Youth Call to Service: MLK Day Off? Make It a Day On!

Jan. 16, 2017 Update This year it's particularly poignant to contrast the ethics, integrity and service values of our outgoing President Obama with the stark greed, corruption, and narcissism of the incoming oligarchy that threatens our very democracy, so this is a call to action for each and every American to serve not just today, but year-round.  On the #MLKDay … [Read more...]

Wii Are Family: A French Look At A Global Gaming Phenom

Romantic that I am, I took French in 8th grade yet proceeded to live in locations where Japanese, Chinese or Spanish were the language of choice; yet somehow, French still sticks in my brain. There are plenty of language resource hubs and brain data expressing the myths of kids' critical learning years for foreign language, but regardless of linguistics research all I know … [Read more...]

The Girl Revolution: Empowering Girls Instead of Consuming Them

Shaping Youth writes extensively about the need for a massive media mindshift away from the sexualization and commodification of girls, so it’s with great pride and ‘atta girl’ go-power that that we announce one of our own honorees in our All Things Girl round-up is seizing the headway and momentum to launch her renamed site The Girl Revolution! Chock full of fun freebies … [Read more...]

Kids@Play: Elf Island Unlocks the Secret to Parent Approval

I was AWOL at CES as my IBM went MIA. Translated? You're SOL (simply outta luck) if you're seeking a fresh thread on the big Consumer Electronics Show toys and tactics targeting kids at the Kids at Play summit, until I can reconvene with colleagues or TechMamas that were present to interview them and/or pitch a guest editorial. I tried, I really tried to get there. The … [Read more...]

Do New Year Resolutions Work? Parents? Kids? Teens?

Dec. 30, 2016 Update Now THAT's what I'm talking about... Teen Vogue has just released their 2017 New Year's resolution playlist, and a historic lens of where the tradition came from, and given that I'm now a subscriber and newfound fan of Teen Vogue's scorching truth-telling journalistic lens, it's heartening to hear younger voices ringing loud and clear instead of … [Read more...]