The company confirmed Wednesday that its fall product line for schools no longer includes the Bratz brand — a switch from last year, when Scholastic said the books appealed to “reluctant readers” and its job was to “offer materials that appeal to children where they are, not where we would like them to be.”
Corporations are willing to listen and respond to our concerns. They are concerned about their reputations. They want to keep us as customers. We just have to let them know what we want.
Build a better understanding of the role media plays in your family’s life with Daniel Bergin, media educator, independent filmmaker, award-winning television producer for Twin Cities Public television, and father of two. Get a behind-the-scenes look at his work, then connect with other parents in a discussion about effective tools for helping your child interpret the media more critically. Participants will receive a resource packet of useful tips for continuing the discussion at home.
I won’t be able to attend but if you go, drop me a line.
She’ll feel extra fab prancing around in these Hot 2 Trot wedges by Mia. . . . Crossing patent vamp straps wrap over the arches to a slingback . . . . A 1/2 inch cork textured midsole rises to a 2 1/2 inch wedge heel.
Prancing? Vamp straps? Slingback? These are children’s shoes. They would fit my six-year-old.
Reader Marsha was reading my mind when she commented on yesterday’s post about complaining when you can’t find appropriate children’s clothing:
In addition to voicing your concerns . . . remember that thrift stores are a great option. Not only can you find good, affordable clothing, but by shopping at thrift stores you’re not supporting multinational corporations, sweatshops, unfair labor practices, fuel consumption from transporting goods thousands of miles, etc.
I had already planned to write about thrift stores, prompted by something I saw in Sunday’s comics (of all places). You Can with Beakman & Jax is a syndicated column for kids that appears in our local paper. Kids write in with a question and they are answered with an experiment they can do.
You Can columnist Jok Church took the high road when he answered the question: What is a good makeover for a teenager?
I think it would be best to pass on to you the teachings of a personal style expert, Quentin Crisp . . . who always said style is “being yourself, but on purpose. Fashion is advertising. Style is you, intentionally.
Church continues with a thrift store experiment: Take a quarter of your school clothes budget, go to a thrift store and pull out everything you like. Write down a couple words describing why you like that piece of clothing. Go back to the clothes you chose and put back everything with a logo on the outside.
Logos advertise for the maker of the item. You should not wear a logo that shows unless that clothing maker pays you an advertising fee.
Not only does Church expose the clothing industry’s marketing machine that profits at the expense of a teen’s fragile sense of self-worth, he’s encouraging recycling. I love this man.
My girls have grown up on thrift-store shopping. At first we shopped at our local Goodwill because the boys and girls clothes are mixed together. We didn’t have to deal with that’s a boy’s sweatshirt! Now we’ve expanded to others shops. I love knowing that we’re not putting money into any corporate pockets, we’re lowering demand by not buying retail, and we’re not adding as much to our landfills.
Friday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest on Fathers are Forever, a radio talk show broadcast from Montery, California. Although the topic was the sexualization of children (Diane Levin, co-author of So Sexy So Soon, was the guest during the first hour), the conversation expanded to cover many aspects of marketing to kids.
One caller, Mike, complained that the clothing he wants his daughter to wear — modest and without suggestive words or phrases — is more expensive than the current fashion. I’d add that it’s harder to find, too.
So in answer to Why do parents buy that stuff for their kids? one reason may be cost and availability. Many people need to shop in the most convenient locations (big-box stores and shopping malls) and don’t have much money to spend. They’re stuck with what is available to them.
When we cannot find appropriate clothing for our kids, we need to complain. We need to talk to store managers. We need to write to customer service representatives. We need to let companies know that we want something else.
Retailers want to please us. They want us to come back to their stores. But they can’t give us what we want if we don’t ask them to.
I’m thrilled to be included in a segment of the Montery, California radio show Fathers are Forever. The segment will examine the sexualization of children and what parents can do about it. It will air live tomorrow night (Friday, September 5) from 7 to 9 pm (Pacific). You can listen to the show here.
BusRadio is a perfect example what is wrong with the profit-based commercialization of childhood. Children are literally a captive audience on a school bus. They have no choice but to listen to whatever is being broadcast. The BusRadio “service” is sold to underfunded schools as a way to get new radio equipment free of charge. And BusRadio gets to decide what ”kid-friendly” songs sounds like and which “carefully selected sponsorships” are appropriate whether your child is six or sixteen.
I took my family to watch democracy in action during the protest march on the RNC yesterday. Nutshell: a peaceful and powerful display of free speech at its most creative was interrupted by a dangerous and annoying group of protest-rebel-wannabees. (I imagine their photos will be featured in an “Xtreme Activism” display sponsored by Red Bull.)
I’m not the kind of person who jumps right into the action. On our way to downtown St. Paul we were confused because our bus was not following the special RNC reroute. Then we saw a large group of police officers, in full riot gear, running. In our direction. My husband suggested we jump off the bus there to see what was going on; I declined. Even if we hadn’t had our girls with us, I don’t know that I would have wanted to witness what happened next:
Undercover cops are not fooling anyone. Two undercover cops stepped out of the march and stood beside me to watch the crowds. Overstuffed backpacks, new water bottles, new tennis shoes? My husband said they could be frat boys, but I dared him to find another protestor with wrap-around sunglasses. They took off running after a cell phone call.
I’m not the kind of person to approach celebrities. When we first got off the bus, I saw Noah Kunin (with The Uptake, who provided the best RNC protest coverage) documenting the day with his cell phone. My impulse was to yell, “Go, Uptake!” or to run up and shake his hand. Couldn’t do it.
Jon Stewart is taller than you’d think. No details, see previous re: Noah Kunin.
Twitter has a greater purpose. Tweeting takes on a whole new meaning if you’re spending the day in the middle of chaos. (Read The Revolution will be Twittered at Firedoglake.) After we returned home safely we were glued to s4xton, coldsnaplegal, JasonBarnett, MnIndyLIVE, and PiPress. (And to the live streams coming from The Uptake.) How did I manage without Twitter for so long?
I probably should have anticipated the ironic ending to our day. It had been a very hot day and we ran out of water. On our walk back to the bus stop (futile, as the buses has stopped running), the girls stopped to cool off in this fountain by the Capitol.
And these are the officers who told the kids: You can’t be in the water! Get out!
