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Stolen Words, Photos, and the NickMom Fiasco

Posted on September 21, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Children learn early that is is not acceptable to steal written words from other people. Of course, that does not mean that everyone follows these copyright laws. As a teacher, I had ways to check to see if my students were plagiarizing their book reports, essays, and other items. It’s sad to say that tools exist for teachers. This was probably part of the reason why I made book reports into projects that were more creative and outside of the box. They were more fun to correct and share. Plus, they were harder to copy from a source.

As a parent, I have had to explain to my nine year old that when he needs a photos for a project we have to go to sources that are acceptable. Simply using Google images to hunt something down is not allowed. This is something that many schools are starting to explain to students, but with budget cuts many technology education curriculums are being slashed. This often means internet usage and copyright laws are not being covered properly. We need to make sure that our children are following these.

Now, you would think that grown adults would know better than to copy something that was not their work. This is not the case. Several months ago, I had a content scrapper pull an entire blog post about my anniversary. Every word, photo, link, and item was pasted onto their for-profit website. No permission was asked, it was simply taken. I caught it because of a ping-back on a link within my stolen post. I submitted a comment requesting the item be removed immediately and mentioned DMCA laws. After a week of nothing being removed and noting more and more stolen item on their website, TechyDad stepped into use his webmaster ways. Since they were pointing to MY photos hosted on my server, we replaced their call to them with this:

This remained on their website for a few days, then the website vanished. Of course, not all content thieves leave a trail. Case in point – the NickMom website (that I refuse to direct you to). If you have not heard about their massive blunder, you must head over to read Amy Lupold Bair’s post where she introduced the blogging community about the tactics of NickMom. Kelby Carr, Type-A Mom, continues to update her post about how NickMom is sliming parent bloggers. More and more bloggers have written about how to protect your photos after they realized their items were stolen. The reality is that NickMom continues to publish content that is not theirs and will not remove it unless the owner notifies them. I love the way Emily, ColoradoMoms, puts it. The picture of her adorable son and the caption are spot on. Nichole Smith, The Guilty Parent, compares this tactic to stranger danger. These wonderful women, and so many others, have now written about this topic, but one post really hit home. It was from Sarah, Nerdy Apple, on why she left NickMom. As someone who once left a writing job because I was worried about my reputation, I applaud Sarah for standing up and protecting herself. As a community, we must unite to protect each other and stop people from thinking that it is acceptable to take content without permission.

So my question to you this week:

Had you heard about the NickMom drama and have you ever had someone take your writing, photos, or other work without your permission? Would love to know your take on this ever growing issue in the blogging world.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #221

Categories:
Aloha Friday bloggy friends Educational photos PSA school social media TechyDad vent

Rosh Hashanah Art and The Kissing Hand

Posted on September 15, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear JSL,

The Kissing Hand project still seems to be working. After your first full week of kindergarten, things seem to be getting better. You still do not want to let go of my hand in the morning. By Friday, you were no longer crying when I left. Now, I just have to hope that will continue after four days off for Rosh Hashanah.

Last Sunday, you had your first official day of Hebrew School. It was a bitter sweet moment for me. You and I always had fun on Sunday mornings when NHL went off. Now it is your turn to join this tradition and learn about our Jewish faith, along with Hebrew.

When it was time to go to class on Sunday, you did not want to let me go. You did not really know anyone in your class. You were in a new location and the teacher was not who we had thought it would be. Still, I reminded you about The Kissing Hand. Then when I saw the aid in the hall later on, I told her to remind you that we had “powered up” when I left and it would help you out. Much to my surprise, this showed up on your Rosh Hashanah project.

You did all of the fantastic apple prints, but you asked someone to help you make a kissing hand. In addition to this, they helped to draw little JSL. It was the sweetest thing to see, it make me smile. I truly hope that this will be the start of many amazing and wonderful years ahead of you in school and learning about our faith.

Love,

Categories:
arts and crafts books Dear Kid Saturday holidays jsl milestone photos school

Making Sure to Take Deep Breaths

Posted on September 13, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I type this post, I need to remind myself to take deep breaths. Things will be ok. The storm will end and there has to be some sort of rainbow coming. Of course, at the same time, my inner Eeyore does not believe it. I want to sit here and scream. Wednesday has not been a good day. I sent the little kid off to kindergarten in tears again. Once home, I did some work and then called to get blood test results from the ENT for him. Those were a-ok, but the radiologist does not agree with the doctor on his assessment of the x-ray.

I held it together as I waited to hear back about scheduling a follow-up appointment with the ENT. Knowing that surgery for my son may be needed. Then, JSL’s teacher wanted to talk to me. Apparently, they wanted to do further speech testing. JSL had just “graduated” from speech therapy in June after two intensive and amazing years. My sweet little guy is so nervous with all of the changes that he isn’t confident in his speech. All of the hard work has him talking slow and fragmented, which messes up the articulation. Of course, being stuffed up and having a hard time breathing will also make you do those things.

Then, it was a mad dash to get NHL and shuttle him to Hebrew School. Traffic was horrible, but we just got there before class started. Then things happened that blew my mind. I do not have words for what I witnessed. Thank goodness I went with NHL to the classroom and he did not go alone. We left and now wait to see what will happen. Memories of my Hebrew School experiences came flashing back. I will NOT allow this to happen to my child.

There is more that I want to write about, but that will come later. So much to share that may help others, but first I need to make sure we are set with the news and developments that happened over the last few months. For now, I will remind myself that I am blessed with my family, support system, and must just keep swimming.

How do you remind yourself to keep going and look for the rainbow?

It's Me

Categories:
allergies decisions doctor family looking back me moments photos school vent

September 11th for the Next Generation

Posted on September 11, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

TechyDad and I were married in June of 2001. Little did we know that just a few months later the world would forever change. I have written about September 11, 2001 many times before. I wrote about the classroom I was teaching in, the way we told the children, not knowing if my husband’s best friend in NYC was ok, and having trouble getting in touch with my father-in-law.

Eleven years later, my heart still breaks thinking about that day and how the world stopped for so many families who lost loved ones. Trying to wrap your head around that is hard, even if you lived through it. Now imagine the new generation of children like my boys who do not recall this day and only know life with all of the day to day security changes. This is the reality that many of us face today on this remembrance day and beyond. How will we tell future generations about why we pause, stop, and will never forget?

News shows are way too frightening for young children to watch. They are surreal and disturbing even to those that watched it eleven years ago. While out shopping recently, something caught my eye in the children’s book section.

Books on this topic are a great way to introduce the subject matter and can be done for different age levels. The book above is part of a series of historical fiction books by Lauren Tarshis that target events that changed history (Titanic, Hurricane Katrina, Pearl Harbor, and more). We have not read these books, but I hope to check this one out soon to see if it would be a good read aloud to use with my son. You may also read an excerpt of the book on the I Survived page from Scholastic

We definitely need our children to know what happened on that horrific day, but we need to make sure it is developmentally appropriately. With books and lessons plans like the ones featured on Albany Kid, teachers and parents can begin to plan how they will approach this tough topic. I know that this is something TechyDad and I really need to think about with our son in fourth grade.

Of course, I still think back to my post from last year. One of the best things to come out of this tragedy was the renewed American Spirit. Red, White, and Blue Pride was all over the country. Perhaps this is something that younger children can embrace and we can show them until they are old enough to learn more about the other items. One day, they too will see the videos and know just why that day forever changed the United States of America.

If you have talked to your children about September 11, 2001 – please weigh in on how you approached this topic. I think we can use this day as a day of learning and remembrance to help one another.

Categories:
books looking back me moments photos real world news school TechyDad

Power of The Kissing Hand

Posted on September 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Both of the boys are back in school and full time now. I have a fourth grader and kindergarten kid in the house. For three days now, JSL has cried at drop off. Thursday was a little different since he went in about 40 minutes late after an ENT appointment. We have found something that seems to help at least a little (unless his teachers tell me otherwise). We implemented The Kissing Hand technique thanks to the book by Audrey Penn. Each morning, when I drop JSL off, we power-up our kissing hands to make sure we are both ready for the day away from each other.

When he came out of school on Thursday, I noticed his left hand was rather blue. We arrived at home and there was a surprise inside his backpack. Check this out:

JSL’s blue outlined fingers were from making his own kissing hand. I may not be Mrs. Raccoon and JSL isn’t Chester, but this may be a great tradition that works for us at the start of a new school year, or a day he’s nervous or sad.

So my question for you today:

Do you have any traditions or items that you have done to help your kids to ease into the school routine? If you do not have children, what helped you as a child?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #219