That's Not a Clown Mommy....

When my daugther was two and half years old, we were hanging about at Dufferine Mall on a wintery Saturday afternoon wasting some time.

"Oh look Anastasia, there is a clown over there" And I pointed out to her a life sized plaster clown on a wooden bench.

"That's not a clown Mommy" she said,

"That's McDonalds."

They say the average kindergartner can identify 300 logos. And, according to one study reported in Affluenza, “while the average Americans can identify fewer than ten types of plants, he or she recognizes hundreds of corporate logos.”

One of my biggest struggels as Anastasia becomes more and more obsessed with the Web, is how to help her understand the motives behind so many of the websites that she wants to 'join'.

"You know they just want your email Sia. They are building something called a database."
"oh I know Mommy, but I really really want to win that digital camera and how can I do that if I don't give them my email address?"

Damn! What am I to say to that?

And then there is the whole public and private issue. Kids (and even some adults) still don't understand that if you site is PUBLIC, that means ANYONE can see it. A friend of mine who is a career advisor at a university was flabbergasted when one of her students was shocked that a potential employer had "googled" him. He had a blog that had highly inappropriate postings about his sex life with his girlfriend. He actually asked my friend "can they do that? is it legal?"

I am not sure how I should deal with this with my own child, but I do know this. More needs to be done formally in educating kids about the fast paced ever changing digital world that they now live within.

Uch. I guess this just means more homework!