified the family meals; performed minimal household chores; and eliminated all but grocery shopping.

Soon, their inner-selves surfaced from underneath the entanglements they allowed their lives to become. I wish a few others learned what complicated their existence and what was required to untangle it. For example- Leo Kozlowski, Tyco International CEO who spent $400 million of company funds to support his lavish lifestyle; Adelphia Communications Corporation‘s John Rigas and his son Timothy who were convicted of securities/bank fraud and hiding $2.3 billion from Adelphia investors; WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers who’s spending 25 years in prison for an $11 billion accounting fraud; former NASDAQ Chairman Bernie Madoff who’s serving 125 years hard time for turning his business into a massive Ponzi scheme; Enron’s Kenneth Lay…the list is endless. Honest business people can learn from these jailbirds, for all must do some soul-searching and make sure their priorities are right. It's frustrating to climb the ladder of success, only to discover the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall!

Read “Living the Simple Life” and scroll down through the FAMILY JOURNAL postings below and read the article: “I. Benefits Of Laughter, Stress Reduction & Management”. And, don't forget to read the free videos and daily-updated newspaper articles about small business stress in the right margin under code (I).

USEFUL LINKS FOR BUSINESS OWNERS: HOW TO'S OF DEALING WITH WORKPLACE STRESS:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home
http://www.morebusiness.com/recession-stress

http://www.sba.gov/%22%3Ehttp://www.sba.gov/

(H) TAKING RISKS NECESSARY FOR GROWTH

Dear Mr. Morton- Our 6^th grader is afraid of failure. He refuses to try anything new unless he’s sure he’ll be number one. How can we change his attitude and encourage him to not fear failure and to take some risks?- Parents

Dear Parents- He’s smart enough to know that you can’t fail at anything if you don’t compete outside your comfort zone. As long as he walks around sucking oxygen, he’ll experience periods of self-doubt, lack of confidence, some fears and, of course, some failures. Your son must discover that happy and successful people, on average, have experienced more failures than successes and that there is no failure except in not trying.

It seems that great and successful people make many more mistakes than unsuccessful people.

For example, I enjoy watching the TV program “Biography” on the ARTS (A&E) channel, which highlights successful people like Cher, Sammy Davis, Jr., Connie Francis, Dean Martin and Jean Harlow…all who experienced stormy disappointments, unfair manipulations, and dim-witted fiascoes during their rise to fame.

Years ago, I took my young daughter (now age 35!) to Cleveland’s Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame to learn how prizewinning musicians overcame their failures. We were amazed at the rejection letters received by Simon & Garfunkle. One read: “You can play at the Chataqua Lake Summer Festival but we won’t pay for your bus ride. Find a patch of grass far away from the main events.” I love the U-2’s thumbs-down letter: “We can’t personally respond to the many letters we receive…this form letter is to let you know we cannot use you right now.” The point is, these celebrities could easily have become washouts, but they never quit.

Maybe it’s good when youngsters have a few early letdowns. Think of the sports coach who has no early losses and faces the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season. He must learn that it takes many years of effort, and failure…to become an overnight success.

Lastly, scroll down the right margin to "H. TAKING RISKS NECESSARY FOR GROWTH" and view the daily updated newspaper articles and videos on the topic."

Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has recently retired from the positions of school psychologisst and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership and Policy Studies at BGSU. Concerns about family, educational, or parenting issues? Contact him at the FAMILY JOURNAL

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