There was a pattern I watched develop when my daughter was young. She would watch the Disney child celebs and various recording artists who catered to the Radio Disney crowd and I was fine with it. But, in a couple years’ time I found myself having to put the kibosh on what she was listening to or watching from that celeb. We live in a voyeuristic society which seems to feed on the youth of it’s film and tv “icons.” It also, seemingly, feeds on the sexualization of those youths as they become women. Heck, the celebs themselves put their sexual exploration on display as they attempt to move from “child actor” to “serious adult actor.” It’s quite deliberate actually if you look at men’s magazines like Maxim and listen to the gossip sheet chatter about “leaked” nude cellphone pics and sex tapes. It’s “good PR” and helps them to be taken seriously by directors for roles which may get a PG13 rating or better. While that’s all well and good for those celebs, it wreaks havoc on those of us who are trying to raise emotionally healthy girls. » Read more: Raising Media Savvy Girls: Tween Celeb Sexualization
Archive for the ‘Parenting’ category
Raising Media Savvy Girls: Tween Celeb Sexualization
September 2nd, 2010Parenting In The Digital Age Seminar
August 31st, 2010Join Digital Shepherds and the YMCA for a back to school event which will help you ensure that your children are safe as they use technology in their daily lives and give you more piece of mind as you’ll walk away a more savvy mom or dad, parenting in the digital age.
Back To School: 6 Tips for Dealing With Tech Temptations
August 24th, 2010It’s back to school time and that means another year to tell your children to stop texting and get back to school work, or pop your head into their bedroom only to find your tween under the sheets texting. Maybe you grow weary of barking about video game play when homework or chores should be getting done. Well, before you’re completely stressed out this school year by your child’s lack of focus, we’ve got some easily actionable tips to help you protect the children and yourself against technology overload. » Read more: Back To School: 6 Tips for Dealing With Tech Temptations
Raising Media Savvy Girls: The Magazine Perfection Myth
August 18th, 2010So, this is the first official post for my new bi-weekly segment, Raising A Media Savvy Girl. Let’s begin with a little history first, a question should get us started. Why should you listen to me besides the fact that I currently have a 14 year old daughter who is pretty well adjusted (as of today’s date at least) and emotionally healthy? For that I have to thank the Mrs., Mom and Mother-in-law as much as anything. To answer the question, I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life creating content focused on grabbing you and your children’s eyes and ears. I have been an editor in film and tv all that time, as well as a promotional writer and even won a few awards along the way. In other words, I know first hand what is done to draw you in when it comes to broadcast media. » Read more: Raising Media Savvy Girls: The Magazine Perfection Myth
Back To School: Setting Up A New User Login To Stay Focused
August 17th, 2010So, your children are back in school. Summer has come and gone and the time for pencils, calculators and online homework is once again upon you. Oh, yeah that’s right, “online homework.” My children have online homework and it’s actually pretty cool! Only problem is that it is real easy to lose one’s focus when ctrl+T opens up a new tab so easily and Facebook/Myspace/YouTube/Twitter/AIM is just a bookmark away. In this post we’ll take a look at how to combat the back to school concentration buster by setting up a new “user login” on your Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC. » Read more: Back To School: Setting Up A New User Login To Stay Focused
Trickle Down Tech: How To Beat The Jones’
August 12th, 2010No, this isn’t the title to some old James Bond flick. Not a bestselling book either. This post is about tech toys! Every year, our children want more and more of these tech toys and it just isn’t sensible to keep up with the Jonses. Timmy Jones has an iPod Touch and an HTC Evo, along with his Nintendo DSi. Sienna Jones has that chic white Blackberry Bold and a netbook and both of them aren’t even in Junior High yet. Your children are doing the Old Spice thing and looking at the Jonses, now looking at you, now looking at the Jones’ toys, now back at you and their puppy dog eyes are saying it, their posture is saying it and in a moment they’ll be yelling it at the top of their lungs, “Timmy and Sienna have the bomb toys! I want my own iPhone/Pod/Pad dad! I want my own netbook and Bold mom! Mommmmm! Daddddddd! I want it nowwwww!” Ok, so that may have been over the top and I may have borrowed some from Willy Wonka’s Veruca Salt but you get the point. It can be tough raising children in an environment which rewards instant gratification and says, “You have to have the latest gadget….NOW!” » Read more: Trickle Down Tech: How To Beat The Jones’
Decoding Pop Culture
August 9th, 2010(The following is a repost from a blog I used to write called, “The Connected Man.”) Along the lines of this blog’s title, I make it a point to make sure that my daughter is connecting those things she surrounds herself with, to the reality of the ramifications of those connections to her spirit. You know, “garbage in, garbage out.” To that end, we spend a fair amount of time going over rap/pop/rock songs’ lyrics prior to her being allowed to have those which are age appropriate on her Blackberry. It goes a little something like this…..
She hears a song on the radio (or one of her friends’ iPods) > she then pulls up the lyrics to that song(s) on the computer > she reads the lyrics for overtly sexual/stoner/mysoginistic content > if it passes for the most part, but she’s still unsure….if it’s “iffy” she then asks me to sign off and give it a “yay” or “nay.”
When we first started doing this I’d have to spend a great deal of time going over the messages contained in the lyrics » Read more: Decoding Pop Culture
Take A Stand Mom and Dad! You Are the Gatekeepers
August 4th, 2010
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomsaint/
Thought I’d start off the day with a little rant. Consider yourself warned!
We’re working on partnering with local retail video game stores to bring our live demo lecture to the parents who patronize them and while speaking with a manager today, he told me something which didn’t surprise me but did inspire me to write this post. I was telling him about how as part of our Parenting in the Digital Age program, not only do we do a live demo of setting up parental controls on the PS3/Xbox360/Wii, but we also speak to parents about some of the “gotchas” of video games like downloadable content (DLC) and online gaming as well as provide them with some sensible parenting tips on setting proper boundaries with their little gamers and when I finished he proceeded to tell me how needed that was because, often, he gets parents in his store who go to buy games which clearly aren’t appropriate for their children’s age. » Read more: Take A Stand Mom and Dad! You Are the Gatekeepers
Creating a Family Tradition, And A Geek Experiment
August 2nd, 2010
http://www.flickr.com/photos/americansinalsace/2050192619/
With the light speed pacing of so much of the media which influences our children’s attention spans today, I thought I’d talk about something very surprising I found out about my own children. THEY ACTUALLY CAN SIT AND WATCH INTERESTING MEDIA FOR LONGER THAN 35 and a half seconds! I know. Scared the heck out of me but it’s true! Based on my personal, pesudo-scientific experience, it appears that nurture can be stronger than MTV nature. Case in point: Daddy’s Picks.
Some time ago, when my children had not yet tasted the twinge of tweenage angst and they were still quasi-content being their own age I thought I’d try a little experiment. Being the self professed “sly fox” (read: Nerd/Geek) that I thought I was at the time I candy coated my experiment with the title “Daddy’s Picks.” I gathered the three little ones around me and stood before them like a Griot in front of a campfire and captive band of tribesmen, then in dramatic fashion – I felt like I needed to really sell this idea – told the story of these awesome movies I had loved when I was their age *connecting it to them in this way, their eyes grew wider with anticipation* and how, on a regular basis, we were going to make a special evening of watching those old but thoroughly awesome movies. The look on their faces seeming to beckon to me, “We like where this is going. Tell us more!” And I did. » Read more: Creating a Family Tradition, And A Geek Experiment
First, Sexting. Now, Sextortion and 5 tips to prevent it.
July 12th, 2010
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mshades/2404442122/sizes/m/#cc_license
I know you may be thinking, “Oh Lord. What now?” Yeah, there’s always something new in town on the web but this is nothing new. Just a new take on an old idea. The concept is simple: Some guy gets his hands on some not so appropriate images of your daughter (and in some cases, your son) and then uses those photos to extort her to perform sex acts via webcam or more photos, telling her that if she doesn’t want those original photos to go out to all of her family and friends, she better comply with his demands. There’s the story which hit the news, about a 40 year old man from Massachusetts who posed as a 17 year old to gain nude photos from underage girls, then extort them into performing sex acts on webcam. There’s also Anthony Stancl, an 18 year old senior who posed as a girl on Facebook to get nude photos of 30 of his fellow male classmates. He was arrested and is now doing 15 years in prison.
This is happening to teenagers and in some cases tweens, so what can you do to lessen the chances that your child will become a victim of one of these internet predators? We’ve outlined 5 steps you can take to help combat this problem.
» Read more: First, Sexting. Now, Sextortion and 5 tips to prevent it.





