ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

i love u!!!

Diane Levin was the only American invited speaker at the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) Assembly and Conference held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. In Levin's absence because of the great opportunity to be on the Today program, her presentation on violence and children was given electronically and introduced by Dr. Blythe Hinitz, The College of New Jersey. The problems highlighted by Levin and others affect children in every other country in our global world.

OMEP-USA and NAEYC co-sponsor a film literacy festival at the annual NAEYC Conference to address exactly how the issues of violence, conflict, and inappropriate images affect children, parents, and educators.

I can't agree more that children are exposed to too much too soon in all froms of media. I also agree that children need to return to nature and exploration of their environment. There is little left to the imagination with the manufactured toys children play with. As a child, I remember spending most of my day pretending that many things were something else. The tree was a tower, the swing set was a space ship, etc. I watch children play and see the lack of imagination. Children are singing words to songs that are so inappropriate for young children. The are watching shows and movies that are also so inappropriate for young children. TV shows that are aired in "prime time" are so out of line for young children. The content even shocks me at times. I have noticed that even G rated movies have so much adult content that it is assumed will "go over the heads" of young children. What a shame to assume that children are so unaware. Advertisements that are geared towards young children are well beyond the years of the children targeted. Children's clothing should reflect the innocence of childhood, not emulate morally questionable young adults. Parents do have to take charge of their children and stop letting them be swept away by the media that bombards them with images and language that they do not fully understand, yet are drawn to as a result of the glitz and glamour of the bombardment. We need to let children be children.

While I agree media has always pushed children to grow up too fast and dress provocative, I do not see how a daughter learning to keep house would push her to be "too sexy too soon"...it seems like the comments posted about pushing girls try boy activities and boys to learn to keep house (cook for example) is the author's way of sharing their peronal views on gender roles which was not the point of the story. The point is to protect children from growing up too fast. While children should be able to play with what interests them and learn many life skills they still should understand there are gender differences or they will learn the hard way once their honeymoon's over. :) I think if more women understood how to keep house, cook, etc. there would be a lot less marriages falling apart. There is a reason men and women are different (physically, emotionally, and socially).

I love your articles and read them every day. they are short and to the point and as a director of a day care center that's what I am looking for. This is a general comment and I may have missed it before, but I noticed in this article that I didn't see credentials next to the people's names. I think this is always important as it gives us an idea as to the experts' backgrounds.
Yes I agree that life is too sped up for children. Vaccines have possibly sped things up. Girls have always been the target of unwanted advances and now more so than ever when dress up isn't played anymore and the innocence of childhood continues to fade we have to thank companies like Dove for doing their part. We as early childhood educators have to fight to keep childhood in prospective for the children, families and the world. You only get one chance @ childhood and a healthy balanced childhood hold the key to success in adulthood.

Thank you for this resource. Another good book on the subject is called Packaging Girlhood, by Sharon Lamb, PhD. Here is the descrioption:
Packaging Girlhood is a new book by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown that helps guide parents through attempts to claim them by marketers and the media. We show parents the image of girls (sexy, diva, boy-crazy, shoppers) that's being packaged and sold, pretty in pink. We write about how “girl power” has been co-opted by marketers of music, fashion, books, cartoons, TV shows, movies, toys, and more to mean the power to shop and attract boys, and how girls are encouraged to use their “voice” to choose accessorizing over academics, sex appeal over sports, and boyfriends over friends. We expose these stereotypes and the very limited choices presented of who girls are and what they can be. We give advice to parents about how they can guide their daughters through these negative images without taking a “Just say no” perspective.

In chapters: What They Watch, What They Wear, What They Hear, What They Read, and What They Do, we examine the lives of girls from childhood, through the tween years and middle school, and on through adolescence. You can find more info at http://www.packaginggirlhood.com/