Talking to Kids in the Aftermath of Scary News

Posted on May 26, 2011 01:25:18 PM

Tornadoes, tsunamis, terrorists: Strategies to help your kids cope with scary news.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1946355245

Teaching Your Child About Internet Freebies

Posted on May 18, 2011 07:16:46 PM

There was a time when my seven-year-old signed up for a “free groceries” giveaway on the Internet. I’m not sure what all she clicked in order to make our family eligible, but I had a lot of sales phone calls after that day. So, I knew it was time for us to talk about get freebies from the Internet.

The very first thing I taught her was that if something seems too good to be true, it often is. I showed her examples of fraudulent and scam freebies and how to determine legitimacy, in order to brace her against the unsavory pitfalls that plague the Internet freebie scene. For example, some freebies may ask for tremendous amounts of information, such as date of birth, employment history, and school accomplishments, among other things. The more information a freebie asks for, the more it will cost, in terms of mail and/or spam that will be sent. Although the spam is sometimes negligible, it can often become a huge nuisance, especially if it turns into repeated phone calls, as it did for me that first time daughter explored “freebies” online.
Since then, and now that she is a teenager, I’ve reintroduced the idea of finding freebies. When she signed up for a Twitter account, I showed her where to look for legitimate giveaways. Twitter is constantly inundated with information. Sifting through it and finding the tidbits concerning freebies is easy with the advent of hash tags. For example, to find iPod freebies, I told her to simply type in “#iPodFreebies” in the search box. This will bring up any tweets that contain the iPod freebies hash tag. It may take a while to find freebies this way, but following Twitter accounts that tend to frequently Tweet about multiple giveaways can be helpful as well.
Besides Twitter, another way to find freebies is through forums dedicated to Internet giveaways. Forums such as BigBigForums have their entire community built upon getting free stuff from the Internet. Forums centered around freebies will take the trouble out of finding legitimate ones by listing the best available freebies, such as giveaways that give out multiple gifts, or ones that always have free shipping. One of the most important things I had to teach my daughter was the power of socializing. This was also an opportunity to discuss privacy and over-sharing on the Internet. I think parents often say no to certain types of Internet communication instead of sitting down and guiding a child through what are appropriate online boundaries.

Besides freebies, my daughter has learned the skill of online couponing. Sites like Valpak and RetailMeNot offer coupon codes at many major retailers. Often there are various offers for shipping discounts, or percentage-off coupons. I like that she knows how to utilize the Internet, rather than being scared of using it, or using it to our detriment because I never taught her.
There are some fun and money-saving opportunities for getting freebies on the Internet. It’s great for older kids to know how to access that, as well as feel comfortable and confident about using the Internet.