Parents today have to worry about how their teens and tweens are going to be using modern technology. Learning to monitor their kids’ social networking sites and to make sure that they don’t get addicted to computer games is all a part of being a parent in modern society. Mobile phones are another thing that parents have to monitor and worry about.

The most common problems that parents face when it comes to kids and cell phones are:

• The fight over when to get one. A lot of kids start to want their own cell phone when they’re still in elementary school. Parents have to decide when they think it’s best to make this move.
• Excessive use of the cell phone. Parents may be upset by huge cell phone bills caused by kids who go over their minutes. Alternatively, they may just not want their kids on the phone as much as they are.
• Text message threats. Bullying via text message is an increasing problem among teens and tweens. Parents have to worry about their kids bullying others or becoming a victim of this type of bullying.
• Teen sexting. Kids who engage in teen sexting may not only be putting themselves at risk in their relationships but may actually be breaking the law.

What is interesting to note about these common problems is that they aren’t that different from what parents and their kids have been battling over for ages. Parents have to figure out how to set limits, monitor their kids’ behavior towards others and allow their kids to grow into sexual adults. The technology may be different from the past but the battles are the same.

Yesterday I wrote about child prodigies (and specifically the case of Sufiah Yusof, a child prodigy in math who went on to become a prostitute). There are child prodigies in many different walks of life from music to sports. One area of this that I find to be really interesting is the child prodigies of literature.

There have been many different child authors throughout history. In ancient times, many of these were kids who wrote poetry or diaries but then died at a young age and the work was published post-humously in a sort of “what could have been” look at where their literary careers may have gone if they had lived into adulthood.

In modern times, child authors are a bit more complex. These are typically kids who write a book (often with the help of a parent or grandparent) and who then get picked up by a publisher as a result of a parent or guardian’s persistence. The children then get marketed widely and are adored by the public because they’ve written a published book before they’ve reached adulthood.

What do you make of these kids? Are they really literary prodigies or are they simply smart kids who got their fifteen minutes of fame for their writing because their parents wanted them to and the market supported them in that?

I definitely think that these kids should be admired. It’s tough to sit down and write a book at any age. If they’re writing stories instead of playing with their friends and watching TV then they’re exercising their natural sense of artistic expression and I think that’s terrific. But I’m not sure that these kids are really prodigies per se.

I read a lot of books about creativity. I read a lot of memoirs by artists and writers. And I know a lot of people who make art their living, their way of life or an important hobby that they would never let go. What all of this intake of information about art has taught me is that most creative people have blocks that they have to deal with when it comes to their creativity. And like most of our issues in life, those blocks were often built during childhood.

Spend any significant amount of time with children and you will see that they are naturally imaginative. It isn’t just in the way that they play - although it’s clear there with their fantasy games and make-believe. It is in the way that they approach life, with the curiosity and wonder that we associate with being a kid. It is in the way that they solve problems and in the way that they negotiate friendships.

Adult artists know that they can learn a lot from kids about all of these things because kids don’t just ‘think outside of the box’. Kids don’t even see the box. Or they see the box but what they see is a potential fort or ship or space for drawing on.

Unfortunately, it happens all too quickly that kids are taught that the box is a box. They are limited by life and education and experience. Their imaginations begin to dwindle. This happens as a part of life. But it also happens directly as a result of the failure of parents and teachers to encourage the ‘not-just-a-box’ thinking that kids naturally have.

I’ve written an article today with 20 tips for encouraging your children’s creativity. I hope that you will read it and add to it because I think that one of the most important things that a parent can do is to encourage kids to continue to be creative. It isn’t about being artistic, although that’s a nice side benefit, but rather about being creative in life so that it always seems that problems have solutions even when they aren’t obvious to them. It’s about celebrating life and the wonder that it holds. These are things we all need more of and things that we shouldn’t take from our kids earlier than life gives it to them.

I have a confession to make. I have written tons of articles on parenting and yet I am not a parent. So, what do I know about parenting? A lot actually. You see, I worked in the field of child welfare for several years which allowed me to take numerous parenting classes, interact with many different types of parents and family counselors and even be a (foster) parent for two years.

I actually think that every single parent out there should take parenting classes. I believe that my ability to do any kind of parenting at all was heightened by the fact that I took these classes and studied up on the topic. There aren’t any exact things that you can do to be a good parent, of course, but the more that you learn about different parenting styles and parenting options, the better equipped you’re going to be to make the right choices for you as a parent.

So, yes, I offer parenting advice now and then. For example, I’ve got an article over at HubPages today with ten tips for single parents who want to start dating again but who have teenage children that are taking issue with that. I’m not saying that these tips are the right answers for every person in this situation. I’m just saying that these are some of the things I’ve seen work for people in that situation over the years so they could be a good place to start if it’s a problem that you have.

March means springtime and springtime means all kinds of different parties, doesn’t it? I don’t get the chance to go to too many baby showers but I did have the opportunity to do some research into them this morning. Specifically I got the chance to write about baby shower games.

What I love most about my women friends is how creative they all are. We have a lot of fun together because everyone in our group has great ideas. And yet we’re collaborative so we work together to make those ideas happen in a non-competitive way.

Baby shower games are an example of this. Of course, the hostess of the baby shower is the one who picks the games that are going to be played but the women who participate have to add their own creativity and sense of fun to the experience for everyone to have a good time.

Whether you’re pinning the pacifier on the baby, passing the dirty diaper or turning baby food into delicious adult treats, you’re probably having fun at a baby shower. Games aren’t all that a baby shower is about, of course, but they sure do make the baby shower fun.