Wrapping up (parent.thesis)

Today I am writing to let you know that Michael and I have decided to wrap up the (parent.thesis) blog. Writing it for the past ten months has been a wonderful opportunity to explore the issues surrounding family and technology. Blogging for CNET also turned out to be an overwhelming task for us, given that we each already work full-time. So we have found that we cannot sustain a daily conversation in this arena, though we are confident that our experience as CNET bloggers will continue to inform other areas of our work.

I love the serendipity of blogging. You never know exactly which topic will resonate with other people. The (parent.thesis) reaction that surprised me the most was the incredible interest in my post A kids'-eye view of laptop design that I wrote about construction paper laptops created by kids at our local school. After appearing on CNET, The Morning News wrote a feature story about the laptops, the designs made it onto Boing Boing, and have gone around the world since then. Just this week I had a request to reprint one of the designs in the UK Metro newspaper.

The tech community is not always aligned with a parent's-eye view of the world, so I was happy to find that people everywhere were interested to see the features kids came up with when they designed laptops from scratch. Even the most jaded techies found delight in the dedicated "kitten" and "Harry Potter trivia" keys.

So, as we sign off, I leave you with a design by your future tech users, the Mini Laptop Club.

(Credit: Mini Laptop Club)

[bmoeller]

As the CEO of DriveCam and the father of six children (one of whom died in an accident, though not an auto accident), I was disappointed to see that you are wrapping up your blog. As the site that combines both parenting and technology, parent.thesis is the perfect place to teach parents about how technology can help them improve their child?s quality of life. I have personally experienced the tragedy of losing a child and I will tell you that you don?t want to watch your child killed in an auto accident. You want to do anything you can to prevent them from being killed. That?s why I?m so passionate about finding a way to look at those teachable moments to correct potentially lethal habit patterns before it becomes too late. What?s 12 seconds of knowing compared to a lifetime of grieving? Perhaps we can continue this discussion on mojomom.com? More people need to know that taking action now can make a difference later. You can visit me at drivingmecrazystories.com.

[mojomom]

I am sorry for your unimaginable loss. Thank you for your kind words about (parent.thesis). Yes, I will continue to write on MojoMom.com.

[dragonbite]

Sad to see this going. I'm a parent and trying to keep up on what's happening with technology that effects kids directly or indirectly is not easy to keep up with!

I know there are a number of site for parenting, but the technology aspect is often breezed over!

Good luck with your adventures!

[mullerc]

This is one of the few blogs that I actually read. Being a tech professional, and a parent, this blog has lended some great insites into how to handle tech with my children. I understand the feeling of having to much work on your plate, and wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

[marianmerritt]

Wow! We will miss your insights and I'm not sure what this says in general for support for parents' views on tech. (Hello Yahoo and Robin Raskin??) I try to post a few interesting thoughts over on my blog where the focus is online safety: http://marian.symantec.com/blog/index.cfm

I hope people will come visit.
Marian Merritt, Symantec/Norton Internet Safety Advocate

[Harrison912]

I can completely understand wanting to wrap up. Being a parent is a job in and of itself. I hope someone will pick up the torch because like so many who have spoken already, this is a great way for parents as well as grandparents to stay on top of whats going on tech wise for the kids in their lives. God bless you both for your service and have fun with your new found time!
http://officialsafetyandsecurity.com