Kidzmet: Connecting enrichment teachers and students

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of KidzmetJen. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's that time of year again -- when parents scurry to find summer enrichment programs for their children. I know. I've been there many times.

Kidzmet, a new website serving the California counties of St. Barbara and San Luis Obispo, offers parents a centralized location to browse through the various opportunities available for kids. Some moms favor academic enrichment, while dads might search for more sports-minded ventures. At Kidzmet.com, you'll find it all in one centralized location.

I tried out the search function to see how well it worked. We have a four-year old in our family (SK), so I entered his age, a zip code, and the type of opportunities I was seeking.

Educators and parents know about the brain drain that happens over the summer. Enrichment activities keep children engaged intellectually. Research suggests that these children perform better throughout the school year.

Physical activity is equally as important. SK is a very active toddler with a great imagination. He's our own "Calvin" (Calvin & Hobbes)! I think he'd love "Kids Dig Dirt," a program offered by the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. Another great possibility: "Discovery Camp (Extended Day) - Down on the Farm" at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Little SK could also benefit from gymnastic classes. Several are listed. This activity keeps him from jumping off the furniture at home. Nothing wears out a mom more than a wired four-year old!

If your child is in middle school or high school, don't fret. Kidzmet lists opportunities for them, too.

For moms and dads seeking to enroll more than one child in activities, the website makes it easy. Once parents take advantage of free registration at Kidzmet.com, they can create accounts for each of their children to keep track of the classes in which the kids are enrolled. Nice feature!

There's more. If you're a harried parent (and who isn't), wondering what's best for little Suzie or Tommy, Kidzmet offers an entire section on advice and ideas.

The folks who created Kidzmet tell me that it "was born to connect enrichment teachers with the students they were meant to teach by streamlining kids' activities planning in one central, easy-to-use portal." Connecting teachers and students -- that's a great public service.

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Resisting the seduction of clichés

(This post first appeared here in August of 2005.)


Public relations writers fall for them. Reporters are lured by them. Communications veterans across the spectrum succumb to the sweet talk of the ever-present, easily accessible cliché. No writing style is immune to these overused phrases, even fiction. The media biz coined a term for these expressions - "groaners". If you're looking for a surefire way to annoy your audience, take the easy way out and slip a series of groaners into your copy.

Newswriting.com describes a groaner as "a hackneyed, overblown, stuffy or just plain silly cliché that turns up time after time in news scripts. Groaners show laziness on the part of writers, disrespect for the folks watching, and a general contempt for lively English." I agree. When it comes to many of these euphemisms, I believe in taking quick corrective action. Arrest these overused phrases. Blindfold them, give them a cigarette and place them before a firing squad.

When it comes to groaners, seasoned journalist Abe Rosenberg does a great job of identifying some of the worst offenders, often heard in TV news broadcasts. Here is a sampling of groaners from Newswriting.com:

Area residents - “Shhh, Tommy, don’t play the drums so loud. You’ll wake the area residents!” Normal people don’t refer to their neighbors this way. Why should we?

Famed - “Mommy, mommy, I just saw somebody famed over there!” When did “famous” become a dirty word?

Lay the Groundwork - Doesn’t anybody “prepare” anymore? Too many writers cling to these phrases (“Set The Stage” is another example) when talking about politics, foreign policy, war and peace, etc., as if big phrases made a story important. Important facts make a story important. References to theater and construction belong in stories about theater and construction.

Motorists - Where have all the drivers gone? Don’t fall into the DMV Handbook trap.

Somewhere, some wordsmith is hoping that I'll ease up on folks who like to incorporate clichés into their copy. I'm not completely heartless. As a journalist and PR practitioner, I have fallen into the same trap.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you want your copy to "sing," write as if you're holding a conversation with someone. Put your best foot forward. Work like a dog. Leave a lasting impression. In the end, your copy will be the best thing since sliced bread. Just do it.

R.I.P., Lena Horne

FCC allows movie studios to prevent illegal copying of movies

The Federal Communications Commission ruled on Friday to allow video-on-demand services to activate signals that would block the copying or other re-use in home entertainment systems of recent releases. According to the Los Angeles Times, the ruling is seen as a victory for the Motion Picture Association. of America, the chief lobbying group for the major studios.

The decision clears the way for people to watch movies in their home shortly after -- or even during -- their release in theaters. The ruling also will permit the use of a so-called selectable output control technology for watching first-run movies in the home. Currently, movies are only available for people to watch in the home on pay-per-view channels, usually about six months after they first appear in theaters and three months after they are released on DVD.

Political humor

Jay Leno: "Hey, great news. They made an arrest in that failed Times Square bombing attempt. ... It turns out the suspect is a foreign-born, naturalized American citizen. You know what that means? He would have been fine in Arizona."

Jay Leno: "His name is Faisal Shahzad. ... What, is Snoop Dogg naming terrorists now? ... They're still looking for his brother, Fo Shizzle. They don't know where he is."

Jay Leno: "Well, here's something kind of embarrassing. The government has called off the Safety Awards for Excellence ceremony that was supposed to take place this week, in honor of outstanding safety and pollution prevention. And British Petroleum, the one that was responsible for the big oil spill in the Gulf, was one of the three finalists for the award. ... I believe the other two were China and the volcano in Iceland."

David Letterman: "Yeah, they plucked a guy off a plane. His name is Faisel Shahzad. They say he was a moody loner. Last year, he vacationed in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Well, no red flags there."


Source: U.S. News & World Report