Cellular phones, global internet access, satellite television, and online gaming systems have transformed our everyday world into Marshal McLuhan’s electronic global village. Technology has now entered all areas of children’s lives: home, school, and toys. A new film by a Norwegian-born film maker Tonje Hessen Schei entitled “Play Again” takes an in-depth look at the virtual world vs. natural world and its effect on children’s outdoor free-play.…

Contributed by JC Boushh This week I have been focusing on old-fashion play and the consequences we face when we do not allow children every opportunity to play. I reside in Southern California, which in my opinion has some of the nicest weather in the country year round, but to astonishment I have visited numerous child care centers were at the slightest sign of overcast skies or rain showers the kids are corralled inside to ride out the storm.…

Contributed by JC BoushhA new research report issued by the Health and Safety Executive and Play England indicates that it is perfectly normal for children to get slight injuries while playing on playgrounds. The report states that part of play is grazed and skinned knees. We want playgrounds to be safe, but there has to be an element of risk and challenge associated with it otherwise the playground is boring and uncreative. Many parents today a…

The LiveRider iPhone app and bike kit is meant to be the equivalent of the dashboard of your car, but on your bike.

The app lets you keep track of how far you have gone, how fast you are currently going and even lets you keep Google Maps handy in case you get lost. You might be able to do some of these features with just using Google Maps GPS, but you couldn't track your ride to the extent that LiveRider could. You can even put it in ghost mo…

Contributed by JC Boushh An article by Gordon Clark in THE PROVINCE titled “We modern parents are safety freaks” had me reminiscing about my childhood in the 1970’s. At that time my parents, specifically my mother because my father was at work, allowed me to play outside in the rear yard where we had two large acacia trees growing and I was allowed to wander around the neighborhood without to many restrictions. Looking back at the amount of free…