"Use your words": Giving parents language to talk about media

Diane Levin, an author and professor of early childhood education at Wheelock College in Boston, gave a 2-hour talk here this morning about media's influence on children. She focused on the bad: too much violence, too much commercialism, too much sex. But the end of her session struck me as useful -- not just for early childhood educators, but for parents too. She gave examples of how to talk to kids about what they are seeing and hearing.

"This is very different than just saying 'No'," Levin said.

In one example, she showed a dialogue between a teacher and her elementary school children (kindergarteners, I think) about whether toy guns should be allowed to be created in one of the hands-on crafts centers. She suggested that teachers ground the conversation in safety -- "We want to feel safe" -- and then asking children questions like: 'Do you like it when your friends point a gun at you? What should you do?' and enabling children to voice their ideas about what to say when a friend pretends to shoot.

Levin has a new book, So Sexy So Soon, coming out in August from Random House.