When it comes to helping your child use media constructively, you no doubt will do what comes naturally. You will talk with trusted friends and family members, consult with your pediatrician, and seek advice from librarians and teachers. You also may arm yourself with resources, like the ones listed here.
Based in San Francisco, this group fights negative images of women, offering resources for parents and educators about body image and eating disorders.
This site includes policy statements, articles and public education brochures created by pediatricians.
This non-profit organization offers a large number of parent and teacher media literacy resources, organized by subject matter and grade level, in its online catalog. Some of the resources are available online free of charge, while others are for sale.
A not-for-profit website that features reviews of movies, music, books, games and other websites intended to help families make decisions about what they watch, hear, read and play.
The Web site for this San Francisco-based non-profit organization includes a "TV Guide for Parents" and links to youth media projects.
Developed by the Center for Children and Technology, Bank Street, IBM and the United Way, this site includes images, text and audio that describe young children's developmental needs and computer use in the home and in school.
Based in Canada, this site includes many online media literacy materials for educators and parents, such as printable handouts and resources on discussing diversity, talking about TV, and evaluating films.
This non-profit educational organization sells videos that cover media issues relevant to adolescents and teens. Video topics include the way girls and women are represented in advertising and the connections between violence, media and masculinity.
This site includes fact sheets on children's media habits, ratings systems, music and other topics.
At this Web site, parents can subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter that includes news clippings and family-relevant Internet news.
Among the resources offered by this non-profit organization are eye-opening "sample deconstructions," which critically examine scenes from movies, advertisements and news reports.
PBS Teachers's section on media literacy includes a quiz that parents can take about kids and media use, as well as links to other resources and classroom ideas for teachers.
This book looks at how TV and other media influence how children think about race, ethnicity and gender.
This book for parents discusses how TV viewing may be influencing children's sense of fear.
This book offers parents suggestions for using films to talk about ideas and issues that matter to children and teens.
