Latest Entries

Healthy Media Choices

Four keys to help children thrive in disturbing times:

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Mary Rothschild • 1 Comment

Wherever we are in the spectrum of relationship and response to the recent deaths of citizens at the hands of police and police deaths at the hands of a crazed citizen, we are all affected by incessant images of unrest, conflict and death. Fearful images. Especially since the killings at Sandy Hook, we feel the … Continue reading →

Healthy Media Choices

Making Room for Relationship

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

I opened my Google alerts today and found an article from Psychology Today on mobile technology and corporate culture, which reinforced my own view from recent experience that the ease and automatic nature of email and text to communicate while planning (either a family event or something in the larger community) leaves something of the … Continue reading →

children and media / Commentary

Technology and Media in Religious Education?

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Mary Rothschild • 2 Comments

Yes, that’s a question mark. Education in American society is at a watershed moment evidenced by “flipped classrooms,” synchronous and asynchronous online learning and the exchange of resources and information via social media and Google tools. Then, there’s “gamification.” Religious education is no exception and there’s no doubt, as Bud Horell points out in his … Continue reading →

Commercialization / Family / Media / Narrative about media / Parents / Rituals

Video Games: Whence Do they Lead?

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

This is one of those posts that address pieces that have appeared in the media and I didn’t address at the time. July 2, 2011: Virginia Heffernan’s piece How Games Steer Us Through Life appeared in the Opinionator section of the New York Times. I’d like to bring a few things to light about this … Continue reading →

Alternative Stories / imagination / Interview / Parents

Lillian Firestone, Author of The Forgotten Language of Children

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

Link to transcript Excerpts from the book (not included in the transcript are read at the end of the recording The work described in The Forgotten Language Language of Children: A Journey in Living Authentically is based on the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff, a teacher who appeared in Europe in the early 20th century … Continue reading →

Advertising / Commercialization / Girls / Media / Parents / Teachers

Girls’ Lockers: Moms and Marketers Stay Out!

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • 2 Comments

When I read the October 9, 2011 New York Times Article “Middle School Girls Unlock a World of Their Own, in Miniature” my first reaction was – well, to squelch my first reaction – repulsion. Taking offense at school locker decorations (and companies creating demand for certain kinds of “locker furnishings”) might mean I’m a … Continue reading →

Commentary / Grandparents / Interview / Parents / Stereotypes

Mary Catherine Bateson on the “Age of Active Wisdom”

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

Listen to Mary Catherine Bateson speak about her latest book: Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom It may seem counter-intuitive to speak about the later stages of life on a site dedicated to addressing the need for intentionality about media and young children. Mary Catherine Bateson, however, sheds light … Continue reading →

imagination / Interview / poetry

Richard Lewis on Seeing Children

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

Richard Lewis understands how to see children, to come under the influence of a focused attention with them so that he can facilitate the journey into their own imaginations and develop their own voices.He also knows the results of the alchemy of that attention: poems and exchanges that show how children, and all of us, … Continue reading →

Alternative Stories / Commentary

Screen-Free During Passover and Holy Week

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • Leave a comment

Next week, April 18-24, is both Screen-Free Week, and a week that is sacred for both Jews and Christians. This convergence presents a unique opportunity for members of those faith communities, as well as others who perceive spring as an appropriate time for renewal, to go on a “technology and media fast,” to the extent that … Continue reading →

Alternative Stories / Interview

Peggy Orenstein: What was (and was not) in “Cinderella Ate My Daughter”

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Mary Rothschild • 3 Comments

Peggy Orenstein is gracious and open. In this transcript of my interview with her in late January, you’ll see that she does not stand above the fray. As a parent of a young child herself, she knows the pressures that are brought to bear by commercial interests and says that she didn’t realize how much … Continue reading →

Healthy Media Choices

Strategies that Work for Parents and Teachers of Young Children

How to assess on-line resources about media and young children:

Parents of Children Birth to Age Six

Childcare Providers, Preschool Teachers and Schools

Faith and Humanist Communities

Supporting Sensory Health in Young Children

Four Steps to Intentional Media Use with Young Children

Four keys to help children thrive in disturbing times:

Making Room for Relationship

Technology and Media in Religious Education?

Video Games: Whence Do they Lead?

Lillian Firestone, Author of The Forgotten Language of Children

Girls’ Lockers: Moms and Marketers Stay Out!

Mary Catherine Bateson on the “Age of Active Wisdom”

Richard Lewis on Seeing Children

Screen-Free During Passover and Holy Week

Peggy Orenstein: What was (and was not) in “Cinderella Ate My Daughter”