Teaching Kids About “Stuff”

Posted on July 14, 2012 at 8:09 am

I like Kirsten Greenidge’s piece in the Boston Globe about what she did when her children had tantrums in a store. She said she understands the appeal of “stuff.” And she described how the seemingly harmless fun of posting photos on Pinterest can lead to an adult version of the gimmies. She resolved to put her kids on a no-stuff diet until the next special occasion, even no free lollipop at the bank. She is going to teach her kids to be more present in their interactions with things.

This is perhaps not the most fulfilling way to meander through life, this coveting, this curating of stuff. It is a means of focusing inward, of connecting to others through objects that are, when all is said and done, simply objects. They make poor substitutes for actual human interaction and connection.

Still, from the back seat, each kid howled. I had come between them and their stuff. I was altering their view of the world — a view that it is OK if your need for more objects affirming your place in the universe takes over your experience as a human being.

Over the weekend, my husband and I drove by what was once, in the days of VHS, a video store. I told him that once, when our son was about 2, I stood with him on the sidewalk in front before we went inside and told him that we did not have time to pick out a new movie, so we were just going to go inside long enough to return one, and he should not ask me to stay. Our son said he understood. A man walking past us stopped to listen. “That works?” he said incredulously. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of giving in to the “stuff” monster. But it is a much greater gift to teach children to value what they have.

Matte Painting Backgrounds — Before CGI

Posted on July 14, 2012 at 8:00 am

Years ago, my husband and I attended an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York featuring the spectacular matte paintings of Peter Ellenshaw, who created the enthralling background designs for movies from the futuristic “Things to Come” to Walt Disney Studios’ “Treasure Island” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Before the days of computer-generated images some of the most imaginative and evocative settings on film were created by brilliantly talented draughtsman and artists. Many thanks to Roger Ebert for directing me to this splendid collection of some of the best movie matte paintings, including Ellenshaw’s wonderful London setting for “Mary Poppins.”

Related Tags:

Understanding Media and Pop Culture

DVS: Making Movies Accessible to the Visually Impaired

Posted on July 13, 2012 at 8:00 am

Boston public television station WGBH is a pioneer in making movies and PBS shows available to the visually impaired by adding descriptive audio, called DVS. That is a quiet narration to explain the actions and settings, like “Jim runs to the door, chased by a dog.” To support this effort, visit their website to make purchases of descriptive audio movies through Amazon. It does not cost extra, but four percent of the purchase price goes to making more movies available. And contact the studios, to encourage them to make their films available to this audience.

14-Year-Old Teaches 17 Magazine About Real Girls

Posted on July 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

I used to tell my daughter that she could read fashion magazines as long as she understood that everything in them, the articles and the ads, was intended to make her feel bad about her looks and buy a lot of stuff she did not need. Now a 14-year-old girl has persuaded one of the most successful and influential magazines for teenagers to show girls as they really are, with all of the photos in the magazine showing “real girls and models who are healthy,” and promising to “celebrate every kind of beauty.” I especially like their commitment to putting pictures from their photo shoots on Tumblr so girls can see the edits and their promise not to make changes to the models’ faces or bodies.

Julia Bluhm started an online petition after girls in her ballet class were complaining that they were fat. With 25,000 signatures in just a few days, she made a compelling case and Seventeen invited Bluhm and her mother to visit them. Bluhm says she will now work on Teen Vogue. This is a wonderfully empowering development, not just because it will show girls more realistic models but because it shows girls they can make a difference on issues that concern them. Hurray for Julia Bluhm!

Parental Alert: Pornography and Abuse on Teen Websites

Posted on June 15, 2012 at 12:53 pm

Habbo Hotel, a popular social media website for teenagers, is reopening after suspending its interactive functions following an investigative journalist’s reports of abuse.

Following Tuesday’s announcement that mobile app Skout temporarily closed its under-18 community amidst rape allegations, Finnish virtual world Habbo Hotel has shut down its chat functions after “reports of abusive behaviors.”

Marketed as “the world’s largest social game and online community for teenagers,” the game boasts 10 million visitors per month to the virtual hotel, where children as young as 13 years old create avatars, chat publicly or privately with other users, and buy credits to furnish animated hotel rooms.

But the service made headlines this week after Rachel Seifert, a producer with the U.K.’s Channel 4 News, said she encountered pornographic chat, avatars engaged in cyber sex, and more. Seifert spent two months investigating the goings-on of the seemingly innocent game. While posing as a young girl, Seifert was asked to strip fully naked, “and asked what would I do on a webcam,” she said.

Seifert had similar sexually charged and inappropriate experiences all 50 times she played the game.

I looked into this after receiving a spam email “accepting” a registration at Habbo I had never signed up for. The recent announcement that Facebook plans to expand to include middle schoolers adds to the concern about the combination of poor judgment, increased independence, and anonymity in social media. Parents should be on the alert and make sure they have meaningful conversations and oversight of their children’s online activities and relationships.