Are We Raising eKids Or Cyber Kids?

My children think outside is a place you have to go to get into the car. We live in an apartment surrounded by asphalt. We spend a lot of the winter months inside. Thus,  my kids want to spend as much time on the computer as I do. It’s hard to keep them off the free game sites that include dozens of enticing pop ups. I especially hate the verbal ones that say something like… you have just won a Wii click on me blah blah blah… How many times do they click without first saying Hey Mom! We just won a Wii? Heck, why don’t they just say Click on me and open the door to all the Trojan Viruses you can handle…and more! I keep the computer in a central location so that generally whomever is watching the boys can keep a close eye on what they’re looking at. There was one instance that Caleb was playing a game of block breaker. In this particular version you break blocks to reveal a photo of a TV character underneath. When I walked by the photo being revealed was Scooby Doo…when Gavin walked by a few minutes later Caleb leaped from the chair and tried to cover the 18 in. screen with his two tiny hands. Gavin eyebrows raised said…”Caleb, what are you looking at? ” Caleb scared out of his mind moved his hands to reveal a Bay Watch Babe..Thank God she was wearing a swim suit..but, he has yet to live it down. I know that blocking a million sites will not keep them away so I’ve been trying to guide them to sites that I like and they can actually learn something in the bargain or in the very least play safely in a child friendly atmosphere.  Shhhh Don’t tell them! One of these sites comes from YES my library web-site its called

TumbleBooks – eBooks for eKids. I asked our Children’s Librarian if I can post it and she said yes…YEA. http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp This site has books that can be read aloud to your child, games, language tools and more. Try it out!

Kid Sites.Com for games and books  http://www.kidsites.com/sites-fun/online-games.htm This is a lot of links to kid friendly sites like Cartoon Network

Jetix http://tv.disney.go.com/jetix/

My kids limited spelling and “know how” of the use of the Google search bar will never completely free me from the other sites, giving them an alternative on the tool bar is at least deterring the bad ones. What are your kid friendly sites?