Skip to main content

Online Safety with Phineas and Ferb

This is a nice short video that reminds kids of the online "Rules of the Road." There's also a parents section on this page that lists rules and gives tips on why they are important.

Phineas and Ferb is a Disney channel show where two brothers entertain themselves throughout the summer by coming up with a new outrageous invention or project each day. The boys have an older sister who is always trying to "bust" her brothers for their crazy schemes, but her Mom never sees any of what they do. There is also a mild evil villain called Dr. Dufenshmirtz who is trying to take over the tri-state area with a variety of machines he has created. Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus is an undercover agent assigned to Dufenshmirtz and stopping his evil schemes. This is a really funny show. My favorite part of this show is the clever songs that are part of each episode. There are a number that we sing around the house because they're so silly and catchy.

Unfortunately, I don't give it a Squeaky rating because of the sarcasm; and, despite the overall happy family feeling, the older sister can get mean. I feel more comfortable with a Murky rating because I think parents should watch it with their kids and talk about some of the themes and characters and how it fits in with your family experiences.

Rating: Murky

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Personification of Beauty

When I was a little girl I was uncomfortable with the word “woman.” I didn’t want to say it. I would substitute, “lady” or “girl” whenever I could. I felt the same way about the word “purse,” and tried to avoid that word as well. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to grow up. Maybe I wanted to be little and without the responsibilities that all women with purses have. I didn’t have an explanation. I just did not want to be called a woman or carry a purse.   I am over that feeling now. I am in the final year of my thirties and have a son that will be an adult in less than two years, so it’s time. However, when several months ago I started to feel a strong pull toward writing about womanhood, I felt an opposing pull telling me not to. Being the mother of a teenage girl and boy I find myself constantly running into issues related to this topic of womanhood. There has been a lot of discussion about modesty, controlling thoughts, body image, and feminism amo...

Use External Filters And Teach Internal Filters

One summer day I was sitting on the back porch with my then toddler son. He was standing next to a large empty hammock and was pushing it back and forth. The momentum was increasing and I was worried that it would eventually come back too fast and knock him over. I said to him, “be careful sweetie.” He continued to push the hammock. I said to him again with more concern, “be careful!” He looked at me with a puzzled face and asked, “What is careful?” I realized that I had not made it clear what I really wanted. I had not talked to him about what was worrying me. My saying, “be careful” meant nothing to him. I think about this a lot when I find myself speaking in generalities and admonishing my kids to “be careful” online, or “be good.” Being specific is an essential part of teaching children how to analyze a situation and make a decision on what they should do about it. We need to teach them what it means to be careful, good, or bad.  The ultimate goal is to teach our c...

The Fool's Gold

Beginning in 1848 when gold was first discovered in California, thousands moved west hoping to find chunks of precious gold metal in the hills and become wealthy.  I went on a field trip with my daughter’s school class to learn about the Gold Rush and was shown a big chunk of shiny gold rock called iron pyrite. We all were impressed by it, and were told how many gold miners came across these large golden chunks and thought that they had struck it rich. After they had gathered up all of this rock they could find, they tried to cash it in at the bank. They were told it was completely worthless. They had been fooled by its appearance. Iron pyrite does not contain the unique properties that give true gold its value. In fact it is not even a metal. It is made up of iron and sulfur. Hence the nick-name for it became “fool’s gold.”   All the time those prospectors had spent gathering this sparkling rock had been a completely wasted. They had nothing that they could tur...