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Gambling With My Kids’ Money

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We learned about gambling at this year’s vacation.

The resort gave us three $10 vouchers to double any $10 bet we placed at the roulette or card tables.

With the kids waiting in the lobby, I placed a two-for-one bet and won on red.

I came back to announce I had won $20.

What should we do with the winnings? I asked them: We can walk away now with $20 or we can have Mom place a $10 bet with our winnings, leaving us with $10 in winnings.

“Bet it,” they said, recognizing we were playing with money with didn’t have moments earlier.

We returned quickly and shared the bad news. “Mom lost. We have two $5 chips left.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I challenged. “You can each have $5 of our winnings. You can keep the $5 and we can leave right now or you can join together and have me bet your $10.”

It was interesting and fun watching them debate what to do with their money. First eight-year-old Lucas, who badgered me all week about how gambling was “stupid” once I shared my slanted description of the pastime, decided he would keep his $5. 10-year-old Zachary hemmed and hawed and finally decided to have me bet his $5.

When he learned “if Zachary wins, he will keep all the winnings,” Lucas decided to bet his $5 as well. We let them choose which color to bet on, so they would take full responsibility for the outcome.

Zachary put out two hands and asked Lucas to pick one. Lucas chose Zach’s left hand and Zach announced, “Bet on red!”

So Mom and Dad went back to the roulette table and did as we were instructed.

The kids were jumping out of their seats as we approached them. “Did you win?!?!”

Thumbs down. No, we lost, and you could see them deflate. Now we won nothing and lost nothing. I had four $5 chips left. This was the money Beth and I started with. I pushed the lesson further.

“Would you like me to make another bet for you? This would be with your own money. I will lend you $5 and you will pay me back no matter what happens. If you win, you keep everything.”

 

 

This time Lucas would not take the bait. He held $5 and saw it go away. Zach “felt bad” about losing the money and wanted a chance to win it back. He took the bet – and when it paid off – he was deliriously jumping around. “I’m so happy!” he danced about his new fortune.

“I could bet it again and you could make even more money,” I taunted Zach.

“NO! NO! No more bets!”

The Next Day
The next day I asked both what they thought of gambling.

“Not a good idea,” said Lucas, now $5 poorer, “because you can lose your money, all the money that you bet. You can win money, and you do another gamble, and then you lose the amount of dollars that you won.”

Zachary said, “I can see how gambling can be addicting for other people because they see they are winning money but then they forget they are losing money too. They might say, ‘I just won! Maybe I can do it the next time!’ And casinos basically make it impossible for you to do any actually winning unless you win in the beginning and you quickly leave. Very few people win big in the casino.”

He concluded, “It’s hard to predict my future but probably, no, I won’t be addicted to gambling because now I’ve learned younger not to play the ‘Cheese Caper’ slot machines.”

Your kids
How have you broached the subject with your kids? Any wisdom to share here?

:: Joe Hage is chief storyteller for Medical Marcom, a medical devices marketing consultancy helping medical companies become more approachable and engaging. ::

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Filed Under: Advice, Education, Family

EveryNone

November 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

Here’s a moving anti-bullying spot that contains very harsh language but that’s exactly the point…these are the words that become weapons against our beloved children. Sticks and stones can break bones but words can do far more longer lasting damage. We cannot let others get away with such horrible treatment of innocent souls. Kids, teens and adults can all help by not turning away and ignoring these vicious personal attacks. Stand up for someone and you stand up for the world.

For more, checkout the website: http://everynone.com/

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What Do Babies Think?

October 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

I am still trying to figure out what my kids are thinking (and they are all in their 20′s!)  Even so, I clearly remember the wonder of discovery on each of their faces as they grew from infancy to toddlerhood and explored the small, but fascinating world around them.  Witnessing the rapid pace they grow, change, advance, and absorb information is one of the true joys of parenthood, as we are driven to laughter and tears trying to figure out just what’s going on inside the brains of our babes…

In this wonderful video from TED Global this summer, Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, gives a fascinating look inside the mind of our babies, and explains why “childhood” is so important to all of us.

What do you think?  Professor Gopnik says being a baby is like “being in love in Paris for the first time after you’ve had 3 double espressos.”  Do you agree?  Do you make time to act like a child?

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 23, Ethan, 21 and Olivia, 20).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads  and Wunderkind! podcasts.

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Getting An Upgrade From Intel

July 23, 2011 By 2 Comments

Chips anyone?

As part of the “Intel Advisors” program, my fellow Cast of Dads co-host Michael Sheehan (@hightechdad) and I were the lone males at the recent “Upgrade Your Life” experience at Intel‘s Santa Clara headquarters.  Surrounded by a bevy of talented women entrepreneurs and bloggers we were treated to an inspiring peek inside Intel and in particular, a deeper look at some ways technology is impacting our environment, our health and our education — in essence, how technology is impacting our lives and the lives of our families. I attended this event last year as well, where, among other things, I was introduced to the Intel Reader, a fascinating product to help the visually impaired.  There was a lot of great information and learning at this year’s event as well and I look forward to sharing more details here.  Meanwhile there is a good overview at the Intel Inside Scoop blog, and below is a short video recap Michael and I recorded in the lobby.

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 23, Ethan, 21 and Olivia, 19).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.

Disclosure: I am part of the “Intel Advisor” program and am compensated and/or receive other value from Intel to attend events on their behalf.  Intel covered my travel, accommodations and expenses for my trip to Santa Clara for the Upgrade Your Life event.

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When Chores are Done, But They Aren’t Chores

March 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Chores are done todayFor the last two years (maybe even longer) and ongoing struggle in my house is getting the girls (both of them) to do their chores.  I don’t think I have given them a huge burden to take on-washing dishes, vacuuming once/week, cleaning rooms, putting laundry away and taking out the garbage (nightly).  There are two, and the chores are divided-and they are directly tied to their allowance.

Its a simple equation, do your chores, get your allowance no questions asked.  Don’t do your chores, no allowance; once again no questions asked.

Lets say I’ve saved $40/month for the last four months. Yeah its been that long since they managed to do their chores for a full week. Mostly clean floors, oh yeah

Which made today kind of interesting.  With my bi-weekly cleaning lady on vacation-and not scheduled to be here for six weeks I implemented a weekly cleaning ritual today that went over incredibly well.  Each of us (including me) had to clean and vacuum our bedrooms.  We each had one bathroom to clean.  The person (in this case 10.5) who cleaned the 1/2 bath also had to mop the hardwood floors and 8.0 had to vacuum the living room and family room.

Some non-inspired moaning and groaning by 10.5 (if I ask her to do anything other than text her friend via her iPod Touch or get dressed there is moaning and groaning) and all the work was done.

As one of my friends via Twitter pointed out, the girls did their chores.

But we didn’t call it chores, there was no chart, there is no record keeping.  It was just, Christina is on vacation and lets get it done.

So everyone, shhh, its a secret.  They really did their chores.  OK?

 

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Holiday Media Projects

November 26, 2010 By 1 Comment

In this short video, I share a few project ideas on what you can do to make media around the holidays:

What say you?

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Making Media With Kids

November 15, 2010 By 4 Comments

My daughter is eight. She’s been stuffed in front of cameras since before she was born (ultrasounds count, right?). There’s probably no escaping that she’s going to become a media making child. Recently, she asked me to help her shoot a commercial for Moon Foam, this kind of modeling clay that feels like compressed cotton candy and that never dries out. She’s in love with it. I love that you can vacuum it up really easily. (oh crud, it’s called Moon Dough. I’ve called it the wrong thing.)

Here’s Violette’s commercial:

The best parts is that she did the script and all the how-to information herself.

Do you make media with your kids?

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Literacy Comes in Many Packages

November 13, 2010 By 2 Comments

I received a curious jar of things from my friend, Jason Falls, on behalf of Wonderopolis.org. It’s a site about literacy and how we can help kids learn more. You’ve gotta see what came out of the bucket (this video runs about 4 minutes long):

The site, Wonderopolis had a lot of ways to get kids into reading. Here’s a bit from their about page:

Visit Wonderopolis.™ It’s a place where parents seek and nurture a brighter world for their children through the power of discovery, creativity, learning and imagination. Wonderopolis™ is brought to life by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

You see your children not only for who they are but for all they can become, yet you may need a little help directing that passion and igniting that wonder. We can help you get there — together. You don’t have to travel far. Wonderopolis is a special place found in a curious question, an everyday adventure and right in your own home. Just let wonderment be your guide.

Our Wonders of the Day will help you find learning moments in everyday life, ones that fit in with dinner preparations or carpool responsibilities or a stolen moment between breakfast and the bus.

It’s a great project and got me thinking of new ways to get my kids into reading even more than we’re doing now. What do you think?

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Filed Under: Education, Family

The “Hole In The Wall” and Child-Driven Education

September 30, 2010 By 4 Comments

My love affair with TED continues…  I have written many blog posts here and on my personal blog about amazing and inspiring TED presentations.  It is a wonderful way to expose yourself to people and concepts you might otherwise never encounter, as well as see really smart and passionate people share vision and views on things that are already on your mind.  One thing that is almost always on the mind of parents is education, and I recently discovered this awesome and awe inspiring presentation by “Education Scientist” Dr. Sugata Mitra.  According to his bio:

In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.

In the following years they replicated the experiment in other parts of India, urban and rural, with similar results, challenging some of the key assumptions of formal education. The “Hole in the Wall” project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher,an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who’s now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it “minimally invasive education.”

If nothing else, this charming and enlightening video will open your eyes to the fact that kids are kids, no matter where and under what circumstances they live… and it may change the way you think about learning and appreciate even more the power of the Internet and the vast information accessible to us thanks to technology and our truly connected world.  As an added bonus there is a brief appearance by the late, great author Arthur C. Clarke, who eloquently says, “A Teacher who can be replaced by a machine, should be…” and “… when you have interest, you will have education.”  Please take a few minutes to watch.  You won’t be disappointed.  Oh, and I found an interesting tidbit on Wikipedia: “The Hole in the Wall experiment has left a mark on popular culture. Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup read about Mitra’s experiment and was inspired to write his debut novel Q & A – this subsequently went on to become the movie Slumdog Millionaire.”

What do you think? Can children with a computer and the Internet really teach themselves?  Do your kids learn on their own from the Internet?

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 22, Ethan, 20 and Olivia, 19).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.?

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Sharing Tech With Kids

September 22, 2010 By 18 Comments

Harold (my 4-ish year old) wanted to shoot a video:

The fun of doing this is that he knows how to open Photobooth (on a Mac). He knows how to switch it to video and hit record, and he knows how to speak to the camera (kind of).

When I think about what our kids need today versus how they were raised, there’s a bit of media literacy (production, critique, skepticism, source-gathering, more) that needs to happen sooner than later. Yes, I think that giving kids laptops is potentially tricky and yet I support it. Yes, I think that switching to an e-reader or tablet of some kind is the smart thing to do for older kids, but there are signs of it being really neat for younger kids (in early reports), but that paper and physical media like pencils is still really important.

It won’t be as simple as giving them the tools and teaching them, but I don’t think we can keep kids luddites either.

I’m curious as to YOUR take on this.

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Degrees Of Fatherhood

August 23, 2010 By 5 Comments

It is back to school time, and today my youngest child, my daughter, started at a new school.  This time, however, I didn’t have to pack her lunch, or walk her to the bus stop. I won’t be looking forward to any more parent teacher conferences or notes sent home about missed homework assignments. Nope.  Those days are officially over as today my daughter started college.  Daddy’s little girl has entered the land of higher education, as her older brothers have done before her, and as such, the proverbial ball is now in her court. I can encourage and inspire and advise, but in the end her school career, and her career thereafter, is now officially up to her.

Fatherhood Is An Education

Parenting is a series of never-ending milestones, and for many years we gauge our children’s growth and progress by their progression through school. From their first day at Pre-K to the day they don their caps and gowns for High School Graduation, through their schooling we see them grow from toddlers to teens, from mischief to maturity, from youngsters to young adults.  As they pass from grade to grade, we mark off yet another year in our quest to be the best parent we can.  Every graduation is filled with enormous pride, and just a little touch of sadness as we realize a teeny bit more of our work here is done.  Of course, the good news is that being a dad is forever, and as our kids grow older and move on to new phases of their lives, we are right by their side, entering a new degree of parenthood.

My daughter called me after her first day on “campus.”  She loved her first classes and was thrilled and excited.  But not as thrilled and excited as I am for her!

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 22, Ethan, 20 and Olivia, 18).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.?

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Teaching Kids About Business

May 8, 2010 By 69 Comments

I’ve been reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books lately. You’d know Rich Dad Poor Dad. I’ve read another six of them. In so doing, the topic of teaching your kids about money and even business came up. Now, most of us, when faced with thinking about teaching our kid about business, think about chores, or maybe a lemonade stand. Those are all great ways to do it. In my case, I went a bit more modern.

In our case, Violette decided to start an eBay business, because it’s online, because it’s based on learning about sales and marketing, and because she likes shopping at yard sales (and her idea is to find items that might be hidden gems and sell them via eBay with her Mom). We picked up my friend Marsha Collier’s eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies (amazon affiliate link). It’s not exactly 8-year-old reading level, but she’s excited about it because she knows we’re treating her like a big kid with big plans.

Here’s a quick video of her with the book:

She loves drawing and playing and running around outdoors. Before reading parts of the first chapter, we were throwing around a little football. So, it’s not like she’s not getting a chance to be a kid. But she’s learning business early. Schools don’t teach it. And frankly, our public education system is setting kids up to be employees, not entrepreneurs.

My own parents did what they could to teach me about business growing up. Instead, I’m going to do what I can to educate mine with as many skills as I can wedge in there.

What’s your take?

(Oh, and if you want the book she’s talking about for yourself, or for your kids, here it is:)

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An Education on Education: Chris Lehmann Talks “School 2.0″ At #140Conf

April 26, 2010 By 5 Comments

Last week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Jeff Pulver‘s 140 Characters Conference: Exploring The State of Now!  There were nearly 170 speakers and panelists at this two day event, including celebrities, musicians, technologists, media personalities, educators, and more.  Without question, one of the most popular and inspiring presentations was that of Chris Lehmann, Principal of The Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.  His thoughtful, passionate, and enlightening presentation received an inspirational standing ovation, and I think you will see why if you watch the ten minute video below.

What Is School 2.0?

As Chris Lehmann so eloquently explains, the (one of many) problem(s) with our current education system’s curriculum is that it is one of training and not educating.  As Mr. Lehmann states, our schools have one goal in mind with our kids, and that is “teaching them to take tests, not to think.”  As I am sure many of you reading this will agree (I do), Mr. Lehmann is passionate that standardized testing is NOT the answer, but rather it is contributing to the problem.  Because of the fact that reading and math are the only subjects that can be easily standardized, those subjects are the objects of the tests, and because schools must “train” our kids to take these tests, the rest of the subjects – art, history, science, phys ed, etc., are all put in the background.   On the other hand, in Chris Lehmann’s vision for School 2.0 kids learn to THINK and experience life.  In School 2.0 technology and devices are as prevalent in the classroom as pencils, paper and chalk.

If you have kids who are in school or soon will be (or if you just care about the state of our education system) please watch Chris Lehmann, and please let us know your thoughts on his presentation and “School 2.0″ in the comments!

??Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 21, Ethan, 19 and Olivia, 18).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes!and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.

Photo Credit: © Stephen Coburn – Fotolia.com

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