Yoursphere

My two youngest kids are still having a blast with the Yoursphere site and we're two months into using it. I think what they like the most is that they feel like "big kids", like their big sister who uses Facebook.

When I told Kady about this week's "homework" which involved decorating her condo and getting a job at the coffee shop in Our World (kind of like YoVille to you Facebook game-players) she waved me away and said, "Done. Like, weeks ago." Well, what was I thinking? Of course she did. :-)

Both kids have created their own spheres and are actively participating in other spheres, some created by Yoursphere and others created by other kids. We'll be out somewhere and they'll see something random or we'll have a conversation about something and invariably at some point one or both will either say, "I wonder if there's a sphere for that," or "I'm making a sphere for that!" Needless to say, they are both really enjoying the feeling of independence they get from creating something of their own to share with other kids their ages.

If you have a kiddo between nine and 12 I encourage you to check out Yoursphere for yourself and then sign up your kids!

"I wrote this review while participating in the Yoursphere Test Drive program by Mom Central on behalf of Yoursphere. I received a free lifetime Gold membership on Yoursphere.com, Yoursphere t-shirts, and a $50 American Express gift card to facilitate my review."

A Place for Moms

My kids have been back to school for nearly a month now and I still find myself struggling to get a handle on this routine. Abby's in 7th grade this year so that means she has ballgames and dances and social activities she didn't have last year and those always seem to hit me right upside the head and have me running around screaming like that kid in Home Alone. Plus Sam is in 5th grade this year - the first year of two really hard years at the kids' school. I have developed a theory that 5th and 6th grade are like boot camp for the Marines - they break them down, beat the tar out of them and teach them way more than they can process so that by 7th grade they are less likely to be sold to the gypsies by their exhausted parents who are tired of the tears (their and their child's).

All that being said, it's no wonder I feel like I could use some motherly advice. Oh, not from my mother (though hers is always helpful) but I mean for me as a mother. Mom Central came to the rescue and introduced us mom-bloggers to the MSN Homeroom website. The blog tour was set for two weeks, but with losing my Nana last week I didn't get to spend as much time as I would've liked prior to writing the review, however I have pored over the site as much as I could and bookmarked it so I can go back time and time again. You know, so I can avoid selling my kids to the gypsies as the school year continues.

I think what I liked most about the site was the brevity in all the videos and articles. We're MOMS - we don't have time to sit and read four page long articles and 30 minute videos sometimes what with all the taxi driving and homework checking we have to do! I was able to watch several little videos with great ideas and tips and because they're so short and to the point I could watch more in the limited times I had throughout the day. The moms on the site are professionals, too - an MD, a homeschooling stay-at-home mom, a child psychiatrist and a former Teacher of the Year. These gals knows their mom-ing!

There are forums for moms to bounce ideas off each other and while there seemed to be a lot of comments removed due to folks spamming or trying to advertise, the site managed to get them off kindly and quickly. I didn't participate in very many discussions, but read quite a few, gleaned a few great ideas including "ice cream and cake" for breakfast. I can't wait to try this one instead of our usual toaster pastries!

There are several topics on the site, including writing, attentiveness, giving back, and memory. All of them are relative to what moms and kids (and dads!) deal with on a daily basis. How nice to have a community to participate in discussions, gather ideas and then use the ideas to keep us from selling our kids to the gypsies - I mean, to make our children better citizens, better students and better people in general! Thanks Mom Central and MSN Mom's Homeroom!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Staying Safe

Like my momma always said: You can never be too careful. Actually I don't remember my momma saying that an awful lot, but that's beside the point. It's still good advice.

And now that I'm a momma myself and I have three school-age kids who are pretty net-savvy I find myself saying and thinking that phrase pretty often. We have a computer that is pretty much set up just for the kids. They are monitored on it and can only go to sites approved by me. But still....they need to be armed with information that they'll use even when I'm not around. Because their friends have computers, too and strangely, I'm not invited to slumber parties anymore. They're so closed-minded that way.

At Abby's high school in recent weeks a group of girls got in major trouble with the DA and even the FBI when their hate page on the web went too far. Kids need to know that behavior like that is cyber-bullying and not acceptable. Back when I was a kid the only bullying we dealt with was the big kids in the back of the bus or the occasional mean girl in the locker room. Now kids are getting threatened and embarrassed and brutalized online as well - online where we parents aren't necessarily watching over them all the time.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has set up a website to educate tweens and teens on internet safety. NSTeens is just for teens and tweens with comics and videos to watch about keeping themselves safe, what to do about cyberbullying and how much information is too much to share online. The characters in the videos and comics have bios that let them seem more real and personal to kids. Abby, my tween, declared it "cool". Do you really need more of an endorsement than that?

Thanks, MomCentral, for letting us know about this informative website!

Drugs.com

Any time my kids go spend the night with Tater or my mom they both sigh when I pull out the gallon size ziplock bag full of my kids' medications. I can't help it that one has chronic allergies, one has asthma and the other has GERD! That's the way God made 'em, is how I look at it.

That being said, the site Drugs.com is my new best friend. It's an informative website chock full of prescription and over-the-counter medication information - even herbal supplements. There's a "pill-finder" feature where you can browse by pill color and shape, you know, in the event you find a rogue pill somewhere in the house and need to identify it. There's also useful medical information and news as well.

The best part of the site, however, is MedNotes. It's a great way to keep all my kids' medication information in one place and it's also helpful in researching medications. You can list all current medications and their dosages, past medications, conditions and allergies and the thing I liked the best - you can print a pocket-sized report of all medications, allergies and conditions for each person listed. Kady's the asthmatic and I printed off her report and stuck it in her backpack with her inhaler so if, God forbid, she ever has an attack at school and her very understanding and aware teacher isn't available, whoever is close can look at that report and see what she needs and what's going on.

The site will also email me when the FDA issues a statement or warning about any of the meds the kids take. To me, this is just peace of mind.

Thanks to MomCentral for turning me onto this website!