Attention Tweenage Breakfast Dodgers! Now you have even more incentive to sip some OJ, grab a banana, and snarf some raisin bran or whole wheat toast before school... A study in the March issue of Pediatrics suggests that adolescents who eat breakfast regularly “tend to weigh less, exercise more and eat more healthy foods than those who skip the meal.” If … [Read more...]
Back up the train. When I started Shaping Youth, I’d been writing in very basic form for the now dormant Common Sense Media blog, using easy explanations to discuss how commercialism and digital ads were influencing kids at undetected levels far off parental radar. Since then, Shaping Youth has evolved to a deeper level of analysis of media messaging, and I realize I … [Read more...]
Before I founded Shaping Youth, I spent years writing for ocean liners, travel accounts and all kinds of 'high end consumer goods.' It always amazed me watching the little tugs help guide the vessels into port, and I learned a lot about 'trim tabs,' rudders, and engineering momentum. It's no surprise then, that I chose the Queen Mary to depict the behemoth media mandate … [Read more...]
Update Sept. 29, 2016 Today is National Coffee Day! While these Harvard studies for ADULTS caffeine intake bring us a few 'ahhh' morning moments, this AAP study with KIDS could have parents steaming, as it points to the dangers of children's consumption (especially energy drinks) and notes consumption by teens age 17, 18 has doubled over the last decade. With Starbucks … [Read more...]
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the Wall Street Journal 'stimulus plan for candy,' focusing on the jolt-n-crash “caffeine candy bars” flooding the retail mix to join energy drinks and the even more mind-boggling stupidity stunts in the ‘shock schlock’ realm of drug-look-alike kiddie cocaine. (As if kids aren’t jacked up enough with twitch games and rapid-fire media, let’s … [Read more...]
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