At first, it looked like just another “bad air day,” as I tell my kids. Then my oldest noticed that the air was yellow, and that’s how we clued into our first sandstorm. Continue reading Ever been in a sandstorm? YouTube Science & Climate Channels
Everything I first learned about the reality of modern day Iran, I learned from Persepolis. This memoir brings us through Satrapi’s childhood, and tackles difficult themes. Continue reading What should kids know about Iran?
Think about the notes you passed in school or the DMs you’d get.
Would you want those messages available for strangers to see, for data brokers or law enforcement to use? Continue reading Messenger Kids, Meta, and Moderation
I haven’t heard much about Zootopia 2, but I’ll take any chance I can to sing the first one’s praises. Let’s highlight how Judy and Nick are the perfect models against microaggressions. Continue reading [UPDATED] Zootopia: When a rabbit and fox model how to move through our own implicit bias
Roblox Red Flags and Lawsuits💥what happened with Roblox
💥how it affects your family
💥setting up safety perimeters
💥ways to talk to kids about predators
💥clues your child might be at risk of grooming
💥how to approach the topic if you suspect they’re being groomed Continue reading Roblox Red Flags and Lawsuits (Resources Round-up)
Every Friday ConnorEatsPants plays #FortniteFriday with a celebrity of some sort, but my alerts rarely ring as loudly as they did today, and with good reason. On Friday, October 3, California Governor Gavin Newsome joins Connor on the Battle Bus. Continue reading Why is Gavin Newsom playing #FortniteFriday with a guy called ConnorEatsPants?
I focus on sharing historical, cultural, and emotional contexts through commentary and interviews with experts.
With that in mind, here’s recent news in kids media, specifically YouTube and what you might need to know: Continue reading How YouTube affects your daily life: September 2025
As I sat in the movie theater vacillating between laughing and crying for 80 minutes, I realized how important it would be for my boys to watch Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. The film starring Kathy Bates and Rachel McAdams is obviously a must-see for young girls. Continue reading Periods & Puberty: A Parent’s Cheat Sheet for “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”
Would you accept an invitation to a party from a stranger? Would you let someone you don’t know inside your house? Would you give a stranger your phone number? No? Not until college? Then don’t do that in the game either. Continue reading How to set up Roblox: From parental controls to explicit consent [Updated]
How parents can spot red flags that a Roblox game might be connected to a predator. Continue reading How to spot the red flags in a Roblox game
Fortnite is certainly a hot topic among families, and I hear people try to describe this thing that happens….this ethereal idea that Dr. Emily Edlynn, PhD, pinpoints exactly: The Fortnite Creep. Continue reading Fortnite Follow-Up:
I don’t like to fearmonger, but every time I look at an app or software my kids want to download, it’s a potential scam. Continue reading Is Everything a Scam? Gen A Can’t Trust Anyone
What if I was that new mother, over a decade ago, desperately searching for answers as to how to be a “good” mother? I would have been tempted. Continue reading What do my kids need to know about AI? or “Mattel, I have questions.”
On the occasion of The Minecraft Movie premiering today, here are some of the best YouTubers to help introduce your child to the intensely popular game. Continue reading I watch Minecraft YouTube so you don’t have to
How Do You YouTube? YouTube as entertainment entered my kids’ lives sometime in February of 2020 when we were already distance learning (thanks, COVID). With two parents working at home and two kids doing their schoolwork online, we all needed separate workspaces Around the same time, we introduced our 6-year-old to Minecraft. We’d played games on the Nintendo Switch before, but this would be the … Continue reading Teach Kids to be YouTube Smart
No one thinks their child could be groomed online. We interviewed Jen Lawrence from WeFightCyberCrime.org on how to identify and discuss it. Continue reading Primer: Clues your Child Might be at Risk of Grooming
Recently announced changes mean that fewer players will be deceived into joining games like “Coin Slide” that can’t actually offer their players copious amounts of coins or XP as advertised. Continue reading Epic Games Loyalty Levels Up w/ Small and Significant Change in Fortnite
Ask if your child watches ConnorEatsPants, or Fortnite Friday. You can gain insight into how gamers discuss current events and some of Connor’s questions/views could align with your child’s. Continue reading Who is ConnorEatsPants & What is Fortnite Friday?
Get insights on the role of content creators in the Democratic National Convention and how much influence does MrBeast really have? Continue reading In the Belly of MrBeast: Influencers Gonna Influence
Mimic channels look very close to the content they steal and repurpose, so here are tips to check if it’s safe to watch.1“““222224 Continue reading Mimic Channels and How to ID Them
Riley’s in middle school and her brain is overwhelmed with new emotions! How should her parents handle her newly found Anxiety? Continue reading Enter Anxiety: Helping Kids Handle Bigger Emotions in Inside Out 2
Adults can understand how excessive screentime affects brain development. But how to explain it to kids? Continue reading 3 YouTube Videos To Teach Kids How Their Brains Work (+ a Bonus)
Why is a solar eclipse so rare, and what does it all mean? If families need help explaining it, let our favorite Science Communicators lead the way! Continue reading 5 Science YouTubers to Explain the Solar Eclipse to Your Kids
I read Turtles All the Way Down while I was slowly coming to understand the role that anxiety plays in my life. If anyone could figure out how to express OCD in writing, it is John Green. Continue reading John Green, OCD, and the Turtles All the Way Down Trailer
If your kids give you the old “I need to play Fortnite so I know what my friends are talking about,” here’s what you need to know, Continue reading Fortnite and Disney? A Parent Primer if You’re Still Unsure
The allegations that Creator Rosanna Pansino has recently brought against MrBeast’s Creator Games 3 is an important lesson for kids to learn about YouTubers so they can view their favorite channels critically. Continue reading The MrBeast Cheating Controversy Shows Your Kids How Editing Tells the Story
It’s Chuck-E-Cheese meets Freddy Krueger. It’s actually Showbiz Pizza meets Freddy Krueger if you want to get really specific. Continue reading A Parent Primer For “Five Nights at Freddie’s”
2010’s “homemade online videos” are 2023’s multi-million dollar enterprises.
“VidCon has 20,000 14-to-20-year-olds. It’s a hard to reach, savvy audience. They’re all making videos and posting. It’s the most media-savvy group in world.” Continue reading VidCon 2023: Is It Good For Kids?
The First Law to Regulate Family Vlogs on YouTube Until last week, there was no guarantee that a child who is featured in their family’s monetized YouTube channel would ever see a dime. YouTube Help cites some guidelines for minors, but only about the kind of content they can participate in. Now, vlogging parents in Illinois must open and maintain a trust for their children. … Continue reading Illinois Tells Family Vloggers to Pay Their Kids: YouTube News
Having gone through this with the Nintendo Switch and streaming services, the PS5 gets huge points for its simplicity and flexibility. Continue reading Primer: PlayStation 5 Parental Controls
I don’t have a lot of objective criticism for MrBeast’s main YouTube channel. He’s a 24-year-old who makes a massive amount of money through YouTube’s Ad Sense (he has 124 million subscribers) and brand sponsorships. His videos just aren’t my style. Continue reading Is MrBeast Good for Kids?
Is Roblox safe for kids to play? It depends on a number of factors, including who created the game. Continue reading Primer: 5 Ways to Evaluate a Roblox Game and its Developers
It’s Chuck-E-Cheese meets Freddy Krueger. It’s actually Showbiz Pizza meets Freddy Krueger if you want to get really specific. Continue reading Coming to Terms With Five Nights at Freddie’s (But We Still Don’t Play the Game)
My son was three years old when he watched commercials for the first time. So when he said he needed Gatorade out of the blue, a drink he’d never known before that day, I asked him why. Continue reading Tis the Season: Kids and Advertising
It’s hard to separate the parental stigma of screen time and video games from very real lessons my kids learn from their games. I’ve witnessed real-life social, developmental, and educational skills children learn while playing video games like Minecraft, Roblox, Civilization, and more. Continue reading Lessons to be Mined From Mario, Minecraft, and More
Up until this point, villains had been pretty straightforward for him: the evil stepmother in “Cinderella,” Cruella DeVille and her penchant for puppy coats, and the mean guy Gaston. They’re all marked as “the bad guys” from the start, and we aren’t meant to empathize with them. So I found it very exciting to discuss how someone can be labeled “bad” and turned into a villain, even with no control. Continue reading How “The Bad Guys” Teach Kids Empathy
Sticky post
I was no novice to YouTube, but the world of YouTube gamers? For a while, at least one parent was in the same room while they watched tutorials, that couldn’t always be the case. And if we both had meetings at the same time, then the kids wanted to watch it with their headphones on. Continue reading Primer: Teach Kids to Be YouTube Smart
