It is easy to feel small and powerless when corporations like Disney bully and try to silence watchdogs and advocates such as Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (see story in yesterday’s NY Times). The small staff at CCFC works tirelessly on a small annual budget of $250,000, protecting childhood from corporate encroachment, yet have been forced to leave their home. (Read CCFC’s press release here.) And at the same time, playful learning in early childhood is threatened by yet another blow – this time in the form of the Common Core Standards. How do we stay strong and keep fighting the good fight?
Here is where there Internet can be a powerful connecting tool. The Alliance for Childhood used it to gather the expertise of early childhood experts from around the country to issue a Joint Statement from Early Childhood Health and Educational Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative. CCFC is using the Internet to share their side of the Disney story, refusing to be silenced, and gaining support through a growing membership and financial donations. Facebook and Twitter help connect like-minded activists and agencies and help the grass-roots movements gain traction.
For me, one vital way to feel empowered is to surround myself with others who are fighting for children. This weekend, I will be connecting with folks at the City College of New York conference In Defense of Childhood – Play and Active Learning in Urban Schools. The conference is held “in honor of the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in memory of Professor Emeritus Lillian Weber, whose work honored the active nature of learning and furthered the cause of equity in education.”
Later this month, I’ll be joining a colleague from TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment) to share our new Infant – Toddler Play, Toys and Media Action Guide with early childhood professionals at the MassAEYC (Massachusetts Association of the Education of Young Children) Annual Spring Conference. I look forward to hearing the words and ideas of the keynote speaker, Dr. David Elkind, author of numerous books including The Hurried Child and The Power of Play.
In about a month I will join hundreds of others at CCFC’s 7th Consuming Kids Summit in Boston. The theme is Market Values, Human Values and the Lives of Children. From their website: “The values children learn in the marketplace – excessive consumption, impulsive buying, and unthinking brand loyalty – are antithetical to healthy development, independent thinking, spirituality, community, and democracy. What happens to childhood — and society — when market values trump human values? How can we make a difference? What role can parents, educators, public health professionals, faith communities, and policymakers play in stopping the proliferation of market values, and in nurturing positive values, in a commercialized world?”
Today, I work hard to stave off the feelings of doom and gloom. I am trying to rise above feelings that the job of protecting the best interests of the youngest members of our society is damn near impossible. The powerful wheels of corporate greed and the one-size-fits all educational movement are bearing down harder than ever. Today, I look forward to the personal connections I will form and deepen at these upcoming conferences. I trust these connections will help energize and empower me and others in the pursuit of protecting young children and preserving childhood. As my friend and colleague Diane Levin says, “Onward!”
