Parenting Daily

I just want you all to know I’m now an Angel. Okay, technically, I’m a CherryPal Brand Angel. What does that mean? Well, it means that this blog and my dedication to the writing lifestyle over the past few months, combined with some luck, are getting me a free desktop CPU. This is a very good thing for me, personally, since I am pretty broke, my desktop tower has been broken since November 2006 (though it makes a good decoration sitting on top of the fridge!), and this laptop acts funky now that it’s three years old. I’ll admit it first—I’d never heard of CherryPal. Have you? Probably not. They’re doing a really grassroots campaign, which I sincerely hope is successful. In return for giving some number of us (I have no idea how many) these free CherryPal units, we are expected to blog about them (honestly! They encourage us to talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, the beauty, etc.—don’t hold back!), talk about them on our social networking pages (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and just be available to try to help answer questions if any of our readers, friends, and family have questions about them. The units haven’t shipped yet, due to some delays (pretty standard for a startup), but the website has a lot of good info: www.cherrypal.com AND I can offer you all my personal promotional code to use if you’d like to pre-order a unit. These units are not going to be sold in brick-and-mortar stores… maybe ever… but at least to start. The units are really affordable but bare-bones– $249. through PayPal and it is ONLY the desktop unit. No monitor, no keyboard, no mouse, etc. Which, frankly, is just perfect for me since I noted my tower broke down—before the tower broke, I had been steadily replacing each peripheral so my monitor, keyboard, and mouse are just barely used and I’m so excited to get them out when the desktop arrives! With this promotional code– CPP269– (which you are to enter on the SECOND page of the order process), $10. will be refunded to you when the order is processed. Check out the website and read up on the technology. I think you’ll be as impressed as I am. And with back-to-school right around the corner, I think this is a fabulous idea for your teen students. For teens going back to college, look how teeny the desktop is! Those dorm rooms are small, Mom and Dad! Pair this unit with a flat screen monitor, and your teen will still have room left on the desk! More posts about the CherryPal will be forthcoming once I receive it and start using it and seeing what it can do. I’m so excited! I haven’t been this excited about a computer since I heard about the One Laptop Per Child program years ago.

Woah, Dude! It’s a ranch! I probably post too many of these kinds of jobs, but these are the kinds of jobs that appealed to me when I was much younger—outdoorsy, adventuresome things. Today, we’re showcasing a job on an actual dude ranch. Located in Idaho, the Red Horse Mountain Ranch is hiring housekeep and serving staff. No, the job itself doesn’t sound all that intriguing, but the location could be very appealing to some teens. Positions are to be filled immediately until October. The obvious complication is school. Perhaps this is a good job for someone in the general area who can commute or someone who is inbetween high school and college, or who is done with school for the time being. Housing is available, as are meals. This is the full job listing.  

If you have a television, you’ve no doubt noticed the ads in the past few years about parents taking control of their children’s television viewing habits… or, at least, informing us that we have tools available to help us do that. When they’re younger, this seems easier to do. Their interests are pretty limited and you’re buying everything they use, you’re usually around when they’re watching television and movies, and you’re usually there to hear the music, as well. But the older they get, the more independent they are, and the more “media” items they may have access to on their own—TVs and stereos in their bedrooms, they can go to friends’ homes, they may have the money to buy their own cds, dvds, games, etc. I’ve posted before that I think most, if not all, reading materials do not need to be censored (in my opinion, folks! Do what you like!), nor does musical preferences. But there’s ongoing speculation that viewing violence on TV, in movies, and playing certain video games can lead to a detachment, unreality, and a host of things that aren’t good for anyone, let alone teens whose brains are, yes, still forming and maturing! Commonsensemedia.org is a fabulous site for keeping up with what your kids are watching, playing, listening to, and yes, even reading. It includes parent reviews, news headlines, and other tips that parents with any minor children should check out.

Working at the movie theater was one of those jobs in high school that I thought would be horrible. Who would want to clean up all the popcorn and take care of those sticky floors, I thought. I always chose retail jobs, feeling somehow above my peers who had to work with any sort of food (don’t worry, karma got its revenge in many a food job in college!). Now that I’m older, working in a movie theater sounds like one of those great, classic teen jobs that maybe I should have tried. Pass on the word to your teens: AMC Theatres, with locations across the country, are hiring. Some jobs do have a minimum age requirement of 18 (i.e., the jobs where you would have to handle any alcoholic beverages—though I’ve yet to experience one of the theaters with *those* privileges!), but many start at age 16. Concessionists, ushers, cashiers, and runners are all good positions to try for a first job at AMC Theatres. The website allows you to search for jobs, find out more about the available positions, and even apply online. The best benefit, in my opinion: free movie vouchers! Too fun!  

90210—if you haven’t heard by now, the outrageously popular teen drama hit of the 90s, Beverly Hills, 90210, is being recycled into a new version. 90210, set to premiere on the CW channel on September 2, looks to rival the CW’s other hit teen drama, “Gossip Girl.” If you haven’t seen previews, let me tell you they seem to be missing that element of fun that I remember from watching the original series. Sure, there was plenty of scandal on the original series, too, but the opening was a bunch of teens having fun and looking like they belong in high school. And the previews could be misleading but, thus far, it looks like a soap opera full of 20-somethings.Come to think of it, so does “Gossip Girl”. Hmmm… at any rate, for more information on a series your teen may be checking out, look here.

Today, I have an exciting job for outdoors adventure lovers. Trust me, if I was a lot younger and didn’t have any responsibilities, I’d be all over this job. Alaska Travel Adventures, headquartered in Juneau, AK, is looking for whitewater rafting river tour guides! Okay, Moms and Dads, if just reading this is giving you a heart attack, I understand. But if you have a teen who loves adventure and risk-taking anyway, why not funnel it into something productive? They’ll even be paid to use up all that excess adrenaline! The job runs through the end of September, they offer training (doesn’t that set your mind at ease?), an end-of-season bonus, and travel and housing assistance. Seriously, think it over! There’s also an online job application, so check it out.

Sparknotes. Remember the yellow and black study guides we all used to buy when we either a) didn’t want to read one of our assigned Eng/List books or b) needed to have someone interpret Shakespeare for us? Well, I’m sure they still exist, even though I can’t for the life of me remember what they’re called. But now that it’s the twenty-first century and we’re online, so are the study guides! Meet, SparkNotes. Online study guides. Free membership account. And it’s from Barnes and Noble. So, it’s a brand name you’re already familiar with, you know the information is going to be responsible and trustworthy, and there’s probably a way to buy stuff from bn.com when/if you need to supplement the free materials. I also find the website to be far more attractive than the black & yellow stripes that always reminded me of a scary road sign!

I’m not a coffee girl (well, occasionally I enjoy a refreshing iced coffee or cap, but that’s very rare) so I’ve never been bitten by the Starbucks craze. But all I have to do is log onto one of my favorite celeb gossip sites (shout out to PopSugar.com!) to see any number of young Hollywood teens partaking in the java fad. On a sidenote: is coffee really a fad? Probably not. At any rate, Miley Cyrus is big on Starbucks, as are any number of the gals from the High School Musical movies, Gossip Girl, etc. And if I’m noticing it, your teens are noticing it. Heck, they may already been well into their coffee addictions already. So why not put one of their passions to good use? Starbucks has loads of online information, hire at age 16 on up, and even offer benefits depending on how many hours you work. Now, the benefits part is probably not that important to your teen right now, but if it’s a job they stick with through high school and college (and what college town doesn’t have a Starbucks?), having a job with benefits will come in handy while they’re looking for “real work.” So, check it out and pass along the info to your teen. Maybe they’ll even be able to bring home some free joe for you!

Have you heard of Visa Buxx? It’s like a pre-paid credit card for kids and teens that parents can put money on. Up until now, I’ve never really investigated it. It didn’t seem like anything I’d be interested in helping my kids get, since I find the idea of a child having a credit card (of any sort!) to be distasteful, to say the least. But I know that I depend heavily on my debit card and, sure, that comes straight out of my checking account, but it’s kind of the same concept. So I looked up the Visa Buxx tonight and apparently there are two versions—one for 12 years old and under, and one for 13 years and up. Pay Jr. runs both programs and you can see details here. My point in bringing it up isn’t so much to say whether it is good or bad, but to debate both sides. On the one hand, I would like my children to be prepared for what the world is like, and it seems it’s an increasingly plastic world. On the other hand, having plastic instead of cash is kind of a disconnect. Can you learn the true value of money when you aren’t dealing in cold, hard cash? What are your thoughts?  

Ever since my mother first spoke of Adirondack style chairs, I’ve been enchanted with what they bring to mind. Cool weather, lots of green and trees, the mountains, hiking, sitting on the porch of a log cabin or inside in front of a warm fire in colder weather. So today’s teen job du jour is an obvious one: year-round opportunities at the Adirondack Mountain Club. Oohh… Ahhh.  With a staff of 60 and lodging in cabins or Platform Tents, this is another job that I would have loved as a teen or 20-something. Jobs include: North Country operations crew members, Internships, Naturalist, and Wilderness Trip Leader. Pay is every other week, employees get a free one-year membership to the Club, free use of kayaks and canoes on Heart Lake, and ski and snow shoes free mid-week to staff. Lots of recreational activities await during free time. So check out more here and let your teen know!