Do you have time to keep your child safe online?

 
A couple of nights ago I went to a parent information evening at my son's school about internet safety.  I am in awe of the way his school handles issues in the playground -- it's obvious they've spent a lot of time and resources training their staff -- so I thought I could pick up some extra philosophical tips for our online moderation of MiniMonos.

The young groovy teacher, introduced as a "digital native", was no doubt a whizz on the computer. But I was surprised to find that her advice to parents about online safety was surface level at best, and while there was lively conversation about the issues parents face, there were few useful take-home solutions.

For one thing, we heard the standard: "Parents need to be actively involved in what their kids are doing online". [Cue: parents shifting uncomfortably in their seats] Yep, another thing to add to the daily 'to-do' list, then when not ticked, the 'bad-parent' list.  I have seen this advice repeated frequently in articles on internet safety and it is rarely elaborated on.  What does 'actively involved' mean?  As a parent, am I really supposed to know everything my child does on every game he plays -- every day? So should he stop and explain that the latest game update  means his avatar can now sit down on the beach and he can say "Woohoo!" in the Monkey Fist game? Are you kidding? 

As parents we're also advised to keep the computer in a public family area, to promote online transparency. I totally agree. But let's get real here; I'm racing around cooking dinner, feeding the cat, cleaning up and throwing another load in the washing machine.  I'm not standing behind my son watching, [Cue: Soft focus and violins] as he types cute and funny messages to his friends while we laugh at the computer screen together. Well actually I do do that.  But not as much as I'd like to.

The chances are that you're never going to keep up with every single thing your kids are doing online. So you don't have to feel guilty about that. Here are some realistic tips for non-geeky, time-pressured parents, who want to keep their kids safe online:

• Make an agreement with them about their own internet safety rules, whereby use of the family or their own computer depends on these rules being followed.  Here is an excellent outline agreement from SafeKids.com.

• Kids and tweens need to be on a safe, moderated social network site. This is a site where trained staff review every line of conversation, there are filters in place to prevent offensive language being used and there is a clear and transparent process for moderating behavior.  It's also recommended that parents choose a kids' site which has adult staff who chaperone in-world; sort-of like super-fun teachers on duty. Good kids' sites will have an easily-found page for parents which descibes their safety features. 

• An excellent tool for parents is KidZui.com. This free software provides a safe web browser which you can download onto your computer, allowing your children access only to approved kids' games, social networks and resource sites. It's also quick and easy to install.

• Ensure that when your child signs up to a virtual world or other social network site, they use your email address and you check out the site before approving their membership.  Kids are so savvy now that many have multiple email addresses and usernames on one social network site. By using your own email address it also means that any communications about issues from the staff of that site, come to you.

• On a moderated kids' website, if you have a concern about any behavior or conversation that has occurred involving your child, don't be afraid to ask the community manager for a copy of the chat logs so you can view the conversation yourself.  Every good, safe site should have clear and easy access to staff who can help you. and be willing to share with you what their moderating process is.

Now that you've set your child up safely online, you can go back to racing around getting dinner ready. The great thing is that while the peas are cooking you can [Oooh, hang on...Cue: Violins again] look over their shoulder and ask what on earth they mean as they're typing: "Yo, sup EcoMom! Do your go banana power at Castle Beach on the Avenger server! Lol! {:(])"

Celebrating the awesomeness of MiniMonos kids on World Environment Day

Artwork by Hippo

It’s World Environment Day, making it the perfect time to celebrate the awesomeness of your children who play on MiniMonos. They have shown us so much awesomeness this past year, sharing their love for the environment and demonstrating their commitment to making our world a more sustainable, caring place to live, both through their many wonderful ideas and their activities. And most of all, we've simply adored their caring, kind and supportive interactions, which have proven to us what a wonderful generation we're seeing growing up today.

So, we're providing a snapshot of your children's terrific energy as our way of honoring both World Environment Day and the children who not only make MiniMonos such a great place, but who are also actively ensuring that tomorrow's world is going to be a truly sustainable one. And here are just some of the things that your caring, kindhearted, clever, generous, innovative, and fantastic children on MiniMonos have been showing and teaching us all:

•   Eco-actions - walking the talk:

• Recycling in abundance by Viper
• Eco finding beach trash with his mom Andrea
• Emini collecting beach trash during Seaweek, including 1800 cigarette butts from the beach
• Foxie3000 getting stuck into edible gardening and the Cousinettes making a raised garden bed
• Percy's Pick-Up Trash Fridays, from which we've learned that the children have visited a recycling center (Viper, Calypso), cleaned up the school with the class (BetaMonkey), cleaned up the whole street (MiniJoy) and are regularly picking up trash (PurpleTanya, MiniPenguitt and many others)!
• Planting trees (Justbananas)
• Supporting Earth Hour, Earth Day, and the adoption of a baby orangutan by MiniMonos
• Geek's World Environment Day competition (Geek says: "In this contest, you need to show us that you have done an act that is good for the environment... It needs to relate to the environment, and it has to be positive!")

• We've been privileged to see the most amazing artwork from the children, in a contest started by Percy. The children showed both their artistic talents and their love of the environment at the same time. And the resulting artwork was just stunning. We've also had other creative efforts, including recycling logos designed for Percy's Pick-Up Trash Fridays (won by Ivax), and Panda's envelope art skills.

• We have been delighted by seeing the children's generosity of spirit. For instance, Percy donated his own pocket money for the prize that accompanied the artwork contest mentioned above. And Viper purchased a Top Banana membership just to be able to hold a Go Green competition and award the prize to another player! And the children continue to hold their own self-initiated contests to encourage green actions, such as the World Environment Day contest mentioned earlier and the acrostic poetry giveaway seen here in this image. Seeing such generosity of spirit and action in children fills us with so much joy, knowing that the future is in the hands of children with such big hearts.

• We've been totally blown away by the children's repeated supportiveness for one another. They don't hesitate to congratulate each other for achievements in MiniMonos games, for blog posts, and in their offsite  eco-pursuits too. And they help one another with suggestions and ideas all the time. Often you'll see this supportiveness not only within the game itself, but also in their delightful comments left after blog posts.

• Speaking of blog posts, we're so proud of our monkey bloggers (moggers), the children who take the time to write their own amazing posts on the MiniMonos children's blog and to create their own blogs and cheat sites (cheats meaning "solutions" to the games, not cheating!). They've written on a wide range of topics from monkeys to each other. We love the comments they leave for one another too. For example: "Viper you're a great and loving person, I wish you the best at everything you do ... Thank you for everything you've done for this community and thank you for all the efforts you have put into this MiniMonos site, I really appreciate you a lot!" (Panda). We see these incredibly caring comments all the time, so we feel spoiled!

• The friendliness of the children is simply inspiring. When asked what he likes about the site, Justbananas said that "All the other players try and make friends with me. They listen to what I have to say. And they always go to my treehouse." Speaking about Viper, Panda says: "She always leaves compliments and great remarks about other players on MiniMonos, as well as on their blogs and fan sites. Viper has helped out so many new and senior monkeys ... she is very nice and friendly to everyone. No matter who you are, she will always be there to help you out and lend her hand to those that are in need." And one mogger so humble as to remain as "Unknown monkey" (we love humble!) said about Cade77: "Lots of monkeys are really nice and helpful with everyone, and there is one monkey who really shines out from the crowd to me!  This monkey has been around MiniMonos since alpha and is always helpful and friendly to everyone!" When the children are commenting on the friendliness, we know it's both genuine and heartwarming -- we've just loved seeing these caring things the children are saying about one another.

• And we've been moved intensely by how the children have grasped the giving back nature of MiniMonos. Viper told us: "Thank you everyone for all you guys have done on MiniMonos and put the time and your heart in the game to make it the best it can be for everyone along with helping unfortunate kids in India and to give them hope! :D These recent updates really showed me more about how charitable the game is and helpful, not like a regular virtual world game where we would just play and the money is mainly to keep the game running. I love the whole clean water supply for kids in India and can't wait to see the adopted orangutan baby!" This enthusiasm for helping others just blows us away!

We've been in awe of the many ways in which the children have celebrated their love of the environment and shared the messages of sustainability, love for animals, and care for each other. We've been tickled pink by their teaching us how to make MiniMonos more and more their place, as well as their preparedness to keep trying new things. For example, we love this comment from Panda: "I am not a big fan of games, but I do like the lagoon game where I pick all the trash from the lagoon. I love seeing new life every day as I help make the lagoon cleaner." Their curiosity about the world has fed into our MiniMonos TV show and the MiniMonos Twitcam, where we've shared stories about pets, monkeys, and answered the many questions the children have.

This snapshot has only touched the surface of the kindness, generosity, and dedication of your children on MiniMonos - the awesomeness continues all the time. We love learning from the children, always. And we'd like to finish up our tribute to your children on MiniMonos this World Environment Day by saying that with all this awesomeness from the MiniMonos children, the planet's in safe hands -- all we need to do is to keep listening, learning, and following up their lead. Best Bananas and Happy World Environment Day everyone!

Friday Featured Friend -- Rosie Emery

 

We’re honored to feature the amazing Rosie Emery this week, an international singer/songwriter, environmental educator and new media producer specializing in teaching children about life’s interconnectedness. Rosie has so many talents, it is hard to know where to start but we’re giving it a go! We just love how Rosie is bringing the messages of caring for nature and sustainable living to children through music and education and we’re totally enthused by her positive, happy outlook, so she made for an easy fit as this week’s Friday Featured Friend.

Rosie grew up wandering freely among nature in the renowned Sherwood Forest, a magical place that has inspired Rosie’s strong passion for the environment ever since. Concerned about the decline in global environmental health and the disconnect that has arisen in our understanding of how our well-being is completely tied up with the well-being of our planet, Rosie became involved in environmental protection in the 1980s. Since 1989, she has been writing and performing meaningful songs, stories, and activities for children that awaken a sense of wonder for the Earth and celebrate the beauty of nature.

Rosie loves to build on children’s innate curiosity, in order to encourage children to find their own pathways to unearthing an inherent desire to care for and nurture living beings and nature. She stresses that it is more important than ever to get across the message to children about the importance of nature in their lives, given that the majority of us now live in urban centers. While making it clear that it is our responsibility as parents, guardians, and teachers, to provide children with plentiful opportunities in which to discover and cherish “this awesome place in which we live”, Rosie isn’t here to preach; she’s keen to provide the tools to help all of us nourish children’s love for nature, to make it easier for us to guide children in finding their own ways to protect the environment as befits their unique skills and talents, and she states emphatically that: “It also has to be fun! Ideally all kids would get to spend time out in the forest, on the river, in a swamp, by the ocean or just playing in their backyards and parks!  There is no doubt that first hand experience in nature is the best!” With gentle and consistent guidance and encouragement to enjoy their time in nature, Rosie believes that children will continue to protect and care for the environment as they grow into adulthood.

Underpinning much of Rosie’s efforts is the key principle of interconnectedness. She believes that it is vital to help children understand that effective earth stewardship is dependent on eliminating global poverty because the two are inextricably linked. She also helps children to see interconnectedness as requiring us to view all species as intrinsically relevant in the community of life. As Rosie sings, “We’re All Interconnected”!

One of Rosie’s principal concerns is that many children miss out on wandering around freely in nature, directly experiencing the bond we have with nature and learning about the interconnectedness of the community of life. Rosie believes that all of us must do our best to ignite a sense of responsibility toward the Earth in our children. Referring to the concerns raised by Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in the Woods, Rosie worries that children don’t get the freedom to “explore the edges” and that this creates a disconnect with the Earth that can prevent children from understanding the intrinsic value of nature. Rosie doesn’t just signal this concern though; she finds constructive means for overcoming it through her creative talents, teaching young children that the Earth is precious and in need of our care.  To this end, she motivates children’s sense of social responsibility through her music and TV programs. For example, Rosie is about to record a new CD called “I Saw Butterflies Kissing Today!”, a musical journey that will encourage children, parents and grandparents to get out and discover the wonders of the great outdoors, even if it’s just the backyard! 

Keen to help children learn about the interconnections between environment, culture and health, in partnership with WGCU Public Media (PBS) in Fort Myers, Florida, Rosie has developed and produced their Curious Kids TV/Web programs, including the Curious Kids Nature Club and Get Up, Get Out, Get Active. This summer, Rosie will begin producing a half-hour Kids TV series that will be hosted by Kids for Kids. Culturally themed to highlight how we all belong to both a local and a global community, the show focuses on the environment, wellness, and the arts. Under development also is Rosie’s program “My World, My Self”, a collaboration with the Montreal Women’s Y. This early childhood educator’s program aims to synthesize environmental education with wellness education to help children understand how our own well-being is intricately linked with that of the environment.

And as an overall means of “giving back”, Rosie creates a weekly Environmental Education blog to inspire both teachers and parents with class ideas. Rosie finds that writing this blog serves as a form of inspiration for herself at the same time because she discovers new stories, websites, resources, and fabulous articles while creating it and shares these with the rest of us for free!

So, if you think all that is great, we also learned that Rosie has created and produced with her partner, JC Little of Little Animation Inc., an incredible resource: The Little Earth Charter (LEC). Rosie’s dream is that all children around the world will grow up learning the principles of the LEC. Rosie and JC consulted with the educational team of the International Earth Charter to synthesize its 16 principles into the eight principles of the LEC, so that they could be more easily conveyed to young children. Rosie and her partner are optimistic that the program will spread as more and more people discover it. Already there are schools in Australia , the UK, Portugal, and Belgium using the LEC to inspire their learning activities. This is a truly astounding achievement.

From here, Rosie is brimming with hope and plans for a busy future. She will continue providing workshops for educators around the world and will continue to put her all into environmental education. Rosie says that: “For me it is my life's work and as long as there is breath in my body I shall be doing what I can to create fun and inspiring resources.” It is clear that Rosie’s energetic media creations make the most of relying on creativity to instill the values of earth stewardship in children; this caring and guiding approach is something that we at MiniMonos believe is essential to enable children’s own self-discovery about living sustainably and ethically. We are in total support of Rosie’s enthusiasm and proactive educational activities and we’re proud to be interconnected with Rosie too. Thank you for letting us get to know more about you Rosie!

You can follow Rosie’s activities at her website We’re All Interconnected, listen to more of her music on MySpace, become a Fan on Facebook, play some fun interactive games at Earth To Rosie, and follow her on Twitter @RosieEmery.

What do your kids really do on virtual worlds?

Photo by GK Weir on Flickr

This month we've been astonished at the growth of the virtual world we're developing. Suddenly parents and kids have heard about MiniMonos and they're visiting in droves. We've been blown away by what these children are really like and what they do when they engage online.

Predictably, the first wave of kids coming to MiniMonos have been early adopters and are highly tech-savvy multi-taskers, mostly aged between 9 and 13.  Many of them are seasoned gamers, often on a number of mature virtual worlds. What surprised us, however, was just how heart-warmingly supportive and helpful they are to each other and to us.  Just last month, around 25 MiniMonos fan help-websites sprung up, created by kids, every one of them offering positive support to new players who are discovering MiniMonos for the first time. On MiniMonos Island, if any player asks a question, it is instantly answered by someone more experienced.  We have been inundated by players requesting to be virtual tour guides, ensuring that new players are welcomed while playing and chatting together.

There is plenty of parental worry about kids on computers being in danger of social isolation. Many articles advise parents to get their kids off keyboards so they can get 'real friends'.  As mother to an 8-year old, I've been very aware of this theory.  At MiniMonos we advocate a balanced lifestyle for kids -- we openly communicate our love for the environment and encourage the kids to interact with and look after the planet they live on.  But even the highly experienced gamer kids with multiple virtual world accounts have amazed us with their level of social competence.  They are articulate and outspoken. They are so polite it makes my mother-heart glow. They follow an ethical set of social rules. They want to know who we are and what we stand for   -- then they decide if we're good people and if they want to stick around.

These kids laugh a lot and love to have fun.  I spend much of my day writing Lol! and :-) to them with a big, silly grin on my face. I'm often giggling at my desk. Then suddenly they will say something beautiful or give one of the MiniMonos staff members an unexpected, stunning gift of art and we'll be so moved, we have tears in our eyes.

Yesterday, a group of children, as their monkey avatars, were chatting on the beach at MiniMonos when a new kid -- a nay-sayer -- turned up.  The new kid was walking around the beach saying: "This is boring." "I'm leaving." "This game is lame." "I'm leaving now". "I'm going."  He must have said it 20 times.  I was interested to see how the kids reacted.  A couple of them asked him why.  Others offered to help.  When he didn't explain but just kept repeating the same sentences, it was like an unspoken social rule was activated.  I observed, fascinated, as the kids just withdrew their attention from him and continued chatting and talking to each other.  They didn't move away from him.  They didn't say anything like: "Well why don't you just go then!"  They weren't negative towards him.  They just got busy chatting about other things and eventually the nay-sayer quietly went away.  Nobody commented when he left.

Researcher Mizuko Ito led a large study about young people's use of digital media, with 28 researchers and collaborators at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley. He says: "There are myths about kids spending time online -- that it is dangerous or making them lazy. But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age." Ito's findings showed that “most parents knew very little about what their kids did online, and struggled to give real guidance and help." 

We recommend that if your child spends time on virtual worlds, you check it out first, making sure that it encourages good values and is safe and appropriate for their age group. Check that it has 24-hour moderation, or a safe-chat filter.  Ask your child about the friends they chat to. Make sure they know how to communicate instantly to virtual world staff if there is a problem.  Allow them to show you how amazing they are online.  Prepare to be overwhelmed.

We expected that the process of building MiniMonos would be fun, exciting and challenging. We didn't expect our hearts to be constantly bursting.  We didn't expect the children to be so clever and creative. The MiniMonos team fire emails to each other several times a day with examples of cute, funny, amazing things these kids do and say.  We're always saying "Wow!  Aren't these guys INCREDIBLE!"

These kids I've described are the vast majority of the MiniMonos community so far, not the exception.  We're not so naive to think we won't have behavoural issues to deal with in the future; however, good safety standards and the ethical culture the pioneer kids continue to encourage mean that any problems are able to be dealt with quickly and effectively.

Parents -- thank you for allowing us meet your glorious children. Long may these amazing digital natives continue to teach, delight and inspire us all.

MiniMonos Monthly Mission for January

Each month at MiniMonos we'll be creating a mission to acheive a monthly sign-up goal and help a child somewhere in the world.  Our aim is to assist a child who ordinarily would find it really difficult to help the planet, or his or her family, or to learn at school.

This month, if, together, we get 300 new people signing up to MiniMonos and creating a monkey avatar, a child in India will receive an education program for several months about planting trees and global warming. 

This amazing program is made available through our worthy cause partner, Buy1Give1 and Bird India, whose aim is to plant 1 billion trees in India over the next 10 years.  Bird India also run initiatives to help feed, clothe and provide clean drinking water for disadvantaged Indian school children.  We love what these guys do -- it's completely aligned with our values of making the world a better place for, and with our kids.

If you haven't already done so, here's how to sign up to MiniMonos - It's fast to do, and free:

1. Go to the MiniMonos home page here

2. Click on  the Create a Monkey tab

3. Have fun creating your monkey avatar!

You're now ready to explore and play on MiniMonos Island and help good, green kids to look after our earth.

Vote MiniMonos for Best Virtual World for Kids!

Christy Matte from About.com: Family Computing is a kids' virtual worlds guru -- she's calling for nominations for the Best Virtual World for Kids which takes kids' online safety seriously, has appropriate content, is open to everyone and preferably has no ads.

If you think MiniMonos fits (we totally do -- MiniMonos is safe, fully moderated, promotes green values, we don't like ads to kids AND we're big on monkey-fun!) then we'd really appreciate you clicking here and taking a quick minute to vote.

Thanks and Best Bananas!

 

MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend - DIYFather

The MiniMonos Team have just had 3 fantastic days together in Wellington planning and brainstorming our MiniMonos Island releases over the next few months.

While there, we dropped in for coffee and hugely enjoyable conversation with friends Stefan and Dave from DIYFather, an ultra-cool parenting website for first-time Dads.  Stefan is one of the contributing dads of DIYFather, alongside fellow dad directors, Scott and Eric who inspire fathers to spend more time with their kids by using funny, informative and non-judgmental stories from the whole dad community.

The DIY dads are passionate about their families, social media and connecting like-minded people.  DIYFather was recently named New Zealander of the Year winner of the education category for their popular annual competition which showcases the story of everyday New Zealanders striving to make a difference in the world. However DIYFather has struck such a chord with all fathers that it has gained huge world-wide popularity with contributing dads from around the world blogging about baby and kids’ issues such as education, sleeping, health and emergencies, entertainment and relationships. DIYFather is definitely in guy-speak  -- an example of one of the featured ‘Dadgets’ is a hotel mirror which leaves a fog-free patch large enough to be able to hold the baby up to view, but not too high that Dad can see his own testicles. Very handy. There’s also a hilarious video series called Sneaking off to My Shed.  Yep, they’re definitely not Mom-type posts, but these guys are not goofing around.  DIYFather is packed-full of thought-provoking and informative topics and advice from dads for dads and I have to say that as a mother, their articles have given me a great perspective on how my husband may be approaching kid-issues in our house.

The DIY dads have also written a book, “Call Me Dad”, packed with information on everything from pregnancy and preparing for the baby, to the end of that first unbelievable year. The book is based on their own experiences of fatherhood and includes lots of tips and real life stories from the global DIYFather community of fathers.

You can also check out DIYFather on Twitter  and Facebook

Surprise birthday present after a MiniMonos get-together

This week I’m not posting a MiniMonos Meatless Meal as for the last 3 days the whole MiniMonos team have been together in Wellington, planning our awesome new releases on MiniMonos Island for the new year. It's been wonderful to get together and brainstorm really cool ideas and have a heap of laughs, as well as meeting other stimulating like-minded people and fabulous eco-friends.

Tonight our family is having an 8th birthday celebration for our son before we fly out to Australia at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

Our boy was born in Australia and we brought him ‘across the ditch’ to New Zealand when he was 2 months old.  Ever since he could pronounce the word “Thydney” he’s been hankering to get back to his home town to check it out and we’ve been dying to show him our favorite spots there. After months of secrecy we finally surprised him last night when I got home from our MiniMonos get-together -- with tickets to Sydney:

 

Ooohhh…an exciting-looking envelope…

 

I don’t get it.

Oh…

It couldn’t be….

IT IS!!

(Overwhelmed)

A MiniMonos daily dose of eco happiness

We’re thrilled to share our fun eco-calendar with you and your kids to count down December!

The idea came after making contact with Twitter friend, Julie Power at Moms to Work, the fantastic website for working Moms.   

As Julie explains in her blog, one idea about a guest blog from MiniMonos led to another -- actually I think the phrase was getting “carried away” -- so we created a MiniMonos secular advent calendar where kids can help the environment by doing easy, (that’s important for super-busy parents!) green activities and are rewarded with a cute picture, like this!

Wordsmith Julie can say it much better than I can so I’m urging you to check out her blog: Go Green with the Kids These Holidays and while you’re there, have a look at the other fabulous Moms to Work articles.  From the stay at home Mother who wants to bring in some extra income while caring for children to the Mother who works outside the home – and Mothers in all phases in between, there are great posts about job opportunities, returning to work, managing your career and being a Mom! And yes, the four women behind Moms to Work consider all Moms to be working!   These great gals really understand the juggle – one of my favorite articles is: Nursing: Through Rain, Spiders and Toilets!

Here’s the link to your daily dose of eco happiness!  Enjoy!

What parents are saying about MiniMonos virtual world

Awww….thanks to those wonderful parents who recently left comments when they registered their child to become a MiniMonos member.  It makes us all warm and fuzzy to read them! 

I think my daughter will love this website.

Your site rocks -- I like flying

This seems a very nice and caring game-i like it!

Love the concept.

Looks great!!   

Love the fish game!!

I love this site it rocks

MiniMonos is awesome

lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you from Team MiniMonos -- from the heart.  We really appreciate your feedback as we continue developing MiniMonos for your good, green kids!