SheKnows’ blog

Nancy:

Arizona-trees

Betsy-iphone

Betsy:

AOL posted a fun article detailing the hottest products of 2007 today! Here they are:

1. iPhone - I have one - I LOVE it. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty impressive technology and its potential is very exciting.

2. Coke Zero

3. Nintendo Wii  - The kids (and by "kids" I mean "kids and Scott" might get one for Christmas this year.

4. Slingbox

5. Vitaminwater

6. Tesla Roadster

7. Google Maps - integrated with the aforementioned iPhone is very cool. How did I live without this stuff?!

8. Halo 3

9. Hannah Montana

10. Boeing 787 Dreamliner - have you seen photos of the inside of this thing yet?? Amazing.

11. Freedom-2 Tattos  - Okay, I had not heard of this. Looks interesting!

Have you ever wanted a tattoo, but were afraid to get one because of its permanency? Well, now you don't need to worry about that. A company called Freedom-2 has developed a new tattoo technology that uses biodegradable dyes that can be dissolved in one semi-painful tattoo-removal treatment.

12. RIM BlackBerry 8800

13. WebKinz - my kids are more into NeoPets

14. Nikon Coolpix S51c

Second-life-character-colette

15. Second Life - There is no way I will sign up for this! I don't see how I could get sucked into this without utterly squandering my first life, but I'm interested to hear from any Second Lifers who have managed to maintain a healthy, balanced real life. ;-) With that said, it looks like a blast!

One of our columnists on SheKnows shared some of her recent experiences with Second Life.

We love the Internet!

Betsy:

1. My whole career is based on an Internet enterprise.

2. Shopping online saves me a LOT of time - and often a lot of money, too. Of course, I can't avoid the malls entirely, but even then I can do the bulk of my research online before I leave the house. I even buy my groceries online.

3. I met my husband on the Internet! My best girlfriend, too. :-D

4. Somewhat more peaceful family meals when argumentative speculation is reduced at the dinner table. All questionable assertions can be researched at the meal's conclusion. ;-)

5. Learn anything! Curious minds don't have to wonder anymore. You can figure out practically anything on the Internet - from breastfeeding to mounting artwork - or find someone who can help.

I'm sure I could think of many more! In what ways has the Internet improved your life??

Betsy:

Last week the New York Times reported a tragic tale of a 13 year old girl who committed suicide after being bullied on MySpace by an online boyfriend she thought was her own age. Turns out this friend was not a boy - and even worse, wasn't even her age.

Rather, the so-called friend was in fact the mother of one of her schoolmates, interfering in a childhood relationship on behalf of her daughter - all in true helicopter parent fashion.

They flirted for weeks, but only online — Josh said his family had no phone. On Oct. 15, 2006, Josh suddenly turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded insults for an hour.

The next day, in his final message, said Megan’s father, Ron Meier, Josh wrote, “The world would be a better place without you.”

Sobbing, Megan ran into her bedroom closet. Her mother found her there, hanging from a belt.

The police say no crime was committed here and perhaps it wasn't. But what kind of adult - another parent, no less - bullies a child in such a fashion? A more productive set of questions: How can we protect our own children - from the dangers of the Internet, where people are not necessarily who they say they are - and from adult bullying in the world at large?

I confess, my knee-jerk reaction when I read this article was, "Not my kid! None of my kids get a MySpace account when they are teenagers. In fact, no more computer for them AT ALL."

But, of course, the answer here lies not in yet more hovering. I can't be there to protect them always. And any bright, resourceful teen can figure out how to MySpace on the sly if that's what they want to do. My job is to teach them how to be resilient and look after themselves in this scary world - both offline AND on. We've got some great tips for nurturing self-sufficiency in our children in the following article:

Allowing children to occasionally take control of the reins sends the message "I trust you to handle this situation." When we give children 'a checkbook of life' and let them balance it, we've entered a powerful zone of real life learning.

"It is important to understand the benefit of not hovering does not come directly from allowing children to make mistakes," Adam Weinstein, executive director of the American Camp Association-New York adds, "The benefit comes from allowing children to problem solve and make decisions."

~ SheKnows: To hover or not to hover: Does helicopter parenting work?

And what about those times another adult very actively bullies your child? However justified the reasons for being upset with your child, not all adults know how to handle their issues with kids appropriately. How can you teach your child to advocate for themselves, without responding in an inappropriate fashion? This article offers some helpful techniques for empowering our children in high-conflict situations:

I chose to empower Becky with techniques for handling these types of situations. According to our parent plan, we want to teach our children proper manners, how to address adults, how to treat others, and how to handle life when things don’t go your way. Here are three solutions that can make a difference for both you and your child in this difficult situation.

~  SheKnows: My child was bullied by another parent – what can I do?

If we, as parents, can get this right, we teach our children invaluable skills for getting along in the world and handling conflict during those times (like basically their entire adulthoods ;-) when we can't do the dirty work for them. What a gift!

Nancy & kids circa 2002

Almost 10 years ago, we started developing online magazine and community sites for women.

We met online - Nancy living in the San Francisco Bay area and Betsy living in rural Southern Ohio - and built a virtual business working from our respective homes. We didn't actually meet in person until 2002! Between us, we have eight children, and during those years we were so busy with babies, toddlers AND running a web business that we just couldn't manage the cross-country travel. The photo in Vox profile is was captured within hours of our first in-person meeting. :-)

In 2003, we expanded to include more partners, helping us develop and expand the community and its reach.

Betsy & kids circa 2002

Success! By the end of 2004, SheKnows had a corporate office located in Scottsdale, Arizona and we had relocated there ourselves. Today we continue contributing to the site and community with our ever-growing team. According to Media Metrix, SheKnows and its family of sites rank as one of the top 10 online sites for women!

We discovered Vox in December 2006 and use it personally to keep our families, friends and Vox neighbors updated on our lives and our babies. (Some of you might be in beba's neighborhood. :-) It occurred to us that we have lots of SheKnows-related news and updates we'd also like to share, but we wanted to keep work and personal rather separate. So we decided to start this SK Vox to keep family, friends and Vox neighbors updated on our other baby. :-)

We hope you enjoy it!