Moms' Business Offers 'Bitz' Of Advice
“Put the toilet seat down.”
“Don’t walk home alone.”
These are the sorts of things parents tell their kids over and over, but sometimes the message doesn’t get through. When mothers Cathy Giangrasse of Downers Grove and Jill Highland of Warrenville sent their children off to college, they panicked at the thought that their offspring might not have absorbed the life lessons they had tried to teach.
“We started getting calls about things they had heard 100 times,” Highland said.
For instance, after her oldest son went to college, he called asking how to bake a potato in the microwave – something she had repeatedly explained.
Last year, Highland and Giangrasse channeled their concerns into the computer programs ChickBitz and DudeBitz, which dispense words of wisdom targeted at young adults ages 15 to 25. After the program is installed on a computer, one of 365 pieces of inspirational advice appears on the screen every time the computer reboots or turns on. For girls, the advice ranges from everything from makeup techniques to relationship advice. Boys get advice on women and dining etiquette.
The mothers saw who they were competing against for young people’s attention – television, music lyrics and the Internet.
“We wanted a way to get some positive, correct information to our kids every day,” Highland said.
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