Child Themed iPhone Applications

Are you a parent who uses an iPhone or an iPod Touch? ParentDish.com has some very handy information about the best baby and child applications for your devices such as baby monitors, food additive lists so you can look up food safety, and even a diaper monitor to keep track of your child’s health. Have a look through their great, comprehensive list of child friendly applications for your device.

Child Safety Service

There are a lot of child safety options out there when it comes to storing our child’s information should you need it in the event something happens to them. One of the more interesting ones is a service called InstantAmber that instead of storing your child’s vital information on a piece of physical media, it stores it on the web. The company is offering up a 30 day free trial of the service if it is something you think you’d be interested in using. From InstantAmber.com:

With the 30 day free trial, you can explore all of the amazing tools of InstantAmber. Your child’s information will include their basic vital stats as well as recent photos, their medial information, and information on other relationships they have. And a great thing about storing all of this information on the web? It can easily be updated with the click of a button….no need to update your child’s info on discs or flash drives which is not only tedious but can easily be lost. We all know how quickly children grow and change, and with the ability to keep this information up to date, you’ll save valuable time in the search for your child should you ever need to access it.

 

KIDS Act

On October 13, the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 became law. Also known as the KIDS Act, the summary of the bill is as follows:

Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 or the KIDS Act of 2008 – Directs the Attorney General to: (1) require sex offenders to provide to the National Sex Offender Registry all Internet identifiers (i.e., email addresses and other designations used for self-identification or routing in Internet communication or posting) used by such offenders; (2) specify requirements for keeping Internet identifier information current; (3) exempt Internet identifiers provided by a sex offender from public disclosure; and (4) establish procedures to notify sex offenders of changes in requirements for providing Internet identifier information.

Requires the Attorney General to establish and maintain a secure system to allow social networking websites to compare information contained in the National Sex Offender Registry with the Internet identifiers of users of their websites. Allows social networking websites to use such system to conduct searches as frequently as the Attorney General may allow. Authorizes the Attorney General to deny, suspend, or terminate use of the system by a social networking website for misuse.

Prohibits the Attorney General and social networking websites from releasing to the public any list of the Internet identifiers of sex offenders.

Exempts a social networking website from civil claims in federal or state court arising from: (1) use of the National Sex Offender Registry unless such website engages in actual malice, intentional misconduct, or reckless disregard to a substantial risk of causing injury without legal justification; and (2) any decision not to compare its database with the online identifiers contained in the National Sex Offender Registry.

Amends the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 to revise the minimum standards, under a pilot program, for electronic monitoring of sex offenders to eliminate requirements that the tracking device: (1) contain cellular technology in a single unit; and (2) provide two- and three-way voice communication.

Halloween Safety

While researching child safety tips for Halloween, these educational films from 1977 were found. These videos may be a little dated in quality, but the tips and information are timeless.

Missing Child Database

Massachusetts law makers are currently trying to pass legislation that would help form a database of missing children and runaways in the state. The database would help law enforcement across the board in tracking missing children who are often pulled into child prostitution rings.

Laurie Myers, who runs the victim advocacy group Community VOICES, expressed frustration the bill has languished.

“A lot of these children run away to other towns or they become involved in child prostitution,” she said. “There’s no coordinated effort to look for the most vulnerable kids in our society.”

Baddour too is frustrated but said he’s “encouraged” by talks he’s had with Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration about the bill.

With as many as 2,000 children reported missing daily in the United States, most states have a central clearinghouse but Massachusetts does not. The Massachusetts State police Web site, however, lists a dozen teens as “endangered runaways” and provides links to various law enforcement agencies.

 

Amber Alert Sinage

The state of California is toying with the idea of selling advertising space on Amber Alert billboards that dot the highway system when they are not in use for alerts. The potential ad revenue generated would go towards repairs on the CalTran System.

"I think when you look at the state of California’s transportation system and the need for repairs and rehabilitation to that system, we’ve got to figure out different ways to provide resources to accomplish that rehabilitation," said CalTrans Director Will Kempton.

Some, however, oppose the idea:

"This is absolutely the last thing we need. It’s a bad proposal. It can compromise highway safety. It’s a driver distraction," said Dennis Hathaway, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight.

Opponents also question how effective the message boards will be if they’re used for something other than a true emergency.

Your thoughts? Good idea or bad?

 

Child Safety For BPA

The debate over the safety of bisphenol-A, or BPA, rages on with very conflicting evidence. Is it safe for your child? Is it not safe? And what plastic numbers ARE safe for children? Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine in the toxicology program have the following advice for parents who are conflicted on the issue:

Scientists from the toxicology offer this advice:

-Watch for the numeral 7 on the bottom of plastic containers. That often means they contain BPA.

-Don’t microwave plastic food containers made with BPA. Better to use glass or porcelain.

-Watch out for canned foods for children.

-Search for baby bottles and other baby products that are BPA-free.

Some states are considering bills to restrict the use of BPA for the young, and Congress is assessing several possible remedies including a BPA ban in children’s products or a ban on BPA in packaging that touches food. The best effort, however, would be the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. It would require that children’s products are proved safe before they are sold, not — as with BPA — the other way around.

 

Children’s Hurricane Safety Tips

Hurricane season has arrived, and with that comes many apprehensive months for adults as they worry about protecting their home and family should the worst happen. Many times we forget that children aren’t immune from the tense situations that arise from natural disasters such as hurricanes, and open lines of communication need to be established to alleviate their anxiety. The Houston Chronicle ran an article today (as Hurricane Ike races in their direction) regarding how to help children through such a difficult time.

"The really hard part is talking about destruction that happens someplace else. It’s important that parents know what their children are watching, that they talk to children about what they are seeing, that parents know whether a set of images is particularly frightening or distressing for children and then act to limit those images," said Dr. John Sargent, a Houston child psychiatrist and Baylor School of Medicine psychiatry professor.

"The important thing to remember is that children vary in how they understand things at different ages and children have very different perceptions of time at different ages and also vary individually to the degree to which they get frightened or not," he said.

Included in the article is a great checklist of tips for parents regarding how to handle issues that come up in the wake of a natural disaster.

 

Child Safety Advice

While reading up on child safety it is usually a very bleak subject. There’s nothing worse than tragedies that happen with children, and it is tough to hear about. So stumbling upon this impassioned editorial by a former firefighter about his

child’s safety in his home

was a great change of pace to read. Please check out the entire article for yourself.

Toy Safety

New laws on the books to further regulate consumer protections in regards to children’s toys and other items for your child go a long way to helping you keep them safe. But is it enough? With all of the child safety worries out there these days, US News and World Report has put together a list of five ways to keep your kids safe at home.

1. Don’t buy toys with rare Earth magnets.
2. Shun metal jewelry  for kids.
3. Be suspicious of brightly painted wooden and plastic toys.
4. Avoid plastic toys if phthalates scare you.
5. Check recall notices

Check out their article for further information on these five issues.