Archive for April, 2012

Video: Watch a girl grow up in two minutes

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Lotte Time Lapse: Birth to 12 years in 2 min. 45. from Frans Hofmeester on Vimeo.

Every parent will tell you that it all goes by so fast. The diaper days, the toddler years, and even the terrible teens all fly by so quickly that it’s difficult to find the time to capture your children’s memorable moments in a baby book or a photo album. And what about the thousands of digital images filling space on an external hard drive at the bottom of a dusty drawer?

One dedicated and disciplined dad decided to ditch the traditional ways of capturing his kid’s childhood and took a short video clip of his daughter everyday from birth to age 12. Frans Hofmeester went a step further and used the footage to create this incredible time-lapse video that shows her growth in two minutes. It’s a perfect metaphor for how many parents feel as their kids grow up and reach new milestones at a speed that’s seemingly breakneck.

The video posted on Vimeo on April 18 and has been viewed nearly 2 million times since then.

How do you capture your children’s childhood memories? Baby books? Digital albums? Videos?

Krafts says Oreo breastfeeding ad was never meant for public eyes

Friday, April 20, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Mom bloggers were rejoicing earlier this week when an advertisement celebrating breastfeeding surfaced on the Internet. The ad shows a baby holding an Oreo cookie while drinking milk from his mother’s breast. The nipple is fully exposed. Oreo’s slogan, “Milk’s Favorite Cookie,” appears in small print at the bottom. Could there be a more clever ad?

The image quickly went viral and appeared on mom blogs across the Internet universe. Word on the street was that the image was a print ad in South Korea.

Of course, some felt the advertisement was overly provocative and others scolded Nabisco for putting a sugary cookie in a baby’s hand. But the general consensus was, This is awesome!

BabyCenter blogger Sara McGinnis wrote: “The Oreo breastfeeding ad is pure awesomesauce! It’s about time we get over any remaining breastfeeding squeamishness (*ahem* Mark Zuckerberg) and let the tata pride run wild.”

Now, it turns out that the image was never meant for public eyes.

A representative of Kraft, the owner of Nabisco, which makes Oreos, told ABC News that the ad wasn’t created by Kraft and it never appeared in South Korea or anywhere.

Cheil Worldwide, an independent advertising agency, created the ad.

“Our understanding is that they created it for use at an isolated advertising awards forum in Korea,” the official told ABC News. “It was never intended for consumer advertising or public distribution.”

To view this beautiful ad in all its glory click over to BabyCenter.

What do you think? Should Kraft change its mind and run the ad—or do you find it inappropriate?

Parents sue Apple over addictive, costly games

Friday, April 20, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Smurfs’ Village is free to download yet it’s a top-grossing iPhone game because of in-game purchases. (Mashable)

The Smurfs’ Village is a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets that’s free to download. But once you start playing the game, you can easily start spending money, big money, on game add-ons. Buying 50 Smurfberries might cost you $4.99 while a wagonful of them costs $100. These pricey power points speed up play and help you build a robust village.

As a writer over at Mashable describes: “Instead of waiting 12 hours to grow watermelons, you can grow them instantly by using one of these berries. Of course, the best way to get your hands on one is to purchase them.”

Usually iTunes purchases require a password but, until just recently, if you entered your password in the past 15 minutes you weren’t required to enter it again to buy the Smurfberries. Yes, warnings popped up telling you about the purchase (thanks to consumers who complained)—but kids ignored these and racked up big bills on their parents’ credit cards.

Last year the Washington Post reported on an 8-year-old girl who amassed a $1,400 bill on her mom’s credit card. Ouch!

Smurfs’ Village, developed by San Francisco-based Capcom, isn’t the only game with in-app purchases. There are others such as “Tap Zoo” and “Bakery Story.” With these you can also easily spend $100 with a few taps of your finger.

Now some parents are angry and they’re suing Apple, according to BBC News.

Apple is asking for the case to be dismissed. They recently added a feature that allows parents to disable in-app purchases. Also, in a recent update to iOS Apple added a requirement for users to re-enter their passwords before making an in-game purchase.

The BBC adds: “In-app payments have been the subject of scrutiny in the US. Last year, the practice was investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission which ruled developers must do more to warn parents about the content of their games.”

But parents are saying this isn’t enough. Kids often know their parents’ passwords and can still make in-game purchases. Also, according to the BBC, “The group of parents, led by attorney Garen Meguerian, said children were still encouraged to buy items by the games’ addictive nature, and parents might not be fully aware of the financial implications.”

Do the parents have a case?

These games are clearly designed to trick consumers into spending money, but I think parents need to be aware of this and be tuned into what kids are doing with their Apple gadgets. You can’t just hook your kid up with Smurfs’ Village and expect the game to be “safe” because it has a kid-friendly name. As parents, it’s our responsibility to read the game description, which will tell you about in-game purchases. And if a game offers in-app purchases, then that game probably isn’t a good one for kids. And most importantly parents shouldn’t be giving their kids their passwords!

That said, I hope the US Federal Trade Commission continues to closely watch these gaming companies and restrict their ability to deceive and rip off customers. Charging $100 for a wagon of virtual Smurfberries is downright ridiculous.

Urban Outfitters ‘lesbian kiss’ catalog photo sparks parent outrage

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Sweet embrace: The latest Urban Outfitters catalog features a photo of two girls kissing. Some parents don’t like the photo because they think it promotes lesbianism.

The latest Urban Outfitters catalog features an image of two young women kissing and conservative groups are upset.

One Million Moms, the same group that attacked J.C. Penney in February for hiring Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson, has posted a message on its website, warning parents about the image that promotes lesbianism and encouraging them to express their outrage to the retail chain.

WARNING! The April 2012 catalog from Urban Outfitters has begun arriving in home mailboxes the last couple of days. On page two of this catalog is a picture of two women kissing in a face holding embrace! The ad and catalog are clearly geared toward teenagers.

Before your child has a chance to read the newest Urban Outfitters catalog call to unsubscribe from their mailing list at 1-800-282-2200, and then throw it away. When you call be sure to let them know why you are unsubscribing. Tell them you will also no longer shop at their stores if you hear this type of advertising continues. The content is offensive and inappropriate for a teen who is the company’s target customer.

Urban Outfitters hasn’t issued a public response. The company’s president and CEO, Richard Hayne, is a known conservative and he donated over $13,000 to the Rick Santorum campaign. Hayne hasn’t openly expressed his views on gay marriage, but he’s thought to be anti-gay because in 2008 the retailer pulled pro-gay-marriage T-shirt from store shelves.

Urban Outfitters certainly isn’t the only fashion brand to spark parent outrage. The industry is known for controversy, which becomes especially heated when children and teens are involved. Take a look at some of the most talked about fashion ads and spreads that have sent some parents and ad critics into a tizzy.

School kids respond to Caine’s cardboard arcade

Monday, April 16, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Caine Monroy is capturing people’s hearts with his cardboard arcade in East Los Angeles.

Last week, I wrote a blog post about a 9-year-old boy who built an arcade from cardboard boxes in his father’s used auto parts store in East Los Angeles. This industrious kid created a series of elaborate games that inspired a filmmaker named Nirvan to capture Caine’s story in a short documentary.

The 10-minute Vimeo film quickly went viral and has been viewed more than 2.5 million times by adults and children all over the world. (If you haven’t seen it, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post and watch it. I promise that you’ll be touched and will probably shed a few tears of happiness!)

A teacher at Lafayette Elementary School in Lafayette, Calif., showed the video to her first-grade class and said her students were so touched by Caine’s story that they decided to write him letters. Tina Skuce scanned a few of those letters and kindly shared them with SFGate.

The letters are all very sweet and the authors are eager to offer up suggestions for Caine. One student tells him to make a skee-ball game and a moving basketball hoop. And another kid suggests that Caine start serving lunch so visitors don’t have to leave and can just play games all day. Smart kid!

I’ve pasted the letters below, and hope that you’ll all show support for the Lafayette first graders.

Malaysia Airlines offers kid-free zone

Monday, April 16, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Malaysia Airlines is the first airline to offer a child-free zone. (courtesy Malaysia Airlines)

A crying baby on an airplane creates discomfort for all parties involved. Passengers are easily irritated by piercing cries while parents become anxious and embarrassed when their children fuss. And the poor babies pick up on all this stress and only cry louder.

What’s the solution?

There’s no way to stop babies from crying, but Malaysia Airlines believes that keeping passengers without kids away from families will help the situation.

When the airline’s first Airbus A380-800 takes off on July 1, travelers with children won’t be sitting in the plane’s upper deck, which will have 70 economy and 66 business class seats, according to MSNBC. Instead families with kids under 12 will be assigned seats in the main lower deck.

The new plane will fly the Kuala Lumpur–London route, and the airline hopes its kid-free zone will attract business travelers.

“Malaysia Airlines is trying to make its premium product on the A380 more appealing to the high-yielding business passengers,” Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying, an airline branding company, told MSNBC. “They value their peace and quiet and [this way] can rest assured that they won’t be disturbed by kids on long-haul flights.”

The airline is also taking steps to make sure families are comfortable by including eight bathrooms in the new kid-friendly zone and equipping the plane with a dual aerobridge for “speedier/faster embarkation and disembarkation for this group of passengers,” according to CNN.

This isn’t the first time Malaysia Airlines has kept kids out of a section of the plane. Last year, the airline made headlines when it introduced a controversial policy banning kids from first class on certain flights.

Do you agree with Malaysia Airlines new policy? Should more airlines create kid-free zones?

American Library Association releases list of top banned books of 2011

Saturday, April 14, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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It’s National Library Week, and libraries around the country are celebrating the “freedom to read.” They’re putting out displays of those books that are most often challenged to bring attention to the problem of censorship.

There were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2011, according to the American Library Association, and in conjunction with Library Week the organization has released a list of the 10 most challenged titles of 2011. You can see the full list below.

1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

4. My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism

Books have been banned across time. In 1939 the East St. Louis Public Library burned John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath because it contained “vulgar language.” A teacher in Tulsa, Okla., was fired for assigning Catcher in the Rye to an eleventh grade English class in 1960. The teacher appealed and was reinstated by the school board, but the book was removed from use in the school. As recently as 2007, Toni Morrison’s Beloved was pulled from the senior Advanced Placement (AP) English class at Eastern High School in Louisville, Ky., because two parents complained that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about antebellum slavery depicted the inappropriate topics of bestiality, racism, and sex.

And the stories go on…there are hundreds upon hundreds of them.

The American Library Association maintains a list of banned and challenged classics that’s based on the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th century list. In the slideshow you’ll find a sampling of those books that have been challenged again and again.

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