Beating the Behavior Blues With SmileMiles

SmileMiles offers a revolutionary online aid for parents of children aged 4-14, aimed at enhancing family communication. SmileMiles.com was created by parents as a behavior reward system beyond the toddler stage. In the style of a bank account, SmileMiles are converted by the parent into rewards, which recognize the childs achievements and desirable behavior. Membership includes private family messaging and a web page for each child that is simple to create. With parental permission, children may publish their achievements, diary and photos to friends and family, or even to the Web.

(PRWEB) September 5, 2004 -- Founder AnnaMarie Faherty says Parenting in the 21st century is as stressful as ever, and we face an up-hill struggle to produce happy, balanced individuals. The challenge in this age of distractions is to maintain meaningful dialogue". She continues SmileMiles was inspired by a parents need for positive interaction with their offspring in this often separated world".

SmileMiles gives a parent the web-key to an account in the name of their child(ren), enabling both parent and child to monitor progress toward agreed goals. In creating the online tool, the challenge was to provide a quiet and private space on the Internet, where parent and child can interact in a family context. Equally important was the need to promote numeracy and literacy.

Co-founder Gerrard says SmileMiles is another tool in the parenting kitbag. SmileMiles takes the trusted star chart" which is great for toddlers, and revamps it for the internet age to provide a platform for recording and presenting a childs achievements and struggles up to adolescence".

As they grow, children want to take more control and we need to let them" says AnnaMarie "They need to learn that life is about give and take. The challenge may be simply to be good and earn rewards, or even to become a SmileMile millionaire, but the most important thing is to have fun doing so"

Each SmileMiles account allows the parent to: -
o   Determine for each child the value of a SmileMile, whether smiley face or currency.
o   Maintain a record of their child's progress in achieving their goals.
o   Add and subtract SmileMiles from each childs account.
o   Send and receive secure messages to other account-holding members of the family.
o   Email a childs web page to friends and relatives, or publish to the Internet
Each child gets to: -
o   Maintain their own record of achievements.
o   Keep an online diary
o     Create a picture album   
o   Produce a web page consisting of their achievements, pictures and diary. Each entry may be marked private or public. If an entry is private then only the child may see it.

SmileMiles membership and use is subject to terms and conditions and privacy stipulations. SmileMiles.com is subject to COPPA compliance and a commitment to independent third-party scrutiny.
###