We’re living in the digital age. While there are still benefits to going ‘offline’ and living a more analog life digital connection can help you stay in touch as families and friends become dots all over a map of the world. It’s less and less common for us to stay put close to the people we love. Jobs, family ties, and a desire to live elsewhere can pull us in separate directions.
According to the AARP 43% of grandparents live more than 200 miles away. Most of you won’t find that surprising. Many of you probably live far way from family or have at some point in your adult lives.
At the same time, Pew Research Center found that more than 63% of U.S. adults ages 50 to 64 were found to be using social networking services in 2014, up from 41% in 2009. Despite growing up in a very different time these family members are adopting social media as a way to stay in touch with far-flung family and friends.
And why wouldn’t they? Innovations mean we can video chat, text, call, email, and livestream right to our family members’ phones and laptops! We can literally be with them whether they’re 10 blocks away or 1,000 miles away.
Quality time is different. It often involves snuggles, bedtime stories, and playing together. It’s hard to replicate that over the phone or on a laptop.
Connecting digitally is one thing, but spending quality time despite the distance is harder to do.
Panasonic has recognized that we need a better way to stay connected through the generations. That’s why they create HomeTeam an online service that connects loved ones no matter their ages, location, or abilities. It allows grandparents that live 1,000 miles away to play board games with the family or mom to read a bedtime story when she’s on a business trip. Think of it as storytime or board game time for the digital world.
More About HomeTeam:
HomeTeam is an online service that connects loved ones across generations and distance. Grandparents, parents, and grandkids can now enjoy the same activities they do in-person, even when they are far apart. Here’s what you can o with HomeTeam:
Read Books.
Choose what genre of book you’d like to read with HomeTeam.
HomeTeam keeps you on the same page…. literally! There are 100s of title to choose from. Classics like Curious George to the most popular book series on the playground this week. Not only does this encourage healthy reading habits, but it allows grandparents to have a very real way to spend time with their grandkids without awkward phone conversations.
Find a book that’s age appropriate or perfect for the whole family.
Play Games.
Playing games is a great way to encourage support in your family. You can team up to have fun and learn together no matter where you are in the world. You’ll find fun classic games like Checkers and Chess to new games exclusive to HomeTeam.
Featured Content on HomeTeam includes:
- Curious George
- Martha Speaks
- 5 Little Monkeys
- Tuesday
- Wuffles
- Jumanji
- Little Toot
- This or That?
- Baby Animals
- Super Simple Body
- Let’s Measure More
- Animal Sounds
Why HomeTeam?
Not only is it easy to use, but everything is right at your fingertips. It created a way for grandparents to bridge the generation gap, for parents to be home at bedtime no matter where they really are, and to create conversation and memories that will last a lifetime. The bonus? It is so much fun that learning basic math skills, vocabulary, science, logic and more will happen without your kids even realizing it!
Get Your FREE Month!
New users can sample the entire HomeTeam experience, including unlimited access to content and all features free of charge for 30 days. After that, a premium subscription for continued access to unlimited content is available by month ($7.99/mo) and by year ($79.99/yr).
Download the HomeTeam App available for download in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
More To Do:
Bring Your Family Closer from Scholastic Parent & Child offers a complete guide to memory-making activities you can do with the whole clan.
Download the HomeTeam App available for download in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
We’ll be using the app this week (today actually!) while I’m away on a business trip. I think it will be so much fun to read stories and play games with my elementary aged kids before bedtime.
How do you stay connected with your far away loved ones?
Kelly
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Panasonic. All opinions are my own.
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