Why I like PINTEREST:

I read these comments the other day and have been pondering PINTEREST since.

This is my two cents:
I love pinterest because:

1. I have totally organized my recipes.
2. I have cleaned out my drawers, cabinets, and shelves of papers. No more magazine cut outs, old recipe cards, and unused cookbooks. ( I found my old recipes online and pinned them, found pictures of decorating ideas and pinned them, and I got rid of a dozen cookbooks.)
3. In the 22 years of marriage I have never cooked so many great meals than I have since I started using this site.
4. My kids and I have sat and picked out fun ideas to do together and we have!!!
5. I have found lots of ideas and suggestions that have made my life and homemaking much easier!
6. I am really trying to have a clutter free home and this is really helping me.

About the repinning...I have found all sorts of blogs and cooking sites that are thrilled and thrive on having people link to them.

I will continue to watch and pray about using this site as well as others in the future. As well as trying to find a balance in all my activities in life!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Rules for IPOD:

Well, now that your 13...

Rules for iPod:
1. No internet
2. Only get iPod after jobs and school is done
3. One hour game time…we can discuss music use
4. Must check with dad before buying games/apps/music
5. IPod goes in parent’s room/on dock station at bedtime
6. No electronics at dinner time
7. Cannot walk around house with earphones on ignoring others or hide in your room.
8. Cannot bring it out of the house without permission
9. Please do not let siblings use it without our permission
10. If you disobey any of these rules your iPod will be
taken away.



SIGN HERE: __________________________________________

Password: _____________

  
THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

3 Rules of Facebook Privacy:

3 Rules of Facebook Privacy:

By Caroline Knorr
May 12, 2010
Help Your Teens Control Their Privacy
3 Simple Rules to Keep in Mind

Help Your Teens Control Their Privacy

In this constantly changing, 24/7 digital world, there are three things parents can count on: 1. Technology evolves quickly; 2. Your kids will find out everything before you do; 3. You can have a huge, proven influence on your kids' behavior.Unfortunately, the first two usually happen way before you have a chance to act on number three.

For example, Facebook. When you sit down with your teens to help them set their Facebook privacy settings, the quantity and type of settings can be overwhelming. Take heart. By focusing on the three key areas where your information is most likely to get away from you, you can simplify the process.

3 Simple Rules to Keep in Mind

Stick with your friends. Have your teens limit their privacy settings to Only Friends. That’ll restrict who sees your kids’ information, including pictures, videos, and applications they use.

Keep private information private. When filling out their bios, teens can leave fields blank. There is no need for your teens to post their phone numbers or addresses. These features are optional and aren't required to create a Facebook account.

Don't let your information get away from you. If your teens haven’t restricted who can share their information, their personal data can end up in the hands of marketers. Also, advise your teens to be on the lookout for personal information requests -- like their birthday or music playlist -- from third parties. And make sure your teens uncheck the public search results box so people can't find their Facebook page through a Google search.

Our kids are growing up in public. They have to understand that privacy concerns really matter and that they should think twice before revealing information that they may later regret or that they may not understand is being used by third parties. For more detailed information on privacy online, read You're Not as Private as You Think and Rules of the Road for Kids.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Thanks to Winnie the Pooh, I got to spend time with my Lord...

Sometimes we have to fight to spend time with Our Lord!!!

I have really been trying to spend more time with Christ.

I try to get up early and when I do...someone usually finds me.

So today I got desperate...I put the 2 and 4 year old in front of a Winnie the Pooh DVD.

I kinda am a TV nazi...and only use it when I am a my whit's end.

I got a good 2o min of meditation time and it was well worth it!!!

It was kinda cute to hear my 2 year old crack up laughing at Tigger...

Thanks Winnie I owe you one!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Television:

Television

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Roald Dahl

The best days of my parenting were the ten years we didn't have a TV. The kids would read. My husband and I would go to bed early and were able to get up early to concur the day better. Our time spent as a family was reading, playing games, doing crafts, and praying.

Yesterday...it came. Just what the teens had been hoping for...
a 60 inch television.
Our TV broke last month and sweet daddy decided on this...

So pray for me as I try to maintain balance in this crazy family.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

How to watch YouTube without bad content:

Check out common sense for tips to make your YouTube watching safer!!!

It took me about 5 minutes and it was so easy.

Let me know if it worked for you!!!

Yeah!!! No more inappropriate pictures popping up or rude comments!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

GLEE: JUST DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT!!!

Last year my 15 year old asked if she could watch GLEE...

We said no...so this year she tried again...
Dad (the nice one) said no, mom (the mean one) said let me check it out...
I went on Plugged in and common sense both said iffy for her age group.

So I watched it and gave it a fair shot...the first show...strike one! It was all the worst of what I remembered high school being. This is why we homeschool our children for high school.

So, week two starts and it was worse than the first week...
Madonna was the "hero" of this week...need I say more?

Scandal
Lying
Sex
Disrespect
Blackmail
Bullying
Cheating
Ridicule
Immodesty
etc...

That was all in the first 15 minutes!!! Just the fact that they made fun of people's virginity was enough...but it didn't stop there.

So, strike two.
Then for the next 20 minutes I could barely tolerate it...
So, strike three...they're out.
I turned off the TV and told my daughter it didn't make the cut.

I thought it was a fun, musical show...it was too bad because it could of been just that.
Instead it was all the negative, bad, and unbelievable situations of what is in high school.

So no Glee for us.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Internet Pornography: Practical means of avoiding the near occasion of this sin:

Great article on Pornography here.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

5 Ways to Combat Unwanted Photos on Facebook

Photos Gone Wild!
By Caroline Knorr
April 7, 2010
5 Ways to Combat Unwanted Photos on Facebook
Be Respectful


5 Ways to Combat Unwanted Photos on Facebook

It's happened to lots of parents. You're on Facebook, and suddenly you see a photo of your kid doing something you really wish he hadn't. Or maybe your kid tells you that there's an incriminating photo of himself on a friend's Facebook page that the friend won't take down. What can you do to get your kid's pictures offline?

Tagging a photo means that you identify the people in the picture. When someone posts and tags a photo of your kid, it links the photo to his Facebook page. If photos of your kid are tagged, they are searchable online if the poster's profile is public. (Learn more about Facebook.)

To the dismay of parents and kids who have had this experience, there's not a lot that can be done when someone posts a photo of you and tags it with your or your kid's name. Facebook can't force people to take down a photo.

But you have some recourse. First, talk to the person who posted the photo and ask them politely to take it down. Explain that you feel it compromises your child's safety and privacy, and just makes you (and/or your kid) uncomfortable. Try to keep the conversation respectful.

If that doesn't work, try these tips:

1. Untag it. f you're tagged in a photo, just remove the tag next to your name (you'll find the link underneath the photo). The photo will still be live on the poster's page, but it will be unlinked from your profile. Remember that only the owner of the photo and the tagged user can remove a tag.
2. Unfriend the person. You can only tag your friends. If you're not friends with the person who uploaded the photo, their profile won't link to yours, and they can no longer tag you in photos.
3. Catch it early. Set your notifications so that you are alerted when someone tags you or one of your photos. Go to the Notifications tab on the Account Settings page to set it.
4. Report it. Photos containing drug use, nudity, sexually suggestive images, and violence against an individual or group violate Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Click the Report This Photo link underneath the image, and Facebook will take it down if it violates their policy.
5. Wisk-it. An app called Wisk-it (which you can find on Facebook and download) lets you find all tagged photos of a user and sends a request to the poster asking them to “wisk” away an image. It requires the original poster to install the program and “scrub” away the person’s face.

Be Respectful

This problem isn't confined to Facebook, of course. A photo of your kid could wind up on any online photo-sharing site -- Flickr, Snapfish, Kodak Gallery, and Picasa -- to name a few. And while these sites tend to offer very robust privacy settings, any photo that's on the web could potentially get forwarded to a public site or be searchable on any major search engine.

Talk to your kids about protecting their privacy, as well as their friends’. If your kid doesn't want embarrassing photos of himself on someone else's page, he shouldn't post embarrassing photos of his friends either. Learning to respect other people's privacy is one of the keys to responsible online behavior. See our tips for more ways to promote good citizenship in cyberspace.

Sex trafficking:

Sex trafficking is a scary thing. Watch this...God bless all who are effected by this.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Internet Safety:

Watch this from The Porn Talk website that helps families learn about internet safety.

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Teen Media:

Tips for Parents on Teen Media Management (Fr. Michael Sliney, LC)

The following are first and foremost guidelines. My concern here is to protect the purity and integrity of teens, as well as to improve their personal interaction while promoting accountability for the content they are absorbing on a day-to-day basis. Ideally, these guidelines would be worked up to over time, starting with tighter restrictions while young and gradually giving them more freedom. After consulting with parents, both high-school and college students (a special thanks to Matt Williams), and based on my own experience with youth, I would like to offer the following tips on media management:

1. Cell Phones

- Given the generally informal, impersonal and at times vulgar nature of text messages, texting should be used more for business than pleasure: use it to send quick info or scheduling but not as a substitute for personal conversation with friends and family. Virtual contact should not overshadow personal relationships.

- Turn in or disengage cell phone to parents before they go to sleep. Use of landline is preferable for many reasons.

- Hierarchy of Communication: 1)Face-to-Face, 2) Phone, 3) Internet or Texting

2. TV/Movies/Video Games

- Less is better: limit usage to not more than 1 hour per day; always watch with other family members

- Check out movies and games for family using websites such as: Common Sense Media, Screen-It, Kids-in-Mind, Plugged-In, Christian Spotlight (MPAA Ratings are not always accurate)

- Try to open the kids’ eyes to the world that the movie is coming from and to what it’s negative message will do to their soul

- No channel surfing, know what you want to watch before starting (have a goal)

3. Internet/Computer Use

- Install strong internet filters that prevent inappropriate content (Net Nanny, CyberSITTER, Familink, Safe Eyes, BSafe Online, CyberPatrol)

- Ratings for these and other sites: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/

- If possible, place family computer in public area with large monitor for accountability (for grade-schoolers, this should be the only computer they use)

- Limit non-academic internet time to less than an hour per day

- No internet in bedrooms, if possible

4. Facebook

- “Friends” should be people you know and trust: Facebook is for connecting with friends not for making new ones. A mother of a teen-age daughter recently sent me the following comment as a tip: “And her "Facebook" page is checked all the time by myself and my husband (and so are her friends- that was the deal we made when we let her sign up.)”

- Avoid posting anything that you wouldn’t want to be seen by your college admissions director, your future employer, or your future spouse

- We recommend that Facebook (or other social networking sites) should not be used before high school

5. I-Pods (Music)

- Be very much aware of the underlying message in the music your kids listen to, both in the lyrics and in the music itself (rhythm, sound, etc.). If your kids are attracted to music that promotes immoral/sexual behavior (ie, hip-hop) or that has dark or Satanic undertones, analyze it with them so that they understand why they are not allowed to listen to it. Plugged-In may be used to screen music also.

- Don’t allow Music to become an obstacle to healthy communication with family and friends

Thank you Father Mike for letting me share this. May God bless and protect our children all the days to come!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

Some Common Sense on media for your kids:

Amazing resources for parents on media!!!

INTERNET SAFETY

Here is a quick six minute video for parents. Some material not appropriate for young children.

THY WILL BE DONE!!!+JMJ+

INTERNET SAFETY

I have been praying and working all week to prepare for this Sunday when we have our town wide Internet Safety Meeting. I even got a plug in our local town paper as well as Catholic Standard. PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE ATTENDING AND A SUCCESSFUL EVENT...but, most importantly for wisdom and protection of our families from the many dangers the Internet introduces!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!! +JMJ+

MORE INTERNET SAFETY...

This Safety Gameplan for families is a must for every family concerned with the Internet.



THY WILL BE DONE!!!+JMJ+

MORE INTERNET SAFETY...

If you think your child is breaking the rules you have set for the internet, here is some more advice.

St Michael protect our dear young ones!!!

THY WILL BE DONE!!!+JMJ+

MORE INTERNET SAFETY...

I guess I will be keeping a file on all the info I find for the Internet Safety Night our town is hosting...So be patient with me as I share all this material!!!

INTERNET SAFETY

I had some say it is too late for the young ones who are already online...That is fine when the parents are with them checking it out.

Check here for suggestions...I liked some of the ideas...just check out what works best for your family.

I got some good advice here.

For more intense stuff check this organization out!!!

This site is full of info for adults.

This group looks helpful too.

If anyone has any other suggestions...please send them along!!!

I am looking for educational sites to use for school and fun!!!

I am looking for Internet safety information for a town wide program we are having in November.

The more advice the better!!!

Thy Will Be Done!!! +JMJ+

INTERNET SAFETY

Internet by Age and Stage (from Commonsense media):

Age 2 to 6: Keep your kids away. There are some games that say they will make your kid smarter. So will playing outside, reading a book, or listening to music.

Ages 7-9: Some kids will want to start emailing. This is absolutely fine, although IM isn't a good idea for this age group, as IM buddies and buddy lists are too ungovernable. They might want to start Web surfing. If they do, use a filter or tell them where they can go with your supervision. Don't let kids this age into chat rooms, play online games, or download without you.

Ages 10-12: Children will begin to explore on their own for school and for fun. IMing comes into play here for the first time — more so for girls than for boys. The boys are going to wander more on the Internet finding gaming sites and sites with silly and often inappropriate content. Some kids may start experimenting with MySpace and other social networks. This is why they invented the word "no."

Ages 13-16: The floodgates open. Everything comes into play. It's entirely age-appropriate for this group to email, IM, surf the Web, download, and play games. But you have to make sure your kids know your rules. Also at this point, parents begin to lose control over where their kids use their computers. Trust comes into play. As for social networking sites, again, try to keep your kids off them until high school at the very earliest.

17+: By now, if they don't know the rules of safe and responsible conduct on the Web, there's little we can do. Developmentally, kids are independent. But remind kids that to stay safe, they need to keep personal information personal and use their powers of critical thinking before they believe everything they see and read on the Web.