Kids & Toys

Safe Surfing With Your Family

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Home, Why Bother?

Passwords, IDs, privacy, security … what a pain! You probably sometimes wonder if it's really worth the headache to allow your child to "go online." Why bother?

The real question is, do the positives of allowing your child Internet access outweigh the negatives?

In a word, yes. Internet access (smart Internet access) is worth it.

While it would be naïve to assume that the Internet is an entirely safe place for kids, careful preparation, monitoring, and communication with your child can go a long way toward ensuring a positive online experience.

Familiarizing yourself with the Internet and the different tools your child can use will enable you to quickly and effectively deal with any problems that arise. It would be a shame to prevent your child from experiencing the educational and entertainment resources available via the Internet, especially when many of the problems that arise online can be easily addressed or prevented.

The Internet is a tremendous network of textual and multimedia information. The breadth of that information and ease with which it can be accessed make the 'Net an invaluable resource for any student today. Your child can have a multitude of meaningful experiences online, including:

Participate in a live chat with NASA scientists during a Space Shuttle mission and learn about the experiments they conduct while orbiting the Earth.

Take a virtual tour of an art museum or an archaeological dig site.

Exchange ideas or work cooperatively with children from around the world.

Send and receive questions and answers from paleontologists about what a Tyrannosaurus ate for dinner.

Read online versions of newspapers from halfway around the world to get local perspectives on the people and events of that area.

Practice a new language with children in foreign lands.

Explore the histories and cultures of people around the globe.

Watch the sun rise on the other side of the Earth.

Try out new math skills.

Email grandma!

The list goes on. Allowing your child access to the Internet helps to ensure that they will be adept at finding, processing, and exchanging information - all valuable skills.

Obviously, having Internet access won't automatically make your child a better student, but you're giving your child the chance of expanding their computer (and information) literacy and their understanding of the world around them. With your help and guidance, the online world can be an exciting and informative place for your child to learn and grow.

Yahooligans! is a trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
Copyright © 1994-99 Yahoo! All Rights Reserved.

A History Of The Name "Parker Brothers"

A History of The Name "Parker Brothers" is probably familiar in most American households. People know them for at least several popular board games -- Monopoly, Risk, Clue, and Sorry. But who were the Parker Brothers?

George Parker was born in 1867 in Salem, Massachusetts, the youngest of Mr. and Mrs. George Parker's three sons. Although he wanted to be a journalist, Parker was an avid game player and even had an informal game-playing club with several of his friends. When Parker was only a teenager, he invented his first game, Banking, in which players borrowed money from a bank and attempted to make money through speculating. One-hundred-and-sixty cards determined each player's luck. In 1883, with the encouragement of his friends and older brother, Charles, Parker decided to publish Banking. After being turned down by two Boston book publishers, he spent forty dollars having 500 sets of Banking printed. By the end of the year, he sold all but two dozen of the games and made a hundred-dollar profit.

Again encouraged by his brother Charles, George, at just sixteen years old, founded his own game publishing company, the George S. Parker Company. By 1888, the business was doing so well that George convinced his brother Charles to join the company. Parker Brothers was born. Ten years later, the eldest Parker brother, Edward, also entered the company.

In the late 1880s, the Parker Brothers catalog featured twenty-nine games, most of which had been invented by George Parker. In addition to writing the rules to all Parker Brothers games, the youngest brother was also responsible for advertising the games in newspapers and magazines, an unheard of practice at the time.

Throughout the early 1900s, Parker Brothers released a slew of new board games, most of which combined education and fun, like the Game of American History and Story of the Bible. They also produced the popular card games Pit, Flinch, and Rook, as well as wooden jigsaw puzzles.

With the introduction of Monopoly in 1935, Parker Brothers' place as a game giant was solidified. George Parker died in 1953, at the age of eighty-six. In his lifetime, he invented more than one hundred games. Since that time, Parker Brothers has gone through several corporate changes. It was bought by General Mills in 1968, but was spun off to join Kenner Products in 1985, forming a new company called Kenner Parker Toys Inc. In 1987, Kenner Parker Toys was acquired by the Tonka Corporation, which, in 1991, became a division of Hasbro, Inc. Hasbro, Inc. is also the parent company for Milton Bradley, Kenner, Tonka, and Playskool.

Background Of Your Favorite Toys

1840 The first American dollmaker is granted a patent and dolls begin to be mass-produced in America for the first time.

1800s Playgrounds begin to appear in American cities. The idea stemmed from the efforts of city reformers who were searching for more healthful play options for children in urban areas, where parks and yards were scarce. The playgrounds started off as "sand gardens," inspired by those seen by an American social worker while visiting Berlin. Financed by local businesses, city playgrounds soon included swings and see-saws.

1843 The Mansion of Happiness is developed by S.B. Ives in Salem, Massachusetts. It becomes the first board game sold in the United States.

1886 The first BB gun is created. Made for children, it scares many parents because it is actually a working gun that can cause injury. The BB gun is a descendant of the cap gun, which was invented soon after the Civil War, when some shotgun manufacturers converted their factories to make toys. Penny pistols and other authentic looking toy guns also began to appear in the 1880s.

1887 The speaking doll, which had first been invented by Johann Maelzel in 1820, is improved when Thomas Edison combines his phonograph technology with a doll, allowing it to speak.

1896 A westernized version of the Indian game Parcheesi is introduced in England under the name Ludo. Parcheesi is a type of "cross and circle" game, which dates back to 300 A.D. and was played in the Korean, Syrian, and Aztec cultures.

Late 1880s Maj Jongg, which was named for a Chinese word meaning "sparrow," originates in the Ningbo area of China. Games like Mah Jongg had been played as long ago as 800.

1901 At just twenty-two years old, Joshua Lionel Cowen creates a battery-powered train engine as an "animated advertisement" for products in a store's display window. To his surprise, customers are more interested in purchasing his toy train, than the merchandise in the display. Lionel Trains is born.

How To Make Window Coverings Safer For Your Kids

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 140 children - approximately one death a month - have died in the U.S. since 1981 from strangulation in window covering cords.

Today's window covering products, which include horizontal blinds, pleated and cellular shades, vertical blinds, and draperies, need just a few, simple adjustments to make them safer around young children.

TO ELIMINATE LOOPS ON TWO-CORDED HORIZONTAL BLINDS:

Cut the cord above the end tassel (the item that looks like a small wooden - or plastic - "thimble"). Remove the equalizer buckle.

Add new tassels for the two cords that have been created. Slip a tassel onto each cord and tie knots to hold them in place. You may use a breakaway tassel available in some stores, instead of the separate tassels. A breakaway tassel will separate if a child becomes entangled in the loop.

The CPSC urges you NOT to knot or tie the cords together after cutting them because that will only create a new loop in which a child can become entangled.

FOR TWO-CORDED PLEATED OR CELLULAR SHADES:

Leave the cord stop in place as close as possible to the headrail, when the blind is completely closed. Cut the cords above the end tassel. Knot a separate tassel at the end of each cord. WARNING: when the shades are raised, a loop will appear above the cord stop.

ALWAYS keep the cord out of the reach of children.

CHILD PROOF VERTICAL BLINDS, CONTINUOUS LOOP SYSTEMS AND DRAPERY CORDS:

These window coverings require looped cords to function. Do not cut the loops. Instead, install a permanent tie-down device to the floor, wall or window jamb so the cord or chain is pulled tight.

FURNITURE PLACEMENT SAFETY TIPS:

Never put a crib or young childâs bed near a window. Even if you have child guards on the windows, the temptation to investigate cords from hanging window coverings, is strong for a young child.

Because young children climb, never put a chair, sofa, bench or even a bookcase near a window with a dangling cord. Children climb on furniture, play with cords or chains and can become entangled.

Safe Surfing With Your Family	A History Of The Name "Parker Brothers"
Background Of Your Favorite Toys	How To Make Window Coverings Safer For Your Kids