Wow! The 100th episode of Lost did not disappoint. It had everything. There were revelations, answers, excitement, emotion, theories and death. We finally got to see much more of Daniel's back story, which as we've seen before, doesn't always bode well for a character's chance of surviving the episode.

The highlights of Lost season 5 episode 14 (100th episode) "The Variable":

1. Charles Widmore is Daniel's father. I've suspected it all along but now there is confirmation. It does make sense since he has always funded all of Daniel's work, taken care of Theresa and was with Ellie on the Island. We still don't know who Penny's mother is/was. Is it possibly Eloise? Are Daniel and Penny full brother and sister or just half? Even though Eloise said to Widmore outside the hospital "Your daughter is inside", she could have meant "your" in the respect that the one he had custody of.

2. Desmond, Penny and little Charlie survived Ben's attack and are all okay. I really think, and hope, they will all make it to the end of the series alive. It would just be too sad and tragic to have anything happen to any of them.

3. Daniel spoke to young Charlotte on the Island, just as Charlotte said before she died. She even mentioned eating chocolate before dinner again.

4. We now know where the very first scene of Season 5 "Because you Left" came from. It was repeated tonight as Daniel went down into the Orchid.

5. We now know for sure that it was Charles Widmore that planted the plane at the bottom of the ocean.

6. There are numerous references to the "Incident" at the Swan. Daniel told Chang that it would be catastophic and that he should get everyone off the Island. When Chang asked how he knew this, Daniel told him he was from the future and that Miles was his son, also from the future. This must have been the reason that Chang sent his wife and baby Miles off the Island. I wonder if that might be why Miles lied and said Daniel was crazy. He didn't want to be sent off the Island.

7. There was another discussion of the Incident between Daniel and Jack when Daniel told Jack about his plan to change the future by preventing the Incident from occurring. He told Jack that his original theory of "what happened, happened" is wrong. He had been focusing too much on the constant and forgot about the variable. The variable is them, people and they can change what is going to happen.

8. Daniel was shot and killed? by his own mother. Did Eloise really send him to the Island for this reason as Daniel said? Could she have really planned that, and if so why? What Daniel was saying that he could change the future, I had a feeling that if he died it would be because maybe he was originally right that what happened, happened and this was a way to prevent him from stopping the Incident.

9. How are Sawyer, Juliet, Hurley, Miles and Jin going to get away from Dharma and to the beach? Radinsky is crazed with anger.

10. Sawyer was completely against bringing Daniel to the Hostiles. When Kate agreed to take them, at Jack's request, Juliet gave Kate the alarm code. Why did she go against Sawyer's wishes. Did she do so to get Kate away from Sawyer?

11. Sawyer had 2 nicknames for Daniel: Twitchie and H.G. Wells (author of the Time Machine).

12. J.J. Abrams shoutouts:

• During the title sequence at the beginning, stars began shining and the Starship Enterprise appearing and it suddenly became a Star Trek commercial. J.J. Abrams' is the director is the new Star Trek.
• There is a Wired magazine at Daniel's house. J.J. Abrams is the guest editor of this month's issue of Wired.

13. Noteworthy quotes from The Variable:

• In the hospital, Penny asks Eloise if her son is Benjamin Linus. Eloise: "Good Lord, no!"
• Hurley, after finding out that the island group traveled back to 1954, "You guys were in 1954, you mean like Fonzie time?"
• Daniel to Jack when explaining his new variable theory, "Any one of us can die Jack".
• Daniel as a child after his mother told him that he doesn't have time for the piano or other distractions, "I can make time mom". Eliose: "If only you could."

14. How did Daniel get the last name Farady instead of Hawking or Widmore?

15. It looks like Jack is going to try to carry out Daniel's plan. Will he be able to succeed?

16. When they all get to the beach, will Rose and Bernard be there?

Added:
Lost Season 5 Finale "The Incidents" Top 37 Moments, Questions , Quotes and More

Lost season 5 episode 15 Follow the Leader Highlights


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In recent years, Jane Austen has become one of the most celebrated writers in history. Many of her books, especially Pride and Prejudice, have had numerous adaptations of various kinds. Not only has Pride and Prejudice been made into both theatrical and television movies and stage shows, but there have also been many works based on the classic such as the films Bridget Jones's Diary and Bride and Prejudice and the recent book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now, Marvel Comics is getting in on the act and is publishing a five issue comic book of Jane Austen's most famous book.

Pride & Prejudice #1 (of 5) written by Nancy Butler and penciled by Hugo Petrus was recently released. You can see a sneak peek of a few pages of the comic here at Marvel Comics website. The comic has stayed mostly faithful to the book, however the language was been updated just enough to make it easier to understand. I actually love the language used in Austen's books, but I know that it is a turn-off to many people that would otherwise love her stories.

It would be wonderful if these comics would open up the world of Jane Austen to a whole new audience. Hopefully they would then move on to her books. Mr. Darcy is an iconic character that everyone should be familiar with. My favorite Jane Austen book is actually Sense and Sensibility, but that might be because I fell in love with the 1995 movie production written by and starring Emma Thompson. Maybe if the Pride & Prejudice comics work out, Marvel will make a Sense and Sensibility comic next.

See also: Emma and the Vampires - New Jane Austen Mashup


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Our friends at BuddyTV really do put together some great slideshows for Lost fans. We have seen many connections between the various characters on Lost over the years. Did you ever realize just how many there are? Do you think that you know every one of them? Could you have missed one or two? Of course we all know the big Lost connections, i.e. Locke's father is the same man that conned Sawyer's family and who Sawyer take his name from. But there are some very little connections that you might not have noticed.

I enjoyed watching the Lost: 100 Off-Island Connections slideshow over at BuddyTV. In addition to reminding me of all the connections, I always like a chance to see pictures of characters no longer on the series. Have fun watching. This should gear you up even more for tomorrow night's 100th episode of Lost.

Lost Season 5 Episode 14 The Variable Highlight

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I just read the book Much To Your Chagrin: A Memoir of Embarrassment by Suzanne Guillette for an online book club. The book is a memoir of a twenty-nine year old woman and about how writing about the humiliations of others helped her to understand and accept herself.

Much To Your Chagrin got me thinking about the different levels of embarrassment individuals possess. Suzanne's character in the book was very carefree, unorganized and always late. Because things often go wrong for people that live like that, it took a lot to embarrass her. I would have been mortified at almost all the predicaments she got herself into.

I think that your level of embarrassment is at least partly hereditary. It may be part nature and part nurture, but I see connections between kids and their parents in this. Growing up, my entire family embarrassed very easily. Now I see that my sons have inherited this. However my husband, taking after his father, is clearly the opposite, which can sometimes be the source of our embarrassment.

Do you find similarities in your families levels of embarrassment? Do you have any stories you'd like to share?

To read the stories of the other book club members see: Our Embarrassing Stories - A Silicon Valley Moms Blog Book Club on Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guillette

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Cover of Help! My Teenager Is an Alien

I know that I get a wide variety of readers to my blog. However, many of you actually are parents of teenagers that read it to connect with your teens through pop culture and technology. Those of you that are parenting teens may also want other types of advice that I don't offer. I decided to put together a list of ten various blogs and websites for parents of teens:

1. The Teen Coach Blog by Sarah Newton. Sarah wrote the book, "Help! My Teenager is an Alien - the everyday situation guide for parents".

2. Parent Empowerment by Sue Scheff (P.U.R.E.) Parents' Universal Resource Experts. Sue is a parent advocate and author and his written the book "Wit's End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-Of-Control Teen".

3. Radical Parenting - with Vanessa Van Petten. Vanessa became a parenting expert at 17 when she wrote her parenting book from the teen's perspective "You're Grounded".

4. (deleted)

5. Parenting Teens Online - The information resource for parents of teenagers.

6. Parenting My Teen - Internet Radio & Podcast

7. Please Stop the Rollercoaster! by Sue Blaney. Tips and Tools for successfully parenting your teens.

8. Parenting Teens Resource Network

9. iParenting: Preteen & Teen Channel

10. Suite 101 - Parenting Teens

If you know of any other blog or websites about parenting teens that you would recommend, please let tell us about them in the comments.

See also: Goal Charts for Parents, Teens and Tweens with GoalForIt


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From the moment I began reading the book Willow by Julia Hoban, I was hooked. I couldn't put it down. I was completely taken with the complex character of Willow, a teenage girl, and her heartbreaking story.

From the back cover of Willow:

Seven months ago on a rainy March night, Willow Randall’s parents drank too much wine at dinner and asked her to drive them home. But they never made it – Willow lost control of the car, and both of her parents were killed.

Now seventeen, Willow has left behind her old home, friends, and school – numbing the grim reality of her new life by secretly cutting herself. But everything changes when one of Willow’s new classmates, a boy as sensitive and thoughtful as she is, discovers Willow’s secret and refuses to let her destroy herself.

All of the characters in Willow are real and complex. While I never understood why anybody would want to cut themselves, Julia Hoban's writing allowed me to completely understand why Willow felt that she needed to cut herself to survive.

Willow is a book about grief, pain, and love. Because of the subject matter it is recommended for ages 14 and up. Not only will teens love this book but adults will also. One warning, once you start reading Willow, you will not be able to stop. It is one of the most engrossing books I have ever read.



See also:  
Growing Up Bipolar: New Memoir from Terri Cheney
Will Grayson, Will Grayson - YA Novel by Two Award Winning Authors


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It's that time of year again. Summer movie season is coming soon and already the commercials have begun and the articles are being written about this summer's blockbusters. I am not even going to try to predict which movies will be hits or not. I am merely writing this to point out what I think will be the top 20 movies that teens will want to see this summer.

See also: 23 Summer Movies for Teens and Tweens 2010

Here, in chronological order from May through August 2009, are the 20 movies for teens, a few of which I have already written about back in January in 14 Movies for Teens 2009:

1. 5/1 X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Hugh Jackman continues to play Wolverine in this prequel to the X-Men Trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character. (For Lost fans, Dominic Monaghan, aka Charlie, plays Bolt, a mutant who can manipulate electricity.

2. 5/8 Star Trek: The long awaited 11th film in the series, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lost). This film features the original Star Trek crew at an earlier point in time than the original series. Kirk is now played by Chris Pine (from the movie Just my luck) and Spock by Zachary Quinto (Heroes' Sylar). We will see both of their back stories and learn how they met.

3. 5/8 Little Ashes: Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as Salvador Dali. Teenage girls will want to see it for that reason only. From what I've read about it, I'm sure it will have an R rating, so all the younger teen girls with crushes on him may be disappointed.

4. 5/21 Terminator Salvation: The 4th Terminator movie is set in 2018 and centers on the war between humanity and Skynet. Christian Bale now plays John Connor with Sam Worthington the new Terminator.

5. 6/5 Land of the Lost: Based on the 1974 TV series Land of the Lost (which somehow I have no recollection of), it stars Will Ferrell, Anna Friel and Danny McBride. The film is a comedy adventure where Will Ferrell plays a paleontologist who along with his assistant and a tour guide, get sucked into a strange world of dinosaurs and other strange creatures.

6. 6/12 The Taking of Pelham 123: The original 1974 movie was so well done that I can't imagine how this can movie can possibly improve on it. One thing that the 2009 version has is an all-star cast including Denzel Washington, John Travolta and James Gandolfini. For those of you that never saw the original, The Taking of Pelham 123 is about the hijacking of a subway train.

7. 6/19 Year One: This movie stars Jack Black and Michael Cera and is directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Judd Apatow. Without knowing anything else about it, teens will be flocking to it.

8. 6/24 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Sequel to the 2007 Transformers film. This live action science fiction movie is also directed by Michael Bay, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and stars Shia LaBeouf.

9. 7/1 Public Enemies: The attempt of an FBI agent to stop John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during the years 1933 - 1934. The movie stars Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and Billy Crudup and is based on Bryan Burrough's book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.

10. 7/10 I Love You Beth Cooper: Based on the bestselling book by the same name and starring Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) a nerdy valedictorian at a high school in Buffalo, NY, declares his love to cheerleader Beth Cooper during his graduation speech. This movie is directed by Chris Columbus who previously directed mega-hits Home Alone, the first 2 Harry Potter Movies and Mrs. Doubtfire.

11. 7/15 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Based on the 6th book of the series. Directed by David Yates, director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The movie was originally supposed to be released in November 2008.

12. 7/17 (500) Days of Summer: A romantic comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

13. 7/24 G-Force: A live-action/animated 3-D film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

14. 7/31 Funny People: This summer's Judd Apatow film, written and directed by him and starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann. How many teens won't see this movie?

15. 8/7 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Based on the 1982 and 1983 comic books stars Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid and Sienna Miller.

16. 8/14 Bandslam: Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) now playing a high school rocker.

17. 8/14 Post Grad: Alexis Bledel, aka Rory Gilmore, plays a college graduate who moves back home with her dysfunctional family.

18. 8/14 Taking Woodstock: Directed by Ang Lee, this comedy-drama is based on the autobiography "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life".

19. 8/14 The Time Traveler's Wife: Based on the book by the same name (and one of my favorite books of all time) this beautiful love story stars Rachel McAdams (The Notebook) and Eric Bana. Not necessarily a movie for teens, teenage girls that loved The Notebook might want to follow Rachel McAdams to another romantic movie.

20. 8/28 H2: A sequel to the 2007 Halloween.

Which movies are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

See also:
35 Movies for Teens 2010
Top 20 Fall Movies for Teens



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There are many other social networking websites for young people other than Facebook, and I don't just mean similar sites such as MySpace or Hi5. There are many niche sites that millennials can join that are based around a specific topic or task. In addition to socializing, these social networks can offer many benefits.

Here are articles about many of the best niche social networking sites for teens and twenty somethings:

1. 10 Must-Try Social Media Sites for College Students

2. The Top 10 Social Networks for Generation Y

3. A Green Social Networking Site for Teens

4. Scallyroo.com Lauches Goal Setting and Task Tracking Application for Teens

5. More Social Networking Sites for Tweens

If you know of any other social networking websites for teens that you can recommend, please share.

See also: 
Websites for Teenagers - 2 Different and Interesting Sites
Social Websites for Teens and Tweens 
3 New Safe Social Websites for Tweens




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Recently I was privileged to be able to participate in the "Work Life Organize" webcast from Peter Walsh, designer and professional organizer, as he introduced his new [IN]PLACE System in partnership with Office Max. He gave tips on organizing all areas of your home and office but, of course, my interest was mostly in finding the best ways to help me show my teenage sons how to organize their mess.

The best way for you to learn about the new products available in this system, including his great organizing tips, would be to watch the video of the actual webcast. If you don't want to watch the entire video, my question about organizing a dorm room is at the 34 minute and 40 second mark, very close to the end.

One of the things that I love about these new supplies is that many of them are clear so that you can see what is in them without having to open each one up. I also like the use of different colored labels and paper clips that you can then match by color. And instead of a messy bag of rubber bands, get the system's colorful and fun rubber band ball.

Peter suggested that if you have kids and a home office, be an example to your kids and keep your office organized and hopefully it will rub off on them. And if your kids, from K to 12, bring home from school many papers that they want to save, instead of throwing them in a draw (like I always did) get them each a big expanding file to put them all in. I wish I had this advice when my teens were younger.

See also:  Organize Cord Clutter with Colorful Dotz Products

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We finally got a back story for Miles in this episode of Lost. According to the Powers That Be on Lost, we were supposed to see back stories for the freighter folk last year but the strike put an end to that. Charlotte's early demise prevented us from learning much about her background. Although Daniel never had his own flashback, we did learn a great deal about him in two Desmond episodes, The Constant and Jughead. But Miles has been a complete mystery and a very interesting character so it was great to learn a little more about him.

Highlights, observations and quotes from Lost season 5 episode 13 "Some Like It Hoth":

1. Hoth (in the episode title) is the sixth planet of a remote system of the same name in the fictional universe of Star Wars (I confess that I had to look this up in Wikipedia).

2. Biggest answer that most of us already suspected: Pierre Chang is Miles' father. There was even a clue at the beginning of the episode when Miles asked where his dead father was and his mother said "Somewhere you could never go".

3. Biggest answer we had a 50/50 chance of already knowing: It looks like Widmore is the one that set up the fake plane in the ocean to appear to be Oceanic 815. When Naomi brought Miles into the Morgue to read dead Felix's mind, Miles saw Felix delivering photos of empty graves and a purchase order for an airplane to Widmore. (Unless Felix found copies of Ben's papers and was delivering them to Ben as evidence).

4. Biggest answer that we had no idea the answer to and still remains somewhat of a question - Daniel. We now know that he left the Island at some point between 1974 and 1977, probably closer to 1974 since he said to Miles "long time no see" when he returned on the submarine with other scientists. However we still don't know why he left or where he was and what he did while he was gone. However, I'm sure the reason he came back is to get everyone back to the present.

5. The numbers are back. After Miles and Hurley dropped Chang off at a construction site, Hurley saw them engraving the numbers on a hot plate. He told Miles that they were building the hatch. What hatch asked Miles. "The one that crashed our airplane". (Also, the dead man the Miles found in the motel as a child, was in room 4).

6. As almost everyone else on the Island, Miles definitely has daddy issues. He wants nothing to do with his father Chang/Kindle etc. Hurley spent a good part of the episode trying to get them together but Miles wouldn't listen. Finally he saw his father holding baby Miles in his lap and he teared up.

7. We now know how Miles wound up as part of Naomi's team on the freighter. They wanted him for his ability because they thought that he could find Ben from all the dead people that Ben killed. Miles thought the job sounded too dangerous but couldn't turn down 1.6 million dollars. Why 1.6 and not an even amount. Was it because 16 is one of the numbers?

8. Who is Bram and the others in the van that picked up Miles. Why do they ask him the same question that Ilana asked Frank, "Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?" Does Bram work for the Others or Widmore or neither? Miles said he would go with them for 3.2 million dollars, double what Naomi offered. Bram said that they aren't offering money. When Miles refused to join them, Bram told him "Your playing for the wrong team".

9. Kate was her usual self and once again messed up a plan.

10. Hurley's notebook was not a diary. He told Miles that since Star Wars was just coming out, and he knew they would be making a sequel and he saw The Empire Strikes Back hundreds of times, he was going to write the script and send and send it to George Lucas "with a few improvements".

11. There were many great quotes in this episode:

a. Miles, after Radzinsky pulled a gun on him: "I'm in the circle of trust".

b. Hurley after talking Miles into driving together: "We can carpool".

c. After Hurley tells Miles he can also talk to dead people, he say that he sees them and sometimes plays chess with them. Miles tells Hurley that thats not how it works, the dead people can't talk, he just gets a feeling from them. So Hurley replies: "Your just jealous that my power is better than yours".

d. Upon first spotting Pierre Chang, Hurley said to Miles: "Dude, That guy is an old Douche." Miles replied: "That douche is my dad".

e. Not a funny quote but one that summed up the relationship between Miles and his father - when returning the money to the man he conned Miles said: "If you needed your son to know you loved him, you should have told him while he was still alive".

12. The songs playing on the van radio while Miles and Hurley were driving were "Love will keep us together" by Captain and Tennille from 1975 and "It never rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond from 1972.

13. More references to Polar Bears - Chang threatened to send Hurley to Hydra Island to scoop polar bear turds if he told anybody about the dead body. Chang was reading a book about polar bears to baby Miles.

This was the 99th episode of Lost. Next week there isn't going to be a regular episode. We are going to see a recap type episode called "Lost: The Story of the Oceanic 6". However, in two weeks, the episode named "The Variable" will be the 100th episode of Lost. I'm sure it will be exciting. The brief preview at the end of "Some Like it Hoth" made it look like it would be.

What did you think of this episode of Lost?

Lost season 5 episode 15 Follow the Leader Highlights

Lost Season 5 Episode 14 The Variable Highlights

Added 4/28: Lost: 100 Off-Island Connections from BuddyTV

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Cover via Amazon

The Young Adult Library Services Association (Yalsa) is celebrating its Support Teen Literature Day, tomorrow, Thursday April 16, 2009.

"The purpose of this new celebration is to raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today's teens. Support Teen Literature Day also seeks to showcase some award-winning authors and books in the genre as well as highlight librarians' expertise in connecting teens with books and other reading materials."

Librarians across the country will be celebrating so try to visit a public Library on April 16 and see what is on display. You are bound to come away with many recommendations on award winning young adult books that your teens, and possibly you also, will love.

To help Support Teen Literature, here is YALSA's list of 2008 Teen's Top 10 books as voted on by teens:

1. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
5. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
7. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
8. Extras by Scott Westerfeld
9. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
10. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Enjoy reading with your teens and try out some new young adult books.

Teen picks for the best 2009 books, video games, music and DVDs from the NYPL


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If you are already a Chuck fan then you know what a great show it is, so please help do everything you can to save it from cancellation. If you have never watched it, you don't know what you are missing. This is truly a TV show that an entire family can love. I started watching from day one and knew that my sons would love it. They were both in college when it began and didn't have time to add a new show to their viewing schedule. Once I got each of them to watch one episode, they were hooked.

For those of you unfamiliar with Chuck, here is a catchup video that gives you everything you need to know in a few minutes:



How can you help save Chuck? Fortunately many others have already come up with some great ideas which you can find on these sites:

1. The Watcher by Maureen Ryan - Not only does she write an amazing television blog, but she put together a great post on saving Chuck that gave me this idea. I am really just spreading her word.

2. Zachary-Levi.net - Zachary Levi is the actor that plays Chuck.

3. NBC Contact Us page - Send them a note on this page pleading for them to keep Chuck on the air.

4. ChuckTV - Many suggestions including Help Chuck widgets to place on your blog, Facebook, etc.

5. Give Me My Remote - Read this post titled "Chuck versus the Network Pick-up"

Sometimes great television shows have trouble finding their audience. Especially this year, Monday nights at 8:00 could not have more competition. Too many quality shows are cancelled before their time. Please help Chuck escape this fate.


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Cover via Amazon

I just read a very interesting book on parenting, Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too Fast World by Marybeth Hicks. She makes many great points and I agree with so much of what she says. However there are some areas where we part company and other areas where I see her point in theory but I couldn't do in practice.

The point of Bringing Up Geeks is that children no longer grow up innocent because today's culture makes them cynical, jaded and materialistic. As kids become teens they are already living as pseudo-adults. The popular cool teens are more like to take behavioral risks and engage in dangerous behavior.

Marybeth Hicks redefines the word Geek using acronyms for each letter in the word. G is for Genuine; geeks are free to be themselves. E is for Enthusiastic, they don't have to be "too cool" for anything. E is for Empowered; geeks learn about the world beyond their immediate experience. K is for Kids; Geeks enjoy their childhood and do not grow up so fast.

The 10 rules to bringing up Geeks:

1. Raise a Brainiac - This rule I completely agree with. No child should ever dumb themselves down to be popular. But more than that, every parent should instill in their child a love of learning.

2. Raise a Sheltered Kid - This rule is about making and enforcing rules about what television and movies your kids can watch and where they can go online. This is a rule I did not follow and I don't think I'm sorry that I didn't. My kids probably developed much of their love and knowledge of pop culture and technology by being exposed to it early.

3. Raise an Uncommon Kid - The kids that I know of that were raised this way have all turned out to be exceptional; very bright and extremely creative. However, even knowing that, it is very hard as a parent to take a totally non-conformist attitude with your kids.

4. Raise a Kid Adults Like - I agree with this, however I find that most of the cool popular kids are very friendly with parents and adults because they aren't shy.

5. Raise a Late Bloomer - Being the mother of sons and no daughters, it is very easy for me to completely agree with this rule. I am appalled at the way tweens dress and act these days. As tweens they dress in ways that I never did and are doing things that I didn't even know about at that age. They need to stay young a little longer.

6. Raise a Team Player - Teach your kids that it is more important to work together and help the team than it is to win. I couldn't agree more.

7. Raise a True Friend - Every time I hear stories of how terrible cool girls are too each other, and this is to their supposed friends, I can't believe it. I like to think that if I had a daughter I would not put up with that. Being a good friend is one of the most important things that you can teach your teen.

8. Raise a Homebody - Although I do think it is good for kids and teens to see friends outside of school, I was never one to burden their schedule with all kinds of lessons and other activities. I do think that kids need both home time and down time.

9. Raise a Principled Kid - Agreed!!

10. Raise a Faithful Kid - I think this is a totally personal decision for each family.

No matter how you feel, I highly recommend reading Bringing Up Geeks by Marybeth Hicks. It will give you a lot to think about. 

See also: 
How to Bring Out the Best in Your Teens and Add Peace to Your Home
3 New Books for Moms of Teenage Girls
Geek Pride Day May 25th Celebration



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When I started this blog it was with the assumption that it was only parents that needed advice on connecting with teens. I hadn't taken into account all the other people and organizations that deal with teens on a regular basis. Teachers, counselors, media and marketing professionals and non-profit organizations need to understand teens and what they like just as much as their parents do. The 2009 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup is a great place where all of these people and groups can attend to learn and share best practices and the latest research regarding youth, technology, culture and marketing.

The 2009 Youth Marketing Mashup conference is being held in San Francisco on June 1-2. The conference is hosted by Ypulse editor Anastasia Goodstein, author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. Early adopter rates are still in place but end on Friday. However, you can also get an additional 10% off by using the Code word CONNECT when you register. This is good either with or without the early adopter rates.

Here is a small sampling of the many quality speakers that you will hear at the Youth Marketing Mashup:

• Don Tapscott - Author of the book Grown Up Digital
• Neelanjana Banerjee - Yo! Youth Outlook Multimedia
• Daniel Brusilovsky - Teens in Tech
• Greg Clayman and Nancy Tellet - MTV Networks
• Scott Foe - Games Publishing, Nokia
• Jacqueline Lane - SurveyU
• Josh Shipp - HeyJosh.com
• Carly Wertheim - Teens Turning Green

This is the event where you'll find out what leading-edge technologies youth are using today – and will be using tomorrow. The Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup should be both educational and fun and a great place to network. And what better place to spend a few days than sunny San Francisco? I will be blogging all about this Youth Marketing conference here on Connect with your Teens.


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Episode 12 of Lost concentrated on very few characters. However, we did learn a great deal about those few, namely Benjamin Linus, John Locke and Charles Widmore. We also had some more of the Island's timeline filled in for us.

The highlights of Lost season 5, episode 12 "Dead is Dead" were:

1. Things we learned about Charles Widmore:

• It seems that it was Widmore's idea to send Ben back to live with his father and Dharma once he heeled so that he could help wipe out Dharma. This was evident when he said to young Ben in 1977, "This Island saved your life. Just because you go back doesn't mean you can't be one of us".
• Widmore gave Ben an order to kill Danielle in 1988 (Ben must have been in his early 20s). Ben couldn't go through with it once he saw the baby. Widmore disapproved of Ben leaving Danielle alive and bringing the baby back to the others camp to raise.
• Within the next five years or so, the balance of power changed so that Widmore was banished from the Island. How did this happen? Was Jacob involved? Richard Alpert? or just Ben?
• The biggest surprise was hearing that Widmore had a daughter with an outside woman. I think this puts an end to the theory that Charles and Eloise stayed a couple and that Penny and Daniel are brother and sister. Although it still is possible that they had Daniel together.
• When Charles left the Island, his last words to Ben were, "If the Island wants (Alex) dead then she'll be dead and you'll be banished and you'll realize that you can't fight the inevitable. I'll be seeing you boy."

2. Ever since we saw the giant statue in LaFleur, there has been a theory that the Island predates to ancient Egypt. I think that theory has been pretty much proved after seeing the hieroglyphs inside the temple.

3. The Smoke Monster:

• The hole in the ground outside the temple walls is where Danielle's crew succumbed to smokey. I think it is also the place where Locke was almost pulled under by the smoke monster in season one, but it let go. That is probably how he knew how to find it.
• Although there are still mysteries about smokey, we do see that it comes out of holes in the basement of the temple that are under a picture of Anubis, an Egyptian god with something that looked like the smoke monster.
• As we saw with Mr. Eko, the smoke monster will show past memories of wrongs the person has done.
• The smoke monster can choose to forgive and let live instead of killing. Why would it forgive Ben but not Mr. Eko?
  

4. Did Ben know or think that Locke would come back to life on the Island? He told John that he really did believe so. However, he told Sun that he had no idea that John would come back to life. How could he "Dead is Dead"!

5. We saw a very young Ethan with Ben when he kidnapped Daniel's baby. How did Ethan wind up with the others?

6. Ben gave Locke a long explanation of why he killed him and how it was in the best interest of the Island. Locke: "I was just hoping for an apology". When Caesar wouldn't let John take the boat, Ben shot him. "Consider that my apology". Looks like we won't be seeing any more of Caesar.

7. Whats with Ilana and her friends. Why did the capture Frank and what did their code words "What lies in the shadow of the statute?" mean? Is there more to them than we know?

8. Ever since the first episode of Season 5 when Ben appeared at the docks all bloody, we have been wondering if he succeeded in killing Penny. For most of this episode I had a sick feeling that he did. But it looks like his pausing after seeing little Charlie was what caused him to fail. Thankfully Desmond had enough time to attack Ben and I assume get Penny and Charlie to safety. The apology that he told Sun to give to Desmond if she ever saw him again, was probably just for trying to kill them, especially since he was about to face smokey and be judged.

9. Ben seems to have a love of children. He really loved Alex, that was evident, especially as a baby and he couldn't kill her mother. He couldn't kill Penny when he saw she had a child. I wonder if that had something to do with the Others stealing all the children from the plane. Was it just that Ben loved children so much he wanted more around. Where are all those children, by the way?

10. Ben came upon Frank and Sun in his house and they told him that Christian said they had to wait for Locke. Frank said that he didn't know why they were waiting since Locke was dead. It was very funny when Ben told them to look out the window and Locke waved to them. When Locke assured them that he could help, Frank said "As long as the dead guy says there is a reason than everything is going to be peachy". Frank Lapidus should be in more episodes.

11. I'm wondering where all the other Others are in the present. Why aren't they living in the houses again?

12. Ben told John about smokey, "Its not a train, it doesn't run on schedule".

13. Ben remembers that he was healed in the temple.

14. The name of Desmond and Penny's boat is "Our Mutual Friend" which is also the name of a novel by Charles Dickens.

15. After the smoke monster disappeared, it came back in the form of Alex. She said that she knows Ben is going to try to kill Locke again and that if he does she will hunt him down and kill him. She also told him that he must follow Locke's every order. She scared him so that it looks like Ben is going to obey these orders. The big question is, will he? Also, is the demand to obey Locke, because he was really supposed to be the leader all along?

16. Next week it looks like we are going to have fun. The scenes from episode 13 show Miles and Hurley spending time together.

What did you think of season 5, episode 12 of Lost, Dead is Dead?

Lost Season 5 Episode 14 The Variable Highlights

Lost: 100 Off-Island Connections from BuddyTVLost season 5 episode 13 Some Like It Hoth Highlights


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I was recently interviewed for an article in the New York Daily News on communicating with your teens and I was so excited when I saw it online today. This very well written article by Lauren Johnston is titled "Your mama's so tech-savvy, she loves to text message...with her mom". It really applies to communicating with your kids from tweens through their twenties.

One of the most important things that I say in the article is "They're not going to switch to things for their parents, but if we switch to the things that they use, they're very happy to accept us,". So if we prefer to talk on the phone and our teens prefer to text, we will have much more communication with them if we text, rather than expecting our teens to talk. Many other savvy moms were also interviewed for this article on texting with your kids. I recommend giving it a read.

Do you text with your Teens?

See also:  
ABC News Video on Teens and Texting with JuJu Chang
Skype Mobile - Talk Free with Skype On the Go

 

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The "for Dummies" line of books has now added a game to their never-ending line of products. The SAT Game for Dummies is a great way for your teenager to have fun while learning either with their friends or better yet, with you, their parents.

From the Parents Page of SAT Game for Dummies:

"The SAT Board Game Can Help You Connect With Your Teens. Play a game with your kids and:

• See how prepared they are for the SAT
• Discover on what SAT subjects they need work and where they excel
• Get a better understanding of how hard the SAT exam is and the challenges your teens are facing
• Open talks about college plans
• Introduce younger kids to the SAT with a game"

The questions are timed to help replicate the fast pace needed during the actual SAT test. Competing against other people creates stress, just as taking the test does. My favorite part of the game is that the student is not studying alone. Wrong answers that are discussed with the other players will be more apt to be remembered. Give it a try, have fun and learn. I don't know if the SAT Game for Dummies alone is enough to do well on the SATs, but it can certainly be a fun inexpensive add-on to whatever other SAT study guides that your teens are already using.

See also:
What College's Look For in an Applicant
You've Been Sentenced Game for Tweens and Teens 


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