
Ask HN Parents: Cool Tech-Related Stuff You've Done with Your Kids? - aasarava
I'm curious: How are other HN parents using technology with their kids?<p>Probably like a lot of you, I naturally turn to technology to help make parenting easier.  For example, I let my two-year-old use an iPod Touch because the touchscreen makes perfect sense as an interface for toddlers, and there are a lot of good flashcard-type apps to help him learn his numbers and colors.<p>When he's older, I'm really looking forward to teaching him how to program so he can use technology to <i>create</i> not just consume.<p>But it seems like a lot of parents just don't think about using tech as a parenting tool. (They're simply reacting when their kids finally ask for a cell phone or a facebook account.)<p>So I started a blog with several other parents to catalog the various technologies we're using while raising kids, the issues that come up, and so on:  http://parentingmode.com<p>I figure there are a lot of parents here that have good recommendations and stories about helping their kids use and have fun with technology.<p>If you're open to contributing something to the blog, I'd love that too.  But I'd also just really like to hear if there are apps you've found helpful, or websites your kids really like, or just plain cool things you've done with your kids.
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kls
First off get a Make magazine subscription. It has a lot of wonderful projects
for kids that will keep an adults attention as well. One of the best thing I
got was a Lego Mindstorm for my kids. That thing has received a lot of use.

I am an off-road hobbyist so my boy and I do a lot of auto fabrication and
electronics projects for that. He likes restoring vehicles so we work on that
quite a bit. I just bought him a 68 Bronco that we are restoring (he is young,
4 so my wife thinks I am crazy, but he loves it so why not). You can work
quite a bit of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering education
into restoring a vehicle. Not that I suggest going out and buying a car for a
4 year old, but I have some heart problems and may not be around to do it with
him later.

They all (10, 4, 2, well the 1yr old baby does not) use the computer and they
all work on the ipad.

I taught my oldest girl (10) Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut Pro,
Illustrator and she is now learning Flash, I have tried to developer he
interest in learning to code but as of yet it has been fruitless (with the
exception of the mind-storm, which has a visual programming IDE). A friend of
mine suggested that I try Alice to see if she would catch on to that, but as
of yet I have not tried it. She is a good artist, does all the home movies (I
have to make her remove the special effects some times. "Come on now the baby
did not lift the car, take it out") and some times helps me out with some
graphics.

I am rambling, but basically my post can be summarized as kids are awesome and
there are a million projects that one can find to do with them.

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grayrest
I'm not a dad, but I had a guy in the office put together a wiimote whiteboard
with his 8 year old. He supplied the following links:

<http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/> <http://www.uweschmidt.org/wiimote-
whiteboard>

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Detect
This is more for infants/toddlers and using technology FOR their kids, but
Amazon Mom (<http://www.amazon.com/mom>) looks like it would make my life
easier.

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aasarava
Thanks for the tip. I checked it out and posted to the blog about it. Looks
like it could be really handy if you've got a newborn.

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devmonk
Netflix streaming documentaries (and other movies) and classic game emulation.

Don't have money to buy the tech I would buy for the kids. Maybe one day.
Right now we teach them how to save money, and teach them about the expense of
technology.

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Detect
Kodu Teaches Your Kids to Visually Program Their Own Video Games
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1796189>

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aasarava
Clickable link to the blog: <http://parentingmode.com>

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Detect
Where's the RSS feed button? :)

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aasarava
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/parentingmode>

Haven't gotten around to adding a button for it yet. But most browsers should
detect it and let you view the feed anyway.

