Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

Jan 1, 2012 It’s a New Year of high hopes, fresh starts and corporate credos getting a sponge-bath.

Here’s hoping companies will begin to listen to consumer concerns from the START of product builds rather than mopping up marketing messes AFTER-launch, scrambling to reframe messages ‘um, what we really meant was’…

Case in point? Mattel’s backpedaling, reframing and attempted goodwashing of their absurdly sexualized Monster High dolls. And quite possibly soon? The marketing myopia of Lego Friends. I’m not ‘outraged’ or ‘freaked out’ or whatever loaded media-baiting punditry is flinging about regarding the new Lego Friends line targeting girls with the pinkification of ‘ladyfigs’ (complete with itty bitty breasts, curves, names, backstories, as beautified assembly props instead of open-ended imaginative, buildable play) I am baffled.

How (and why) are we missing profound opportunities to leverage neuroscience breakthroughs for positive change, wellness and play? With all this Lego research ‘anthropology,’ why aren’t we closing learning gaps with  innovation?

How can we finally be tossing aside ‘hardwired’ corpus calossum theories on differences in boys/girls, acknowledging brain plasticity and realizing this play pattern/edu deficit stuff is NOT ‘set in stone’ and yet simultaneously standby to see Lego spend $40 million in mega-marketing bucks to proceed to SET it in stone. Truly…baffling. Why would we DO that?

It confounds me that after we’ve connected the dots on the hackneyed ‘girls are more verbal, boys are more spatial’ themes only to find they’re not ‘wrong’ but are simply ‘learned’ in lather/rinse/repeat toy choice, environment, and behavior mode, that someone isn’t wildly waving their hands saying ‘hey, let’s look at this, make changes by design and improve outcomes for BOTH genders.’ (more…)

Dec. 20, 2011 True confessions, it’s been a heckuva challenging year, and it got me thinking about what different people do to bootstrap themselves out of adversity in its many forms whether it’s “first world” stress, third world crisis, health, home or holiday blues.

I turned to our SY advisory board child development specialist, Dr. Robyn Silverman and pointed the ‘whatcha got, girl?’ in her direction, and she replied with this “Cheer for the Cheerless” blog post pronto, my head bobbing with validation perusing her checklist of tips.

For an infusion of positive energy that streams directly into the soul,  I go straight for media that matters spotlighting REAL people making a difference in the world. Whether it’s broadcast en masse, like the recent CNN Heroes show (which will air again on Christmas eve and Christmas day, see international listings) or much smaller, online youth community hubs like the champions at Kids Are Heroes you’ll find a sure cure that uplifts and inspires. (more…)

Dec. 10, 2011 Usually “it’s the thought that counts” is mumbled in the unwrapping-to-wincing phase of needless holiday consumption but I’d like to flip that message into a heart-felt, fun-filled, family tradition instead.

With budgets cut to the quick and the focus on children when it comes to ‘doing something special’ for holiday gifts, here’s a long overdue idea for adults that won’t cost a cent…pick out gifts for loved ones, but just don’t buy them.

Seriously. Why not? If it’s truly “the thought that counts” then why not skip the consumption in woulda/coulda mode?

After all, how many of us see ‘hilarious’ catalog items ‘perfect’ for so and so, fork out the dough for a giggle, but secretly know it’ll show up in the ‘regifted’ bin?

By turning the sentiment virtual in a fresh new way, relatives and friends know you’re thinking of them with joy and humor minus the mailing costs, spending and credit card bills. (and since ‘the sky’s the limit’ and there’s no budget, you can discover all kinds of fun finds)

Here’s how it works: Write a post full of links with what you’ve picked out for each individual, then invite the key players in your world and let them ‘figure out the puzzle’ in the name of ‘virtual gifting.’

By literally skipping the ‘buy, buy’ flurry and dodging the neuroscience of shopping there’s more time for mindfulness and genuine sharing of thoughts that ‘remind you’ of a certain someone…It could catch on as a beloved annual holiday game ritual. (more…)

Dec. 2, 2011 Heard of  Ameba TV yet?

For world-weary parents of kids aged 2-12 who’d like to allow media in moderation but are sick of monitoring cruddy channels of influence being served up by ‘big media’ monetization and merchandising models 24/7, Ameba TV’s multi-platform subscriber service is an exhale and a welcome gift. (for about the cost of a flippin’ Frappuccino it’s an affordable one– $3.99/mo)

When Disney, Nickelodeon and all the biggies are pumping out ‘tween’ dating for 8-12 year olds, and hottie,  frenemie sass with some pretty toxic social norming in the behavioral realm, I think it’s fabulous to see the excitement building among indie content producers ready to backlash with POSITIVE content and healthier appeal!

Ameba TV  is a commercial-free, award-winning kids content hub with an indie edge that appeals to those of us who like creative CHOICES, instead of 500+ cable channels that serve up similar tonality and  formula fare.

For many, it’s an opportunity to take back TV on your own terms and “occupy your living room” with quality choices instead of giving in with a shoulder shrug to the crass commercialization of childhood leaving big media to call all the shots. Viva la revolution!

(more…)

Nov. 20, 2011 Truth is, Hollywood is lying about teen sex. Big time.

New CDC research points to numbers that might as well frame Hollywood shows as a public health statistical version of ‘The Lying Game’ since TV consistently paints youth onto a recklessly bleak canvas of stereotyped imagery as impulsively hormonal lusty idiots …when the exact converse is true.

Of those teens that have had sex, they did so using protection. And get this…according to the CDC, less than 43% of teens have ever had sex, meaning teenagers having sex are now in the MINORITY. (NYT/CDC)

Contrary to “realityTV,” teen birth rates are down, based on data collected between ’06-2010. (and that worrisome ’05-’07 bitty bump that blipped up briefly slid back to decline and we are now at the lowest rates ever recorded in the US)

And yet, what are we seeing on teen shows? A gaping chasm between the reality of teens today and the “hot or not” salaciousness of bed-hopping flings, teen moms and baby bumps galore, sexting storylines, and fixation on appearance-based boinkability…

We see consistent media depictions of a 24/7 teen focus on sex. Either overly romanticized with ‘gift giving’ overtones. Or under-handed, manipulative, sex as power tool. Or as every which way sex: Teens-n-teachers. Bi. Gay. Hetero. Hookup. Glee represents a bit of a sea change in “The First Time” episode by adding a new kind of sex… condoms/contraception, careful consideration, committed sex. Go figure. (more…)

Nov. 11, 2011 As schools let out for the Friday Veteran’s Day holiday, I double-dog dare you to ask each child why they get the day off and submit the answers here for a positive parenting prize…

…The helpful new book by Amy McCready, “If I Have to Tell You One More Time…”

Founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, author McCready is partnering with Blue Star Families, a fabulous resource site ‘by military families, FOR military families’, and she’s donating an online training course to a deserving military family for every book sold, which fits our own compass for using media and marketing for positive change nicely.

Why a positive parenting book instead of myriad other red, white and blue Veteran’s Day commercial branding tie-ins? What better way to honor service families than uplifting and inspiring parent education to ditch the drill Sargent routine with 23 tools authored by a “recovering yeller?”

Doesn’t get much more stressful than having a loved one serving in Afghanistan or Iraq while raising kids in the trenches of media and marketing crosshairs…so navigating some of the most stressed out scenarios in child-rearing with cool, collected aplomb seems like quite a worthy goal for “Pay it Forward Parenting.” (more…)

Oct. 31, 2011 Happy Halloween!

As one whose earliest childhood memory was getting spooked by my own reflection at age 3 in scary mini-witch regalia, it’s pretty clear I’m not cut out for the full tilt analysis of “Monsters in the Movies” media moments John Landis’ serves up in his new book with any kind of in-depth philosophical probing of “why we need” monsters in our human psyche, as part of the “rollercoaster of the soul”…

That said, I loved listening to Landis just now on NPR’s “Hour of Horror” interviewed about the evolution of 100 years of cinematic nightmares on “To The Best of Our Knowledge” as I dumped off a carload of teens at the Halloween Haunt at Great America excitedly gearing up to be petrified out of their wits. (Landis’ interview archived on mp3; and two minute trailer in his own words to give you a feel for some of the content after the jump) The radio show commentary hypothesized, “Our world is increasingly unthinkable.  It’s a world of tectonic shifts, strange weather and oil-drenched seascapes.  So maybe it makes sense to look to the horror genre to help us think about our unthinkable world.”

I dunno. It almost seems like a teen “developmental/pop culture” mindset to go see the scariest film goin’ (which I guess right now is supposed to be Paranormal Activity 3 judging from Facebook status lines…) so in some cases one could argue ’twas ever thus.

We’ve ALWAYS needed to make sense of ‘the unthinkable.’ Even though I HATE gore, slasher flicks, violent horror media and such, when scary previews run for supernatural thrillers laced with ethereal weirdness I immediately flashback to my own childhood where the haunting “Tubular Bells” soundtrack alone made me ansy and after watching the real Count Dracula I’d pull the covers up over my neck  ‘just in case’…(yah, I’m a scaredy cat) (more…)