Shaping Youth’s New York Times e-Interview, Verbatim

Since I’m too swamped to post right now, dealing with flamethrowing yahoos missing the point of my original post altogether and now reacting to the New York Times article, I’ll simply post my verbatim comments (sent with a high degree of reticence to the NYT reporter's request) and deconstruct the nuances when I can breathe a bit. So here ya go: "Just the facts, … [Read more...]

Shaping Youth’s Gross Out Game for Good Nutrition

Just returned from Champions for Change, the state summit for a healthier California, and picked up some positive validation that Shaping Youth’s reality show games are on target in the solutions-based arena of obesity intervention. Our nutrition pilot, “Dare to Compare: A Gross Out Game for Good Nutrition” echoes the core concepts and research reflected by … [Read more...]

GREENtrepreneurs: RecycleBank Shows Kids it Pays to Go Green!

Shaping Youth sent Rebekah Cohen, one of our newest correspondents (Rebekah has a Masters in Child Development from Tufts University, and media chops on the "commercialism in schools" gig) to cover this week’s MIT/Stanford Venture Lab event which was called “GREENtrepreneurs” all about helping people go green and the consumer/tech market. Her assignment? … [Read more...]

What’s A Kids’ Party Without Piles of Presents? EchoAge.

EchoAge. Echo: "One small act of giving can echo around the world" plus Age: "Each year I want to make a difference on the planet" Equals: a meaningful twist on birthdays. Not exactly a whack the pinata and dive for the candy 'gimme mode' moment or frenzied paper-flying present grab flashback...but certainly an alternate view of what's fun. EchoAge is an innovative … [Read more...]

Ushahidi: Social Media, Kids, & A Penny of Perspective

When kids toss pennies in the trash from cleaning their room, bypass them as ‘nothin’ or maybe add them to a jar if you're lucky (Pamela Poole's blog reports 13% of Americans treat pennies exactly this way) it begs the consumption question...“How can we give kids a global worldview beyond a self-absorbed cocoon?” How do we open the eyes and minds of … [Read more...]