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Facebook Will Share Amber Alerts To Bring Kids Home Faster

Facebook will begin to show Amber Alerts in the news feeds of users who live in areas where a possible abduction may have occurred.

Facebook is using their audience of over 185 million users in the United States for some good. An article by Huffington Post reports that Facebook will begin to show Amber Alerts in the news feeds of users who live in areas where a possible abduction may have occurred.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Facebook launched the initiative after seeing user’s post their own alerts and photos — and help find missing children faster. While Amber Alerts (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) are already broadcast through radio, television, and highway billboards, Facebook is the first social media site to share alerts with their audience.

In a situation where time is of the essence, Facebook hopes that notifications targeted to areas near the incident will spread more quickly, reach more peoples, and bring children home faster.

To read more about Facebook’s new initiative, see “Facebook Will Now Share Amber Alerts On Your News Feed.”

 

Photo Courtesy of Facebook

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Children and Television: Can TV Affect Your Child’s Behavior?

Children and Television: Multiple studies found that kids are more likely to engage in bad behavior when they see it on TV or in movies.

Uplifting Families recently published an article that looks at how much televised media our kids consume and how that media consumption may affect their behaviors. The article “Your Kids, The Media and the Uncomfortable Stuff” explains that even family-friendly shows often include scenarios and plot lines that involve teenage drinking, drug use, and sex.

In modern televised media, it is not unusual to see negative and risky behaviors depicted as normal or common, and this is problematic for parents. The article cites multiple studies that found that kids were more likely to engage in bad behavior when they see the same behavior depicted in television and movies.

To learn how you can teach your children about healthy media consumption and decrease the likelihood that they will recreate the drama they see on their favorite television shows and movies.

The original source of the article: “Your Kids, The Media and the Uncomfortable Stuff“.

 

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Best Apps for Moms in 2015

Make it a more enjoyable, organized, and productive year with these top apps for moms.

Make it a more enjoyable, organized, and productive year with these top apps for moms.

1.WebMD

If parents had it their way, a real doctor would be living in their house to answer their questions about bumps, bruises, and ailments. WebMD is the doctor in your pocket. The health app has an easy to use “symptom checker” that helps parents identify potential conditions or issues, and it also includes physician-reviewed content on healthy living and first aid tips.

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

2. Shopkick

You already need to do a lot of shopping for your family, so why not get rewarded for it? This app that Oprah.com called “addictive,” shares the best deals near you and awards you points for visiting stores like Best Buy, Target, Macy’s and more. Points are then redeemable for gift cards.

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

3. Mint

With multiple accounts between you and your family, accurate budgeting can be difficult. But Mint makes it easy to view and organize all of your expenses. With the finance app, you can create a budget and track your spending, as well as set up bill reminders and view your investments and credit score.

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

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4. TeamSnap

An official partner of MamaBear and one of our favorites for staying on top of our kids’ team sports.  It truly is the best online sports team management application for coaches, managers and organizers. It offers players and parents mobile notifications and email reminders keeping us informed and organized.  Share it with your coaches as new sports seasons begin.

Free: Available for iTunes and Google Play

5. ChoreMonster

Finally a tool that make chores feel fun! Through ChoreMonster, you can assign chores to your child’s account. The chores show in their version of the app and are gamified for their amusement. When kids complete a chore, they earn points, rewards, and “monsters” from the app’s Monster Carnival game wheel.

Free: Available for iTunes and GooglePlay

Related: The Best Apps for Parents in 2014

 

6. Evernote

If you find yourself writing notes on scraps of papers that you later lose — Evernote is the app for you. With this productivity app, you can access all of your notes in one place even if you are different devices. The app enables you to save notes, to-do lists, travel reservations, receipts, and photos in your account accessible on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops. 

Free: Available for iTunes and Google Play

7. Nike Training Club

A personal trainer in your phone, the Nike Training Club app will help you stay in shape anytime, anywhere. The app includes complete fitness programs and 100 workouts by Nike Master Trainers that you can watch on your device or connect to view on your television. Plus, you don’t have to miss out on the support and camaraderie of a live trainer and gym team. The Nike Training Club app (which tracks your progress) offers tips and motivation from its team of trainers and your connected friends.

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

8. Allrecipes Dinner Spinner

Coming up dinner ideas is never a problem with Allrecipes Dinner Spinner. Over 30 million home cooks have contributed to its collection of recipes, food photos, ratings, and reviews. If you aren’t sure where to start, use the Dinner Spinner (iPhone only) to shake your phone and find new recipes. Or look through unique recipe collections and search by ingredients, cooking time, and dietary need. Save all your recipes in your online Allrecipes Recipe Box. 

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

9. Grocery iQ

Simplify your grocery shopping with Grocery iQ. Choose your favorite items from their database of millions of items then easily create and recreate shopping lists. Use the tool to find coupons on your favorite items, and sync the app with the rest of your family so they can add items to your list. 

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

10. MamaBear

Connect and protect your loved ones with our family safety app that shares important news about your child’s virtual and physical activities. With MamaBear, you can sync with your child’s social media accounts, receive notifications when they get new friends and followers, and view their sharing activity. The app also features one-click check-ins and GPS services so you can have peace of mind knowing your child’s location and status. 

Free: Available on iTunes and Google Play

Do you have any other apps you can’t live without in 2015? Share your favorites in the comments below.

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MamaBear’s Most Popular Posts in 2014

MamaBear Most Popular 2014 Posts

2014 was the biggest year yet for kids and parents experiencing life in the digital world. To help parents navigate their families across all the challenges, MamaBear published dozens of articles for parents looking for online safety tips, teenage social media trends, and advice about digital parenting. Among all the great content, following are the 5 most popular posts our readers loved the most.

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1. MamaBear’s List of Apps Parents Should Ban

It may seem like an oxymoron, but in 2014, the big trend in social media apps was secrecy.

Multiple apps that allowed users to create anonymous accounts became popular with tweens and teens — which created a problem for parents.

The anonymity offered by apps like Whisper, Secret, Ask.fm and others put many youths at risk for being bullied, harassed, or approached by dangerous strangers. Parents used MamaBear’s List of Apps Parents Should Ban to get them in the know.

2. Top Five Messaging Apps for Tweens and Teens

The post gave parents a look at the popular apps kids are using to communicate with their friends (and possibly even strangers).

  1. WhatsApp Messenger
  2. Kik
  3. LINE
  4. SnapChat
  5. Viber

We heard a lot about SnapChat this year and most recently about a hack of third party SnapChat apps leading to hundreds of thousands of photos leaked online. We covered some highpoints about the media coined “Snappening.”

3. The Best Apps for Parents in 2014

Last year wasn’t all about apps for kids. Our MamaBear parents appreciated The Best Apps for Parents in 2014 throughout the year with helpful,  time-saving and fun apps that parents could enjoy.

  • iReward Chart
  • Evite
  • Cozi Family Organizer
  • Open Table
  • Fandango
  • Great Clips
  • Splice
  • Allrecipes Dinner Spinner
  • Fav Today
  • MamaBear

Looking for even more apps for parents? Stay tuned. MamaBear will be releasing the 2015 list of the best apps for moms in our next blog post.

4. Tips For Giving Your Child Their First Smartphone For the Holidays

Giving the responsibility of a cell phone to a child is a nerve-racking experience for most parents. So it’s no surprise that our post Tips For Giving Your Child Their First Smartphone For the Holidays was one of the year’s most popular.

The post explains how a cell phone for your child can be beneficial to both child and parent when the proper steps are followed. Read details of our recommended process to include:

  1. Setting Parental Controls
  2. Discussing Usage and Set Limits
  3. Reviewing Social Media Guidelines, Privacy, and Rules
  4. Creating Your Own Cell Phone Contract
  5. Installing an App that Connects and Protects

This article isn’t just a holiday read. It’s an excellent resource for parents who are about to give phones to their kids any time of the year.

5. Dangers of Talking to Strangers Online

Learning that nearly 60% of teens have received an email or instant message from a stranger online made the Dangers of Talking to Strangers Online an important topic for 2014.

Parents used the article to learn about a new list of chat apps and common chat slang that kids use to hide the meaning of their messages from their parents.

These are just a few of the family safety and digital parenting resources MamaBear created this year. We have way more where that came from!

Check out archived posts, look out for new ones, and download the MamaBear Family Safety App (available for both iPhones and Androids) so we can help make protecting and parenting your family easier in 2015.