Millennials are the largest generation in American history. Born between 1978 and 2000, they are 95 million strong, compared to 78 million Baby Boomers. They are independent—politically, socially, and philosophically—and they are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world.

Listen Closely – It’s the Sound of Your World Changing Forever

To get all the facts about Generation We—the Millennials— and how this generation will emerge as a powerful political and social force make the jump over to http://www.gen-we.com/about_genwe

Don’t forget to watch the inspiring Gen-We video here.

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I recently discovered Hayao Miyazaki and his films. I found them on Netflix, and watched Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service with my daughters (6 and 9 years old.) We were instantly captivated! They watched each movie at least 5 times which is rare for them. But I can see why. The story is excellent, the artwork and animation is vivid, and you can instantly identify with the characters.

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan’s most highly regarded anime directors. He was unknown in the U.S. until 1997 when Princess Mononoke was released for U.S. audiences.

The movies that we watched were:

Totoro - Two young sisters discover a forest wonderland with exotic creatures - spirits of the forest - that help them on their journey to save their mother.

Kiki’s Delivery Service - Young witch Kiki moves away from home to strike out on her own with her cat Jiji, and starts an express delivery service (with her flying broomstick.) She runs into some difficulty though, and soon learns that to keep her powers she needs to truly believe in herself.

I am a huge fan of the Pixar movies; I love the way that movies like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and the rest of their movies relate on multiple levels to children and adults. It was no surprise to me then, when I popped in Kiki’s Delivery Service that John Lasseter from Pixar did the introduction, explaining that Hayao Miyazaki was one of his inspirations!

About the author:

In addition to KidConfidence, Don Campbell is the publisher of Expand2Web.com, a website devoted to helping small business owners automate their business websites using WordPress, and get a steady stream of new customers from Google and Yahoo. Don grew up an avid gamer and lives with his wife and two daughters in the San Jose, California where they enjoy traveling and exploring the Redwoods and the Pacific ocean beaches, and playing video games!

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Here is a great article about Webkinz in Knowledge @ Wharton. If you are a parent and are trying to figure out what Webkinz is all about, and wondering if it is ok for your kids to play, you should read this. It contains perspectives from parents with a variety of backgrounds including college professors and an educational psychologist. It also contains some nice vignettes of families and what the kids find to be so interesting about the Webkinz phenomenon. If you are curious about Webkinz, it’s well worth a read!

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Google just released the “Fastest Rising Search Terms” for 2007 and guess what? Children’s video games occupied two of the top 10. Webkinz and Club Penguin were the second and sixth fastest rising search terms on Google in 2007. I’ve played both of these games with my daughters, and found them to be safe, positive learning environments for them. And best of all, they are truly “fun” games.

Hmm…. I wonder if Video Games are becoming mainstream!?

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My kids, ages 5 and 8, continue to be fascinated by Webkinz. Many of their friends from school also have Webkinz and they are forming a little “community” by meeting each other online, inviting their friends to their virtual “rooms” and playing games together. I just ran across a very nice website called http://www.webkinzhub.com that has some good information for parents to understand how Webkinz works, and also has some tips and tricks for the kids.

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