Games

Sure, it's gonna be a scary-tight holiday season... But US News and World Report sez that this year's winners include night-vision goggles, a pen that can "read", and an educational alarm clock.

Who needs math and reading games, when kids today are just so darn rude? That's the point of these Hasbro games. The three games focus on a different lesson--sharing, listening and good manners--and are each accompanied by a book and CD. They take place at either a pizza parlor, amusement park or picnic and follow a group of kids in the fictional town of Noodleboro as they navigate sticky social situations that teach them proper behavior.

From Chris Anderson--AKA Geekdad @ Wired.com--a way to create a custom card deck with your kids. "Card games are great fun for kids, but sometimes the standard packs just don't have enough, well, whatever it is that your kids happen to want that day: orgres, soldiers, knights, princesses, etc."

In our neighborhood we're in the final four weeks of school before the summer belongs to the kids. Out of their routine, away from normal scheduled activity and academia and not seeing friends daily it'll only take less than a week before we'll start hearing that dreaded phrase "I'm bored," probably spewing from my mouth first. On top of that, with an XBOX 360, Wii, computer and DS in the home it's super tempting to let the kids tune in and drop out while mommy works on mommy stuff. But that's not ok and that's not my style.