Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

May 8, 2012 Happy Children’s Book Week all! (May 7-13 2012)

No secret I prefer media that has a social enterprise tie-in or a deeper message than the vapid values of commercialism circulating in the mainstream, so was thrilled to see this Surfrider Foundation “protect the oceans” message wrapped in a girls empowerment, active how-to book for kids, called My Mommy Taught Me To Surf.

Amidst a blitz of glitz and appearance-based tripe showcasing girls instead of role modeling hands-on actions, smarts and ‘let’s do this’ attitude, it’s refreshing to see this new sequel from Taught Me2 Books place females in the role of wave mentor and tribal guide to a secret society of water rats like me,  bonded by their profound respect of nature’s power.

I wrote about their first edition, “My Daddy Taught Me To Surf” for Father’s Day awhile back, pointing to some of the other eco-conservation messages surrounding habitat and our planet to ‘teach our children well’ through media…

…But this new sequel is even more important to me for its girl empowerment self-esteem jolt when research is showing media tearing down rather than building up children’s worldview, and boxing in their opportunities with finite limitations and self-perceptions served up as identity norms. (See prior post on brain plasticity and Lego Friends neuroscience, and an upbeat outcome to the Lego/Spark change meeting when youth took the helm to have a corporate tete a tete sending a clear ‘don’t fence me in’ message for the greater good of all)

My Mommy Taught Me To Surf captured the lump in the throat excitement of a child trying something new, with the soothing, trusted family bonds of “I’m here” familiarity that some kids simply don’t have…It made me wistful and proactive thinking ‘Every child should have this experience of one-on-one learning, whether it’s through a peer, a camp counselor, a scout troop or a neighbor if they don’t have a parent that can step into this mentoring leadership role.’ (more…)

April 30, 2012 Today marks our annual ritual of Screen Free Week (formerly known as ‘Turn off the TV week’) so before we “go dark” and unplug to demonstrate healthy media management for those of us who are extremely involved in the digital sphere, I’d like to share an interview with gaming guru Nicole Lazzaro of XEODesign to reinforce the positive use of screens in ‘gaming for good’ to induce real world change.

“Get ‘em outside,” is undeniably our clarion call for more outdoor, unstructured play time, especially with new preschool studies in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showing over half of preschoolers 3-5 are NOT being taken outside daily…But this special interview with Nicole Lazzaro is a perfect example of why it’s imperative to view all screen time as an issue of lifestyle balance, dismissing any ‘vilification’ of media technology in simplistic either/or thinking to tap into the best of ALL worlds by figuring out what even MAKES something fun.

Recently named one of Forbes top 10 women in gaming, (and FastCompany most influential, and Gamasutra Top 20  and Fora.tv best of gamification etc.) Nicole Lazzaro is also founder and passionista behind newly launched Tilt World the eco-fun climate change game that’s a featured kids game on Apple’s iTunes this week. Little Flip the tadpole is showing families across the globe how to rbbbbbtt some informal learning into the education mix, leap into gaming fun, and maybe tongue zap a few of those ‘Angry Bird’ gamers towards more substantive content with a real world twist. (more…)

April 26, 2012

“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck”…

It doesn’t take much inductive reasoning to see Miss Travel is afoul.

That said, using critical thinking skills to see why this new ‘dating site’ offering ‘free travel for attractive people’ (ahem, cough, prosti-travel) doesn’t pass the sniff test is a useful mini-lesson.

Miss Travel is a teachable moment on multiple levels of what’s wrong with our culture, using a “profit at all costs” credo that’s wreaked havoc on public health, body image, human sexuality, and kids physical and socio-emotional well-being translated into “the hottie factor” fouling up the works for both girls AND boys.

But to give you an idea of how my own brain processed the jaw-dropping ‘yougawdabekiddinme’ moment that self-objectification is being brazenly commodified, sold under the hook of celebrity-style/whisk away in a flight of fantasy…my thought pattern went something like this:

1.)    “Wait, this is from The Onion, right? No one would be this cheesy” (media literacy self-chatter: note who’s telling the story, whose interests are served, what makes the ad (un)believable, what’s left out of the message?)

2.)    “This smacks of human trafficking is it even legal?” (delve into sites for disclaimers, hold harmless clauses, legalese/terms of service )

3.)    “Maybe they’re outrage baiting as a startup marketing ploy to seed viral word of mouth” (use media with mindfulness, be aware of secondary agendas, motivations, how they are  used)

4.)     “Is this another slick hipster with a ‘sproinged’ moral compass marketing ‘lifestyle’ portrayal without seeing any harm?” (deep dive into target market/research on psychographics, socioeconomics of any product/service—it further escalates levels of concern if young/vulnerable demographics are in the manipulation mix)

5.)     “Who’s behind the message? Is it a one-off wild hair or a brand extension stemming from somewhere else?” (recon core founders/CEO, history, sponsors, prior precedent, social media feeds–Miss Travel’s Twitter, Facebook etc. for example)

6.)    My last ditch attempt at denial hoping it was just a media misfire fell along the lines of, “Hmn…maybe it’s a beta test for traction? A PR test to show and tell…gee, who might gain fiscally from buzz brewing?” (unearth the money trail: follow the pitch/profit /persuasion/partners, do a tonality check, what’s their own valuation?)

I may sound profoundly hopeful to some and media-jaded to others, either way, the applied science of critical consumption (aka “crap detection 101”) spins nicely into a teachable moment. (more…)

April 18, 2012 No secret I’m a fan of all creatures great and small, wildly applauding every effort to impart nature’s magnificence to 21^st century kids.

Whether it’s the brand new launch of TiltWorld’s app (fun little Flip the frog on an eco-mission to make real world change in climate chaos) or Richard Louv’s Children and Nature Network (C&NN awarded $100K Disney grant!) or Disney Nature’s NEW film Chimpanzee tugging on heartstrings with REAL LIFE orphan Oscar the chimpanzee, (opens Fri, Apr. 20)…I see media as a “distribution channel” to get kids engaged, informed, ramped and amped with eco-literacy to be stewards of our planet.

I was fortunate to be at the 2009 U.S. red carpet premiere of Earth (report from our “tween team” attending DisneyNature’s Earth) which went on to yield an impressive $108 million (the first of four in their nature series) though as I wrote in this piece “When Art Meets Earth: Wyland Ocean Murals Inspire Kids to Care the film itself is one of MANY media launch points to create an environment of connection and concern in real life so kids can carry forth and help sustain this ol’ blue marble of a planet.

Chimpanzee has already prompted visceral ‘awwws’ in my household and ‘gotta support’ weekend opening plan changes as well…Though Disney Nature’s donation of “20cents per ticket, one week only, April 20-26″ seems like chump change for chimps, I’m not about to let an opportunity go by to support Jane Goodall’s amazing work. (hope it’s such a huge hit that megabucks Disney extends the donation longer in a more sustainable way!) (more…)

April 12, 2012 Ommm…want to join me in turning off all glowing electronic devices to celebrate CCFC’s Screen Free Week  of insight April 30-May 6, 2012? It’s a great chance to unplug…and reconnect.

Much like the freebie candlelight yoga practice I stumbled upon last evening, it’s a welcome surprise to experience the calm, centered, simplicity tuning into one’s internal compass and tuning out the digital hum.

It enables you to reset your own priorities, right your course and (re)create your pathways away from the ‘always on’ deluge of distractions and interruptions.

We all know children need to stretch their developing bodies as much if not more than their emerging minds, so this screen free respite is a strong reminder to explore alternative forms of play, outdoor romping, tactile chalk art, indoor forts, yoga, tumbles and imagination soup all swirling into a pretend pot, as I wrote in this interview with Susan Linn about The Case for Make Believe and this one on defending pretending and the value of unstructured play.

Screen Free.org has it’s own resource-packed site, and while some approach the week as if it were like unclamping the IV digital drip weaning slowly with reticence like withdrawal from an addictive substance, I tend to free-fall into the zealous ‘yank the dang plug out of the socket and go dark, woohoo!’ gleeful camp of participation.

Want to join in the fun with your own group, or family, or challenge a grade by grade gadget-be-gone, “all screens off” week throughout the entire school? Here’s a free CCFC ‘how to’ kit. (more…)

March 29, 2012 Good luck to our friends “The Shop Girls” the only all-girls teen team at the Shell Eco-Marathon in Houston this weekend, and congratulations on today’s public radio interview, “Cars Built By Kids Show Future to Better Gas Mileage”  (you GO, girls!)

Shaping Youth is proud to be a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) sponsor again this year, and this event exemplifies how to literally drive STEM careers into the spotlight by making learning FUN. “I learned that given a chunk of metal, the tools and the time, I can create an accurately and beautifully made car with rounded edges, holes in specific places and specific sizes…and the result was a  complete and running car, which turned out well…470 miles per gallon!”  —Shante, Granite Falls High School Junior

Now that’s some hands-on math! If you’re a parent like me grappling with moans of “Aw, c’mon, mom…When will I ever use math?” here are a few tips to whip out for cool career path storytelling to answer that question.

From animation and special effects as math goes to the movies, to pop culture favorites like fashion design, CSI style forensics and code-breaking cryptanalysis like a scene from a spy film, I can’t help but reiterate STEM studies need to be ‘relevant’ for kids inclined more toward the arts and humanities. How does a painter use math? What about a cook or a book author?

It takes a stellar educator to engage kids spectacularly using real life examples for math immersion…and it’s a rarity when one succeeds triple-fold, like Michael Werner, the Granite Falls High School shop teacher who puts his hands into hands-on programs to teach the pragmatics of building math skills. (more…)

March 8, 2012 It’s International Women’s Day…

As I struggled to post Part Two on solutions-building to combat toxic messages being sent to women and girls in our pop culture as depicted in Pt 1, Domestic Violence, Grammys, Too Short of a Memory my email chimed with a welcome update, interrupting like a DJ with a record scratch (go ahead, click the sound effects for a multimedia blog experience)

It spun me onto a different track of celebration on a global scale, highlighting the 101st International Women’s Day  through the lens of Global Women’s Leadership Network, (GWLN) where I was honored to be selected as a U.S. delegate for GWLN’s Women Leaders for the World incubator of changemakers and cyclebreakers in 2007.

It served as a breath of fresh air to be able to pump up the positive for International Women’s Day since we already know the top five reasons we should care  and definitely know “Women Deliver”…so it prompted me to ask instead, “ How will YOU use media today to inspire a girl or empower a female in your world today?”

Colleagues at Hardy Girls Healthy Women listed some fun media literacy activities to engage girls with critical thinking to start peeling the onion on the various media and marketing messages they receive. Crystal at Achilles Effect reminds of the ethical imperative to “Make Girls Part of the Story” from presence to partnerships… (more…)