The Different Kinds of Scary — Movie Mom Minute
Posted on October 3, 2010 at 8:00 am
Many
thanks to Jennifer Kachler, Adam Donald, Daniel Sheppard, Brian Gonzalez, my homegirl
Laine Kaplowitz, and everyone at the fabulous Bethesda Row Theatre.
Violence in Movies Shown on Airplanes
Posted on October 1, 2010 at 7:32 am
The only truly captive audience for movies is airline passengers. You do not have to put on the headset, but if you are disturbed or offended by what is on screen there is no way to turn it off. Airlines will edit the films for language or nudity and sex, but (other than plane crash scenes) they keep in the violence and parents with small children have no way to protect them from those images. A group called Kids Safe Films is calling on the airlines to do better.
On a 2006 US Airways flight, the in-flight airline movie screen dropped down from the overhead and began showing images of incredible violence. A drive-by shooting, a child crushed to death by a car, kids swapping guns. And that was in the first five minutes of the film. What’s crazy is that children on the flight were watching these images regardless of whether or not their parents purchased headsets. All because the screens were positioned so that everyone could see them. On other more recent flights, parents have struggled to protect their kids from images of murder, torture, melting faces and death – all shown on publicly viewable screens.
The American Medical Association reports numerous studies which prove that exposure to violent images is harmful to children.
And yet, here in America, in the only situation in which parents are unable to walk away from a TV screen, change the channel or even turn the TV off, their kids are force fed images of horrific violence – against their will, against the recommendation of the Medical Experts and against the guidelines set by Hollywood as put forth by the MPAA.
Their concerns are measured and their goals are modest. They applaud the airlines that either do not show movies or have 100% individual screens. They are not asking airlines to show children’s movies, they are not suing anyone (how refreshing!), and they are not raising money (even more refreshing). They are urging the airlines and movie studios to act on their own, but support legislation if that does not happen. They are gathering signatures on a petition and I support their efforts.
Time for Dinner: Resource for Families to Help Maintain Connections
Posted on September 5, 2010 at 8:00 am
The best way to keep families close and teach children essential life skills is to keep family dinner time a priority. No matter what else is going on, families should stop everything else at least five times a week for a quiet moment to touch base. Family dinners should include time for each member to talk about the day while the others listen patiently, with a few moments for supportive comments and follow-up questions. All electronic and telephonic devices should be banned until after the dishes are washed. I was very pleased to see this book from the editors of Cookie Magazine, a terrific resource for parents about how to make it work.
Offlining — Right Idea, but What About the Message?
Posted on August 30, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I love the idea of “offlining,” asking families to take a pledge of device-free time to focus on real-life communication. More than 10,000 people have signed their pledge to have at least 10 device-free dinners between now and Thanksgiving. I like the statement of the guys behind it about where it came from (even if they make the unforgivable mistake of writing “it’s” when it should be “its” — I will correct it below):
We persuade for a living.
We’ve devoted much of the last couple of decades to convincing you to log on, click here, call now, surf, search, pay bills in your underwear, trade from the beach, add “friends” to your digital network and, as AT&T once famously promised in their “You Will” campaign, tuck your children in from your mobile device.
Then one day we made a mistake — we looked up. We took our eyes off the screen long enough to see. We noticed we had kids and wives. We took in the way leaves open their faces to the sun. We reacquainted ourselves with the sounds birds make. And we realized these things could no longer compete.
We marketers had won!
All around us, all the heads in all the malls, airports and train stations seemed bowed in reverence to the device. Life had become multi-screen, multi-task, multi-plexed, mashed-up, an unrelieved contest for diminishing attention. And those who use the media professionally were perhaps the most inundated of all.
…..
We’re not fundamentalists. We’re not anti-marketing. In fact, we love marketing and we respect its power, which is why we’re committed to applying our expertise to the important things. And we’re not anti-technology — on the contrary, we love technology and all it can do for us. But we’re only going to enjoy those benefits if we learn to use the Off Button.
They’re calling for a device-free Yom Kippur (sunset of Sept 17-sunset of Sept 18 this year), not just for Jews but for everyone, to re-connect with friends and family. As noted above, they are marketing guys, and their ads are provocative and some may find them offensive, with photos of scandal-prone celebrities whose electronic communications have gotten them in trouble: Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, and Tiger Woods. They would say that it is necessary to get people’s attention and I suppose that my writing this right now shows that it worked.
Back to School Advice from Parent to Parent
Posted on August 28, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Common Sense Media has a very worthwhile list of back to school tips from the people who’ve been there — other parents. I especially like the idea of taking cell phones and putting them on an out-of-bedroom charger before bed and telling kids that privileges are earned by good behavior, not by reaching a particular age or grade. I support a no-television-or-movies-or-games-on-school-nights rule from kindergarten on, and strongly urge parents not to allow televisions or computers in a child’s bedroom, at meals, or on car trips of under an hour. Most important on the CSM list is, as always, for parents to set a good example. One of the best things you can do to get your child’s school year off to a good start is to let them see you sitting down often to enjoy a good book.