This weekend, my family went to a festival organized by Stand With Japan, a new association of New York moms who set out to raise money for Save the Children’s Japan fund.  We took Emmett (six) and Adrian (three), to this family event that included a Japanese bake sale, origami making, and a koto recital (a beautiful Japanese string instrument that you can check out on YouTube).

Emmett had heard about the tsunami at school, and had also seen the wonderful movie Ponyo, about a boy and a half-fish half-girl who weather a tsunami in a small Japanese town. We had talked about the Japanese disaster a bit (one of his classmates is half Japanese and has family there), but I felt I hadn’t done enough to help him understand how we could help our Japanese friends from right here in New York.

I think that an important part of raising “global citizens,” is helping our kids make connections between seemingly distant people and places and their own lives, which tend to be filled with very local preoccupations.  In addition to giving kids the advantages of  being able to communicate with people through speaking another language, it’s important to try and give them access and exposure to other cultures in any way you can. As adults, we sometimes forget that the interconnectedness of the world is not that obvious to children. We hear about Japan on a daily basis and understand both the human tragedy and its global implications, but young children need a helping hand to connect those dots.  A cultural event like the one organized by Stand With Japan was great not only because we got to help raise money for relief efforts, but because it showed our boys several important things:

1. There are many Japanese people in our community – people directly connected to the same Japan that Emmett was told about in school.

2. Japan, and Japanese people, have a rich tradition they hadn’t seen before, from the costumes, to the food, tea rituals and music.

3. Most importantly, my kids were able to see how we can help people in the rest of the world though local efforts.

Although my boys aren’t quite ready for  the delectable sushi that was on offer, through the sweet goodness of Sticky Buns and Red Bean cakes, they were transported for an hour or two into another culture, something I hope they will grow a taste for.

Q: Are there any local efforts for Japan that you can get involved in, or take your kids to? Have you gone to any already?

Take Action: Donate to the Save the Children Japan Earthquake Tsunami Relief

This was part of Emmett’s French homework, which we do together every Sunday night before he has French class after school on Mondays.

If you have followed my blog, you know that it hasn’t always been easy to keep Emmett’s interest in French. I created Little Pim for him when he was a baby and we had a few good years of learning the words in the DVDs, naming animals and numbers, referring to apples as “les pommes” and singing French songs. Then around age four, Emmett, like so many kids of parents who speak a second language to them, started seriously objecting when I spoke French (as in, “don’t speak French!! “ and covering his ears) and it’s been pretty much an uphill battle ever since (he’s now six). So that I could let Emmett continue what struck me as an otherwise healthy separation/differentiation from his mom (rejecting what he saw as “my language”) but not letting his French slide, I brought in a wonderful kids’ French tutor (he loves her! saved!) and the French continued, despite occasional assertions that he’d rather play more soccer, see his friends or do just about anything else (I was unphased…Tiger Mom, move over).

In case you have a child who is not always 100% grateful for the foreign language gift you are giving them, you may share my moment of relief when I heard “l’âne a diné.” It was like suddenly years of reading him French books, playing French DVDs and insisting he continue French, just paid off. He can read in French! He has a good accent! He was actually pretty pleased with himself. This sentence means Emmett is just small steps away from accessing the French language, culture, films, music and so many other delights I wanted him to be able to experience as a dual speaker. So if your children are in one of the phases of “I don’t want to learn French/Spanish/Chinese/German…”, don’t give up! Your donkey will come.

This summer we are going to France as a family. I can’t wait to hear Emmett read the signs at the airport. Then, on to Proust.

The fact that Emmett goes to school with kids from Korea, India, Australia and China is one of the things I love about his school. Even though Emmett is in one of his “picky eater’ phases (OK it’s more than a phase) where anything that isn’t fish sticks, white meat chicken, pasta, yellow pepper or pizza meets with a resounding “no thank you!” I was happy we could share this international experience. His little brother Adrian was slightly more experimental, taking a crack at some chick peas with yellow rice.

The kids, who helped organize the evening, (along with a parent volunteer committee) drew colorful maps of each continent which hung on the walls, and the food was grouped by region. That way, as you went down the buffet line you could sample empanadas from Spain, fried ravioli from Italy and then move on to Samosas from India and sushi from Japan. Each dish was numbered so we could vote for our favorite one at the end.

We had a great time and it was a fun way to bring some of these countries my kids have not had much experience with to life through the foods they eat (we’ve been doing a lot of spinning our globe lately and learning about where it lands). There were also signs up all over teaching kids how to say “hello” in a variety of languages! Of course I loved that! All that was missing was Little Pim himself.

Does your child’s school or daycare have an “international night” or activity? if it did, would you attend?

This was the subject of a recent blog post on the NYTimes.com, and like any self-respecting parent, Pogue (tech columnist for the NY Times) is somewhat concerned by his youngest child’s newfound infatuation with his father’s toy. He’s concerned, yes, but he’s not worried.

Pogue makes a critical point: his child uses the iPad mainly for learning purposes. He plays mostly educational and creative apps: a program that lets children create animated short movies, write their own songs, or solve challenging spatial awareness puzzles. To parents who remember a world before computers, this may admittedly feel a little foreign. But the technological devices can be an invaluable tool for educational entertainment when used in conjunction with other, non-screen activities.

There’s good TV and bad TV, so why shouldn’t electronics be the same? There’s little doubt that technology like the iPad can be interactive and collaborative, and actively encourage children to think, learn and create.

Poll: What are your rules for electronics or TV?

Little Pim’s Booth:

And our team (including our French distributor, Jean-Bernard Tanqueray, on left).

At our Valentines Day Cocktail Party

Why didn’t I think of this? Kids love silly hats and these new “Air Hedz” take the cake. Pirates, frogs and nurses… and great for water gun fights! Here I am as a pop star, complete with microphone.

Crocodile Creek has come out with new lightweight travel “pouch puzzles.” I especially like the World one, great for young global citizens!

Who doesn’t love bubbles? Who doesn’t hate the mess? Finally a bubble machine that doesn’t leak. In fact, it whirls and emits bubbles in a 360 degree spin. Wish I had this at my son’s third birthday party last week! Ours made a gooey spill that was a slip hazard, but the kids had a blast popping them so it was worth it.

Haba’s new “Animal Upon Animal” game is for kids four and up, and reinforces hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and just plain old silly fun of seeing cute wooden animals come tumbling down! Plus the game rules come in 6 languages! (English, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, French).

This new “Clock” from Zazoo Kids tells your toddler when it’s ok to get up … long before they know how to tell time! Invented by a mom, of course. It’s also nice that its 7″ LCD screen turns into a digital picture frame once you get past that particularly unpleasant stage where your kids wake up before six am (I wish I could say we are past it in my house). You can program your own customized image for your child (it can even be his or her picture). I got one of these for my three year old.

A remote control fish swimming around the Toy Fair (actually a remote helium balloon). A great party trick!

Father warns his sons Tarta and Chichi about the dangers they will face! From “Light of the River” 川の光 (Kawa No Hikari)

Before the movie started, the festival organizer asked the kids to think about 1) what they liked about the movie, 2) what they didn’t like about the movie and 3) why. This film was for 4-7 year olds and the organizer pointed out to parents that these three questions provide the seeds of “critical thinking”. Taking young children to well-made films like this – and then engaging them in talking about what they saw – is an excellent way to get children engaged in analytical thinking at a young age, and build up media literacy skills. Plus, in watching “Light of the River” Emmett got to see Japan (in animated form) and hear Japanese for 75 minutes (a talented actress read the subtitles out loud right in the theater). He loved the movie and we are still talking about it two days later!

You can watch a trailer for “Light of the River” below. Sorry, there are no subtitles here, but after a few sessions with Little Pim Japanese your kids should be able to help you out!

The article prompted an “East vs. West” battle in the blogosphere. Author Homa Sabet Tavangar of “Growing up Global: Raising Children to Be at Home in the World” points out that we’re suddenly being presented with two polar opposite views. On one side we have mothers like Amy Chua, arguing the possible benefits of being more of a “Tiger Mom” and on the other, the new documentary “Race to Nowhere” that questions America’s culture of achievement and the negative effects it may have on our kids.

So which is it? Should we be more strict and achievement-oriented, or will our children pay too high a price on a social and emotional level?

As parents, we all struggle with finding a balance between arming our children with tools for future success, and pushing them to the point where they never experience the “child” part of their childhood. Whenever possible, learning for children – especially young children – should happen in a context of fun and discovery, not “shoulds” and drudgery. In the case of foreign language learning, dry teaching and endless memorization is why most Americans did NOT learn a second language in school, and bailed on that requirement as soon as they could! Here at Little Pim we are trying to make that tired learning model a thing of the past, so kids equate a second language with pandas, kids just like them, and fun games and activities that entertain them and give them the opportunity to show off those new words.

At the end of the day, every parent has to choose a style of education and child rearing that works best for his or her family. These decisions are undoubtedly culturally influenced, but whatever we choose, the only certainty is that when our kids get older, they’ll turn around and tell us we should have done it differently!

This is a topic that resonates with most parents raising their children to speak a second or third language, often doing so for some combination of cultural heritage and desire for their children to have that extra advantage in the future.

All three CEOs said our educational system is not doing enough to prepare our children for the global marketplace. Their companies need people who are able to work across borders, engage in cross-cultural teamwork and communicate with people of other cultures. Ursula Burns also noted that we are closing down our borders in the U.S. (accepting fewer immigrants and asking international students to leave) right at the time we need more international brainpower to drive innovation and execute on the entrepreneurial abundance here in the U.S. “The future of big tech is going to be compromised if we keep pushing out international talent.”

The fact that fewer students from abroad can get educated here will also mean fewer bridges between our country and others. Two CEOs pointed out that they do business with people running major companies in other countries who were educated in the U.S. and therefore understand the American way of working. Personal relationships are key, and many are formed in undergrad, grad and business schools, when international students study abroad. Fewer international students today may mean fewer American CEOs at international tables in the future.

CEOs love facts and numbers and these CEOs were no different. They reminded us that there are 6 billion people in the world, only 300 million of whom are in the U.S.

• All successful big businesses are selling to and working with the international marketplace.

• Over 50% of the revenues collected by their three mega corporations (total of over $80 billion) came from OUTSIDE the U.S.

• International sales are currently the biggest growth area for most U.S. Fortune 500 corporations.

Our K-12 schools are not doing enough to prepare our kids in math, reading, science and language, so what can we do to prepare for this shift?

• Globalization is here to stay (Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, notes he revived the entire company by going global), so as leaders we need to have a “healthy paranoia” about getting left behind in the global economy. We need to pay better attention to what is happening in other countries and make sure we remain competitive.

• Companies in the U.S. need to step up and partner with the government to improve schools and provide more educational opportunities (one such example is the “Change the Equation Foundation” that helps kids improve in science and is funded by the private and public sectors)

• We need to rethink how we teach kids using new technology at our disposal (John Chambers of Cicsco mentioned his two year old granddaughter’s seamless use of the iPad and questions how tablets, e-readers, and other new such devices are going to be integrated into the classroom)

Ursula Burns ended the keynote panel by saying she felt the most important question we need to be asking as a nation is “what are we going to do prepare our children to participate in the global economy?” She feels this means more science and math, and more exposure to the tools that will help our kids become global citizens.

We know that speaking a foreign language will give our kids at least one of the tools they will need… Do you agree with their take on where things are going? You can post your comments to our Facebook or Twitter page.

** Mommy Tech Summit http://www.mommytechsummit.com/

Digital moms’ influence as the “chief decision maker” for their families, extended families and friends continues to grow. In turn, the Mommy Tech market has grown into a $90 billion dollar marketplace driven by tech-savvy women who are recognized as both powerful consumers and advocates for new technology.

I’ve spent most of my time in the “Mommy Tech” section checking out stuff that might help us keep our lives running more smoothly and wanted to share five of the interesting products I’ve seen… from the useful to the whimsical to the laughable.

Now you can recharge in style with the HyperJuice portable batteries, that allow you to recharge your Mac devices on the go and come in great bright colors! The smallest one is about the size of a Tic Tac case but will allow you to power an iPhone or iTouch eight times! These are great for when your toddler’s iTouch runs out of juice in the back seat or on a long trip. Now they can watch Little Pim until they learn all the words, not until  your phone dies!

Being a mom of two boys, it was mandatory that I stopped by the Hot Wheels booth to see how they’re changing the future of toy car racing. Hot Wheels has given us a sneak preview of a race car that is also a video camera! Your child or even toddler just switches on the button and this little racer takes moving video while zipping across the floor! You can then upload it to your computer where your five-year old can turn it into a little movie.  Welcome to the cars of the future!

Who doesn't love Hot Wheels?

Dry-all – First Aid for Wet Electronics

For phones that have gotten wet (let’s face it, our phones are living in a high risk environment around cups of orange juice, baby spit and bath time!), this genius idea zaps moisture using high tech absorbent pellets. Leave your phone in this box for a few minutes and presto, it’s good as new!

I also liked that the demo video at the booth features the president of sales’ 20 month old putting her phone in the toilet. Has that ever happened to you?

TV Hat – your personal theater

I had to model this one too… if you see someone on the beach wearing this hat you’ll know they are actually catching up on Desperate Housewives re-runs!