How many family members in your household access your Netflix account? Netflix has made some progress on making their service more family friendly, and for my daughters’ sakes they’ve got a little further to go….

We enjoyed a long New Year’s weekend away from home, spending most of our time at the indoor pool at our hotel, playing cards in our room, or mindlessly watching network TV.  Looking for a little programming variety, I fired up the Netflix app on my iPhone and scanned the usual screen landscape:

Recently Watched: Curious George, Avatar The Last Airbender, Wizards of Waverly Place, Gossip Girls, Vampire Diaries, Hannah Montana, Veggie Tales  ….

Woah, what a minute. Hmm. A few of these set off the warning flares. I have two girls ages 12 & 11, six boys 10 and under, and then a wife that ain’t spending a lot of her free time watching Netflix.  I’m no expert, but from everything I can tell Gossip Girls and Vampire Diaries probably aren’t in the age-appropriate wheelhouse for pre-teen girls which means my daughters were sneaking some inappropriate viewing time on their iTouch , which means—queue the knee-jerk reaction–I blew my stack!

Five minutes and a mini-Spanish Inquisition later, my girls continued to voraciously deny the offense. Shucks, they did look pretty darn earnest. Maybe I accidentally hit the viewing on these shows recently when I was browsing around? But for both shows? Naw.

Finally it clicked: Our 18 year-old babysitter was checking-in on our dog a few times a day back home. Clearly she was making herself comfy and enjoying some couch-time with the dog and the ladies from Gossip Girls. We’re not the type of family to tuck a secret babysitter webcam into the bookcase, so it felt a little creepy to have an audit trail of her viewing habits.

Some key takeaways:

• The Jerk: Yep, I’m a big ol’ jerk. My daughters got a big bear hug and even bigger apology from daddy ASAP. Mea culpa!
• Parent Control: Boy, I wish Netflix had some privacy controls so I don’t have to use a combo platter of responsibility dialog, scare tactics, and the “Recently Watched” queue as a deterrent to keep my kids from accessing mature and R rated content!
• The Recommendations: Shoot, I just realized that my babysitter’s viewing is probably going to skew the recommendations that Netflix starts spitting out at me. Uh oh.
• The Audit Trail: There’s some mature stuff – like Spartacus or The Tudors — that I click on that I just plain don’t want to show up in my Recently Viewed list. Period. Netflix, can you give me a widget that will allow me to suppress this?

Any of this ever happen to you? How many family members access your account? Please share!

We often highlight the iPhone and iPad apps that have obviously taken art and interface design as priority one. This isn’t because we’re stuffy art enthusiasts, it’s simply because this what our kids seem to gravitate towards. They’re less concerned about apps that try to push the technical horsepower of an iOS and more compelled by those apps that are designed from the bottom up to try and connect with kids and equip them with engaging prompts and surprises to keep them mesmerized.

A new app that our kids are loving – that does all of the above while teaching them numbers – is Splish Splash Inn from the folks at Shortstack Apps. The app’s beautiful interface is based on an underwater hotel with 10 doors. Behind each door is a corresponding number of perfectly illustrated animals that the kids count and then move around the screen. A hidden gem of the app is that each animal makes a different musical sound. So my kids discovered a “sub-use” of the app by creating different rhythms with all of the animals. Another great addition is that your kids can play in English, French or Spanish…so now you got numbers, music and language…a nice little educational trifecta there.

The app is available on iPad and iPhone for $0.99 which a great deal considering all of the fun the kids will have not only learning their numbers but using the guests of the Splish Splash Inn as interactive percussion instruments. Perfect for the younger kids aged 2-5.

There’s good news and there’s bad news. Good news first. As we’ve continued to see iPhone and iPad usage grow we’ve also seen a huge number of apps pop up to help kids have fun and learn. Another plus is that the devices have become great tools to help the kids entertain themselves when mom or dad need an extra 10 minutes to finish paying the bills or wrap up their phone conversation. The bad news is that with every gold rush comes mounds and mounds of crap. Therefore, when a great app comes to our attention it’s our duty to alert other dads of the diamonds in the rough.

Our favorite diamond of the moment is ABC by Paul McDougall. We ran one of our Playground Dad “focus groups” on kids aged 8-2 and all age groups loved the bright vibrant characters that accompanied the letters. The app doesn’t have a single bell or whistle. Where it shines is in it’s simplicity. The characters are the stars of the show and the kids can’t wait to slide from page to page in order to see the next one. In addition to their ABC’s the kids also learn new nouns and verbs as they move through the pages. There are lots of kids apps that have more functionality than McDougall’s ABC. But very few apps show off the great visual fidelity of the iPad screen as well as this one. McDougall’s artistic elegance and love of color really pops of the screen and the kids will love it. Well worth the $0.99 on the app store.

Tom Edwards is VP, Digital Strategy at Red Urban. He lives in Dallas, TX with his wife and 3 kids. He blogs at: http://theblackfin.com

iPad launch day… 5 ways you and your kids can benefit from the iPad

Netflix for iPad

As a tech savvy dad of three I am always looking for ways to improve my kiddos entertainment experiences on the go. With the release of the iPad today I am already looking at how the device can enhance my time with the kiddos. Here are five ways to immediately start enhancing your time together via the iPad.

1. Netflix & Movies: The Netflix instant streaming is amazingly smooth. You can be watching Veggietales in a matter of seconds. Speaking of movies… titles such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2 (HD) Alvin & The Chipmunks theSqueakquel and the Princess and the frog are available from iTunes and look great. With the larger screen and crystal clear display it makes watching videos and entertaining the kiddos an easier proposition than just your iPod or iPhone. With the optional iPad case you can place the iPad in an ideal viewing position.
2. Games: With over 400 games at launch (I stopped counting after Page 34). I immediately began downloading games that the kids and I would find interesting. There is a wide range of ages represented as well as games for both boys and girls. I have a 7 year old boy, 5 year old girl and 2 year old little guy.
   1. Scrabble ($9.99)– classic boardgame revisited for the iPad
   2. Draw (free)– simple drawing application that is fun for most ages
   3. UNO ($6.99) – Uno is always a good time with the kiddos… UNO!!!
   4. Worms ($4.99) – Nothing like taking control of worms with weapons
   5. Disney Fairies Fly on iPad ($7.99) – For the little princesses in your life this app will get them closer to Tinkerbell
   6. Phineas & Ferb Arcade on iPad ($2.99) – Fun arcade games from the two imaginative fellows.
   7. JellyCar 2 on iPad ($2.99) – Roll jelly car roll.
   8. Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures ($4.99) – Fun coloring app of everyones favorite explorer.
   9. My First Words in American English ($2.99) – Help the little ones learn the basics
   10. VH1 Classic Presents: Intellivision for iPad ($2.99) – Old school gaming brought to the iPad.
3. iBooks & Read Along: Toy Story and Toy Story 2 read along apps are available on launch day.
4. Marvel Comics: A great way to view comics is through the Marvel Comics app. The benefits of the iPad are really apparent when viewing magazine style assets.
5. ESPN Score Center XL: This one is for the dads but I am already enjoying the benefits of this app in preparation for Final Four Saturday.

These are apps that are available on launch day that I found interesting. As with the iPhone expect a flood of new and innovative apps that will test the limits of the iPad and bring hours of enjoyment for you and your kids.