When your child uses a kid-targeted website for Barbie, Dora the Explorer, Neopets, Nerf, or Nickelodeon, federal law limits what information can be collected. But an investigation by the New York state attorney general found that some of the biggest names in toys and kids’ entertainment were violating that law by collecting information from their young users without authorization, and by allowing third parties to track users’ behavior across the internet. [More]
kids
Police: 600 Marijuana Plants Found In Day Care Center’s Backyard
By 9.6.16
While it’s always nice to have a backyard for children to play, some kinds of greenery should be kept far from the clutches of kids. Like the 600 marijuana plants police in Connecticut say they found in the yard of a day care center. [More]
NFL Agrees To Make Its Pre-Teen Fantasy Football Contests Less Like Gambling
By 7.13.16
Earlier this year, consumer advocates called on the NFL to put an end to its NFL Rush Fantasy competitions, which are only for pre-teens, but which offer significant prizes, ranging from video game consoles to trips to the Pro Bowl. While the NFL is apparently going to continue offering the kiddie fantasy football game, these groups say the league is making changes to address some of their concerns. [More]
Evenflo Car Seat That Reminds Driver Child Is In Car Is Promising, Not Perfect Yet
By 6.8.16
Technology can’t solve all of our problems, but maybe there’s a technological solution that can help with a tragedy that has affected parents of all walks of life: leaving small children in hot cars to overheat and die. The happens to an average of 38 kids every year, and car seat maker Evenflo responded to safety advocates by making a seat and harness that integrates with your car’s electronics. [More]
Your Kids’ Lesson Plans Are Being Brought To You By Pfizer, WD-40, & Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
By 6.2.16
It’s one thing for a huge drug company, manufacturer, trade group, or media conglomerate to use their considerable coffers to fund educational programs, but what about when the ultimate goal of those programs is to just advertise products, movies, and TV shows to kids and their parents under the guise of education? [More]
Multi-Tasking Shoplifting Suspect Left 11-Year Old He Was Watching Behind At Walmart
By 3.25.16
There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that you need to, right? Maybe that’s why a man who was keeping an eye on an acquaintance’s 11-year-old brought the boy with him to a Pennsylvania Walmart to pick up some tools. Police say that he walked out of the store without paying for the tools, leaving the boy behind. [More]
Group Accuses ‘Your Baby Can Read’ Creators Of Violating False Advertising Settlement With ‘Your Baby Can Learn’
By 3.22.16
Nearly two years ago, the creators of the popular Your Baby Can Read! series of videos put an end to a Federal Trade Commission deceptive advertising complaint by agreeing to cease making unsubstantiated claims about any product that purports to teach kids how to read. But the advocacy group that first spurred the FTC into action says that the creators of this program are violating that 2014 deal. [More]
Target Launches Gender-Neutral Home Decor For Kids
By 2.8.16
Target’s gender-neutral approach to children’s toys is seeping into other aspects of the retailer’s business. Over the weekend the big box store unveiled a new brand of kids’ home decor that comes without boy or girl designations. [More]
Hack Of Online Hello Kitty Community Exposes Info For 3.3M Parents, Possibly Children
By 12.21.15
Just weeks after the hack of electronic toy maker VTech exposed the personal information for more than five million children and adults, another child-focused enterprise has suffered a similar breach. The interactive online community for Hello Kitty was recently breached, potentially compromising 3.3 million accounts. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Tries Bold Experiment In Actually Stocking Toys
By 12.15.15
Shoppers visit a store called Toys ‘R’ Us because they’re looking for toys, and because they want those toys immediately. Otherwise, wouldn’t they shop online? Yet for the last few years, Toys ‘R’ Us has considered an item “in stock” if they have only three on the shelf, losing out on sales when they didn’t have items that shoppers wanted. [More]
VTech Hack Exposed Tens Of Thousands Of Photos & Chat Logs Of Parents, Kids
By 12.1.15
The recent breach of popular children’s electric toy maker VTech compromised the personal information of nearly five million parents and children, but a new report claims the hack exposed even more sensitive information: photos and chat logs between children and their parents. [More]
Hack Of Toy Maker VTech Exposes Data For Millions Of Parents, Kids
By 11.30.15
Let’s kick off the holiday shopping season with news of a data breach that may involve some toys you’ll be wrapping in the coming weeks. Popular children’s electric toy maker VTech has announced that customer information fell into the wrong hands earlier this month. [More]
If You Buy Your Kids “Bunchems” For Christmas, Maybe Get Them A Shower Cap Too
By 11.24.15
An in-demand toy for this holiday season has really got into kids’ heads — or rather, onto their heads, where they can remain for quite some time as parents struggle to free them from youngsters’ hair. [More]
Eavesdropping Barbie, Books About Famous Brands, Bratz Selfie Sticks Lead List Of Year’s Crassest Toys
By 11.23.15
Not all toys are equal; just ask those ungrateful children who will throw a tantrum on Christmas morning for getting a GoBot instead of a Transformer (wait — that was me). But some kid-targeted products cross the line from being blah to being truly terrifying. [More]
Netflix Adds 5-Minute Videos For Kids To Give Parents A Bedtime Bargaining Tool
By 11.4.15
If you’re a parent, you probably face bedtime with a grim determination to stick to your guns, stay firm and get that kid tucked in and the lights out when you say so. Not as easy as it sounds, as many of you likely know: kids are wily adversaries, armed with a seemingly endless arsenal of excuses and a knack for bargaining. Netflix wants to help parents compromise with their tiny foes, launching a collection of five-minute bedtime videos. [More]
Pediatricians: Raise Smoking Age To 21, Ban Flavored Tobacco, Restrict E-Cig Sales
By 10.26.15
Even though the percentage of smokers in the U.S. has been slashed by more than half over the last 50 years, smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the country. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes there are a number of steps that should be taken in order to prevent people from picking up the habit in the first place. [More]
Teachers Call On McDonald’s To End McTeacher’s Nights
By 10.14.15
McDonald’s has several methods for marketing directly to children and parents, including McTeacher’s Nights, where educators will volunteer to work for the night at a McD’s in exchange for a “percentage of sales from the event” being donated to the school. Today, groups and unions representing some 3 million American teachers are asking McDonald’s to put an end to the program. [More]
Chuck E. Cheese Trying To Woo Parents By Tweaking Its Food, Expanding Beer & Wine Options
By 10.2.15
After getting new owners last year, animatronic pizza wonderland Chuck E. Cheese is trying to lift flagging sales by aiming at a new — albeit very familiar — target demographic. We’ll give you a guess — it starts with an “M” and rhymes with “shmillennials.” [More]
