Kindle Fire FreeTime Parental Controls Review

January 4, 2013 By 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 32Kindle Fire FreeTime Parental Controls

How Kindle Fire FreeTime works

FreeTime is an App that some preloaded on new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD readers from Amazon.

What Kindle FreeTime does well

– Control amount of time kids spend on the three categories available (Apps, Video, Books)
– Restrict access to parent Kindle system apps, videos, Internet, Music*, Books
– Tracks book reading progress separately between parent and each of the kid profiles in Kindle FreeTime. My wife and my son are both reading The Roman, The Twelve, and The King by Jenny L. Cote. My son generally stays ahead of my wife so his place is saved in his FreeTime profile and does not affect the last read place saved by my wife in the main Kindle OS.

Kindle FreeTime failures with some workarounds

– Music is not accessible from within Kindle FreeTime with apps and services built in by default

Workaround: Install a music playing app. Then add the Music player app to your child’s Kindle FreeTime Apps. WARNING: The music app will burn up app time. There is no way to limit screen time per App so all apps count towards daily limit.

– Kindle opens into the last profile used in FreeTime or the main full featured profile if FreeTime was not active during last shutdown.

Workaround:

–  Kindle Fire has the ability to load a screen lock pin. We share this with our oldest son who is the primary user. We (my wife and I) are diligent to log into FreeTime and enter into Riley’s profile so that the Kindle will open back into his profile when the screen lock pin is entered. He gets to protect access to his apps and books from his younger brothers and we know he is only accessing his content because the Parental Controls password must be entered to get to the root OS of the Kindle Fire.

Kindle FreeTime Feature Requests Wish List

– Five minute warning before time allocation is up
– FreeTime profiles tied to screen lock PINs
– Add a music category that works like video category where parents can choose which songs kids can listen to. Then FreeTime App time is not eaten up by listening to music with 3rd party app.

PARENTING News

The Ozz family is growing.
Babywise Friendly Blog Network – Check them out

The Journey of Parenthood
Childwise Chat
Chronicles of a Babywise Mom
Daddy Life
Graceful Mom
My Baby Sleep Guide
http://www.babywisebooks.com/


Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Parenting, Podcast, Safety, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Apple iOS 6 Upgrade Security Features

October 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 31 - Apple iOS6 - Identity Theft - Lying to your kidsCredit card and Debit card theft

Norfolk Naval Base McDonald’s Cashier Admits to Stealing Credit Card Data

DeLand Florida Chili’s Resurant server skims $24,000 from debit and credit cards.

iPhone 5 and iOS6

Tablet Crunch – Tim Cook Apology for Apple iOS 6 Maps

Find My iPhone

“It happens. You misplace your iPhone or your iPad or your iPod touch. Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost Mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device.7 Immediately lock your missing iPhone with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your iPhone. And while in Lost Mode, your device will keep track of where it’s been and report back to you anytime you check in with the Find My iPhone app.” Source: Apple.com

Kindle Store Search Risks

Searching for popular children’s books in the Amazon Kindle Store reveals inappropriate material for kids.

Hiding status updates on Facebook

If I no longer comment on your Facebook status updates then it may be because I have chose to hide your junk. In this episode I explain how.

Lying to your kids

Ad Council encourages lying to your children in this YouTube video in support of 1st Lady Michele Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign

50 Shades of Lying on The Graceful Mom Blog

Other Links Mentioned:

Home School Support Network

Daddy Life Episode 8

 

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Parenting, Podcast, Safety, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Halloween and Mediocrity

September 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Halloween and Mediocrity EpisodeWhat do we do on Halloween instead of trick-or-treat, festivals, or costume parties? Our family enjoys each others’ company like we do many other nights throughout the year because in our family we believe that Halloween is Optional.

Ericka over at Large Families on Purpose asks if you are going to have a “Happy” Halloween? Her birthday falls on October 31 and that seems to make people think that she is an expert on the traditions of Halloween. And given her blog post and the number of positive responses, I would say that she is more than an expert than most on this subject.

Family Travel Adventures

Check out our Daddy Life Facebook Fan Page to see us kissing the yard of bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We were traveling with our son Caden who has servere medical special needs related to 22q11.2 (DiGeorge Syndrome).

Mysterious backyard sound – What or who is that Owl talking to?

TECH TIME

Amazon Kindle store does not filter adult explicit and erotic book results from searches.

 

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Family Fun, Parenting, Podcast, Special Needs, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matt Rutherford – A Dad with Cerebral Palsy

June 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This podcast episode contains an interview with Matt

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 29 LogoDue to complications at birth, Matt was afflicted with cerebral palsy, which resulted in his permanently crippled condition. Surprisingly, a disability resulting from Cerebral Palsy (CP) has never stood between him and his life goals with his career, marriage, or in his parenting.  From the moment he was born, Matt demonstrated his ability to overcome the odds.  During the birthing process, he was deprived of oxygen for more than 20 minutes.  This lack of oxygen resulted in damage to the cerebral cortex. While the lack of oxygen did not affect Matt’s cognitive ability, it significantly impacted his muscle control and movement.


Matt’s Web Site: SOAR1.net

More from this episode:

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife Sherry.

 

Also mentioned in this episode:

Understand Childhood Fears on Childwise Chat

Riley’s review of The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud on The Home School Support Network

Large Families on Purpose

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Marriage, Parenting, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , ,

What Makes a Father a Daddy?

May 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 28Dads, Marriage Counts and you need to take the lead in your home.

Get to know your wife and children better


Lead devotions: We just started doing things different.

  • Pray a simple prayer asking God to speak to you.
  • Reading a chapter from a children’s bible.
  • Pray and thank God and ask Him to fill your needs.


Be present

  • Attend appointments (school, medical, etc) (Mom’s let dads help)
  • Take your kids camping…even if in the back yard
  • Go for a bike ride


Being a great husband even when you disagree

  1. No name calling
  2. Leave the past in the past
  3. LISTEN
  4. Keep your hands to yourself
  5. Allow a disagreement resolution to play out in from of the kids


Boys want to be like Daddy
Girls want to gain Dad’s approval

Facebook Page – http://www.facebook.com/DaddyLife

Levi’s Birthday Our youngest turned two on Memorial Day

Levi turns 2

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy


Babywise Friendly Blog Segment

God’s Faithfulness Through Infertility

 

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Marriage, Parenting, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Growing Boys into Men

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 27 LogoHazardous Journeys Society

Vision Forum – Discipleship and Education for Christian Families

Jonathan Park Radio Adventure Series – Great adventures to educate children on the facts about creation and evolution.

In this episode I quote from: http://atheists.org/content/christmas

“No Adam and Eve means no need for a savior. It also means that the Bible cannot be trusted as a source of unambiguous, literal truth. It is completely unreliable, because it all begins with a myth, and builds on that as a basis. No Fall of Man means no need for atonement and no need for a redeemer. You know it.”

Christians are the only real free thinkers in the evolution/creation debate. Evolutionist have not interest in teaching their kids opposing theories. We as Christian parents are not afraid to teach our kids the unproven evolutionary theories. We know what is at stake. Christians have a eternity with their children to loose if they miss teaching their kids to defend their faith. Building a strong defense requires some degree of understanding about the enemy.

Things for Dad’s to do with boys:

Biking – All my boys like biking even if it is riding in the little pull-along trailer/cart that attaches to my bicycle.

Gardening – This is an awesome place to learn about growing food and how God works in our lives. What is planted in our hearts is what grows up and comes out though our words, actions, and attitudes.

Building – Build a raise flow bed for your home garden. Build a toy or a pice of furniture. It does not matter, just spend time teaching your boys how to use tools safely.

Fixing – Fix those broken toys before you simply trash them t buy new ones. You may think you have more time than money, but no amount of money can replace the time spent with your kids.

Hunting – Many dads and moms start to take their kids hunting at a young age.

Fishing – Every young boy can catch a fish before they are even five years old.

Cooking/Grilling – Teaching your kids how to cook that fish.

Playing Games – I recommend things like chess, Risk, or Monopoly. These games provide a much better environment.

 

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Boys Being Boys, Education, Parenting, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , ,

Podcast Review of Monumental and the Easter Bunny

March 31, 2012 By 2 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 26I am here to help you Dads to be the parents that God intended for your to be.

Yes folks, Things are changing. Regular listeners may have heard from intro that I am changing things up a little. I am refining the focus of the Daddy Life podcast. Feedback continues to prove that dads are hungry for more encouragement on the parenting front. I almost exclusively get feedback from the non-technical content so that is where I am going to focus attention. There are plenty of dads out there covering the things that entertain. I am here to equip and challenge you to rise above the level of mediocrity in your marriage and in your parenting.

I will add tech tips in as subjects questions are raised. As in recent episode, I will only include a tech time in occasionally moving forward.

So what am I talking about this week:

This week I am going to provide you with an audio version of my review of Kirk Cameron’s new documentary titled Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure. Only you will get more in the audio because I can bring Kirk into from the trailers and let him tell you about the movie in his own words.

Before we get into that I want to talk about Easter. If you are new to the show you will know that I am very big on relationships. In particular I am big on telling the truth to your kids concerning things like Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. And you guessed it, I am in favor of keeping it real and true concerning the Easter Bunny. We do Easter baskets and egg hunts, but we tell our kids the truth about where the candy eggs and chocolate bunny’s come from. There is no magical bunny. Really! Seriously!

Also mentioned in this episode are some points from David Platt’s book titled Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.

Monumental is Highly recommended! DEMAND THE MOVIE

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Education, Family Fun, Parenting, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Ask Your Child to Forgive You

March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Daddy Life Podcast Episode 25 - Forgiveness
Rachel from over at the blog titled My Baby Sleep Guide is the winner of the latest (2012) edition of On Becoming Babywise.

Speaking of Babywise, there is a new Nap App available for the iPhone from PocketParenting.com. This app has been developed by the same folks that publish On Becoming Babywise. There are demo videos and screenshots on the web site.

 

Asking your child for Forgiveness and Make it Right

Asking your child to forgive you for something you did to hurt them is hard. If you are a headstrong natural born alpha male leader type, it can be extremely more difficult to master this process. It takes an extra degree of humility.

I recently embarrassed my nine year old son Riley. I raised my voice to him in front of some neighborhood kids. A few minutes later Riley let me know (respectfully) that he had been embarrassed by my tone. I was still hot and sent him to his room so that I could cool off.

After I cooled off I went up to Riley’s room and sat on the bed next to him. I asked him if he would forgive me for embarrassing him in front of his friends by raising my voice. He said yes and gave me a big hug.

This about where things end for how most people deal with forgiveness. Our friends Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo taught us better in Growing Kids God’s Way. They teach that when wrong is done and forgiveness is asked for an give, there is still a need to restore the relationship.

Then I asked Riley how I could make it right with him.

Many people apologize or say they are sorry. Very few ever ask how they can make things right. By making things right I mean that we should try to restore the relationship.

Tech Time

Droid – Angry Birds Ads –  How to stop advertisements while your child plays Angry Birds on your Android OS.

Using your ICE (In Case of Emergency) contacts on your phone.

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Education, Podcast, Safety, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Raising Teen Girls – Interview

February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This podcast episode contains an interview with a man’s man who is raising a house full of girls. Stacy Ratliff is an independent video consultant, producer, and editor with over 25 years of experience. He has produced a ton of content in the hunting/fishing/shooting categories over the past two decades. Stacy wrote and produced the ESPN Ultimate NASCAR 100 Defining Moments, The Bassmaster Yearbook, Driven to Hunt and much more that has aired on ESPN, the Outdoor Channel, and the Sportsman Channel. He has done camera work on the National Finals Rodeo, music videos, commercials, and industrial films. You can see some of Stacy’s video work on his Vimeo page.

Stacy is they guy who took Dale Earnhardt Jr on his first hunt. Stacy worked with the three time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart on a show title Driven to Hunt. in that episode they were working with some kids through the Make A Wish Foundation. Stacy has also worked with NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt as well as Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Kevin Harvik, Martin Truex and many more.

Stacy has been married to Anne for 21 years. They have three teen girls ages 14, 16, and 18. They are key couple leaders in the Growing Families International parenting ministry.

Stacy has recently moved into the role of being an independent video consultant, producer, and editor. I am sure he would greatly appreciate any work you can send in his direction. You can connect with Stacy on LinkedIn.

Leave feedback in the comments below or contact us via:
Daddy Life on Twitter
Voice Mail: (864) 372-9833

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Family Fun, Marriage, Parenting, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wireless Security

February 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Dad’s should teach their kids good wireless security practices and configure home wireless networks to be as secure as possible.

This episode provides an explanation on the frequency of episode productions. I also provide an update on our son Caden.

There are two main areas of concern:

  1. Your home wireless network configuration
  2. Your and your family member’s wireless devices

Home Wireless

Home wireless comes in many flavors. The most popular brands of home wireless devices, also called access points, or routers are Linksys (Owned by Cisco) Net Gear, D-Link, Apple, Belkin, and Motorola.

  1. Use good wireless encryption. WPA and WPA2 is the current, common encryption standard you should probably be using — though, of course, you should use something stronger as soon as it becomes available to you. Technology is advancing every day, on both sides of the encryption arms race, after all.
  2. Use a strong pre-shared key (password) IhagviW,NC
  3. Build a DMZ or add a separate router for guests and leave it open access
  4. Easy stuff to keep out the kiddie hackersDon’t broadcast your SSID.
    MAC Filtering
    Avoid WEP

WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) Vulnerability

The following manufactures have published instructions on how to protect your network:

  • Belkin
  • Netgear
  • D-Link

While Linksys routers do have an option to disable WPS…it does not actual disable the protocol.  I expect we will see firmware updates for more major maufatures very soon.

When you or your family members go ut with wireless devices:

  • Firewall your laptop
  • Limit your Privacy activity
  • Use VPNs
  • Turn of wireless network cards OFF

Leave feedback in the comments below or contact us via:
Daddy Life on Twitter
Voice Mail: (864) 372-9833

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or RSS:

DaddyLife.net Podcast Daddy Life Podcast RSS Feed

Filed Under: Podcast, Safety, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,
Next Page »