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Susan Carney's Blog
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Jun 17, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
Check out these two websites to get teens' attention and start a dialogue with them regarding the impact of meth use. The Faces of Meth is a project that uses before and after mug shots to show the physical progression of the addiction. Viewers see how years of use cause sores, lesions, tooth rot, and other physical damage. These types of images may be particularly successful in prevention efforts aimed at teens, who are very image conscious and are likely to have an emotional response to the pictures.
The Meth Project. originated in the state of Montana in 2005 and has since spread to several other western states and has received acclaim for its gritty, hard look at the physical and psychological effects of meth addiction. There are TV, print, and internet spots designed to make a strong impact on young viewers. Be warned, they are shocking and difficult to view. But the very devastation that makes them difficult to look at is what makes them so important for teens to see and talk about with adults.
Please share these spots with your teens and talk to them about how dangerous and addicting methamphetamine is. You can even download these materials for later use.
May 14, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
Those who are actively looking may want to check out myfirstpaycheck.com. This online service provides not only a searchable database of available jobs throughout the United States, but also has tons of information about the job market. Kids can search for jobs by category or by location, and they can narrow their search by selecting full-time, part-time, one-time, or seasonal. When kids find a job they like, they can click on it, get more info, and even upload a resume and fill out an online application. Easy breezy.
On the site, teens will also find information on writing resumes and cover letters, interview tips, and suggestions for how to be a great employee. There’s also a blog, SAT advice, and info on a variety of work-related topics from the Federal Department of Labor (such as labor laws, age requirements, employment and training resources, and much more). Myfirstpaycheck.com is also on facebook!
Whether teens have held jobs before or are indeed searching for “their first paycheck,” they are sure to find something of use on this site.
May 7, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
This Saturday, a way to help those less fortunate in your community is as close as your mailbox.
The National Association of Letter Carriers (a fancy way of saying the men and women who deliver your mail each day) are sponsoring "Stamp Out Hunger," to assist the 7 million people in the US who require some type of food assistance each week (Stamp Out Hunger website, 2009).
How can you participate? Simple. First, check with your local post office to make sure they are participating in this event. You can access the USPS website here. Then, fill a plastic bag with non-perishable items (no glass, please!) and leave it by your mailbox in time for your mail carrier to pick it up on Saturday during the regular route. Easy breezy!
This is something the whole family can get involved in. Even the youngest children can help select cans from the pantry that other children might like to eat. They can help carry the bag(s) to the curb, and you can engage them in an age-appropriate conversation about helping others and how good that feels. Older kids might even want to go door to door, either collecting food or spreading the word about Stamp Out Hunger. (Be sure to only allow kids to knock on doors of people you know and trust).
The Stamp Out Hunger website has tools for getting the word out, like flyers, email alerts, and webpage widgets. This would make a great service project for some enterprising young people. But at the very least, everyone is capable of putting a couple of cans in a bag.
Apr 16, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
Lots of stuff going on this month.
April is STD Awareness Month. Perhaps it isn't the most exciting or comfortable topic to talk about, but its an important one. Check out Teens and STDs for some general info on sexually transmitted diseases. You can also visit the American Social Health Association website for tons of information and materials for getting the word our about STD prevention.
Its also National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Again, not something we really enjoy talking about..but child abuse is something that happens all the time, right in your own community. Find out what you can do to intervene if a child needs your help, and also what factors may help prevent the incidence of child abuse.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, just in time for prom season. Do you know about Social Norms Marketing, and how its being used to address alcohol use on college campuses? Do you how alcohol use may impact teen's involvement in sexual activity? Do you know how teen organizations like SADD are working hard to help kids learn how to make positive decisions about risky behaviors like alcohol use?
And next weekend is the March of Dimes March for Babies. This cause is one very near and dear to my heart, as my twins were born 12 weeks premature 4 years ago. If you know someone who is participating in the walk, please consider sponsoring them!
Apr 2, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
Looking for a fun, wholesome, cheap family activity to do with your kids this summer? As a bonus, it doesn’t involve electronic gadgetry or standing out in the hot sun, and it counts as physical exercise. Kids Bowl Free is a national program whereby local bowling alleys agree to provide kids with two free bowling games EVERY DAY of the summer. Sounds too good to be true? It gets better. Families can also buy a family pass for less than 24 bucks that will also entitle up to four adults to the two game per day deal, too. That’s right. 24 bucks for up to 4 adults and as many children as you’ve got to bowl up to twice a day, every day, all summer long.
All you have to do is sign up at a participating bowling alley and you are good to go. Who knows? By the end of the summer your kids could be ready for some serious competition. At the very least, they’ll get up off the couch, get some physical activity, and learn how to be part of a team.
Mar 24, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
It’s rare that kids can combine education in service in a simple and fun way. Yet that’s exactly what free rice does. What is FreeRice? It’s an ingenious non profit website kids (and adults) can visit to answer questions on a variety of topics. For every correct answer they get, ten grains of rice are donated by the sites sponsors to the UN World Food Program. Kids can opt to answer questions in a variety of topics (such as English, geography, chemistry, math, and art) and can keep a running tally of how much rice their answers have helped to donate. According to the FreeRice site, 25,000 people die each day from hunger related causes. A meal provided in a country where rice is a staple part of the diet would include about 400 grams of rice (in addition to some other stuff). There are 48 grains of rice in a gram, so that means that 19,200 grains of rice are needed to feed one person for a day. That may seem like a lot at 10 grains a pop, but FreeRice is a group effort. In the year ands a half since FreeRice started, over 60 billion grains of rice have been donated. Kids who are interested in learning more about world hunger and efforts to combat is can check out the UN World Food Program website. And be careful, because seeing those rice grains add up in your bowl as you answer questions on FreeRice can become addictive!
Mar 4, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
The Campaigng for a Commercial Free Childhood is one of my favorite organizations. Why? Because they work hard at something I believe strongly in: fighting the incessant marketing of unhealthy products and the corresponding value of consumption to our kids. Currently, they are involved in a campaign against Scholastic (yes, that Scholastic). If you’ve been to a school-sponsored Scholastic Book Fair lately, you may have noticed a lot more than books being sold at these things. As good marketers often do, they tie books in with lots of other junk that has nothing to do with reading: toys, electronic gadgets, jewelry, etc.
This is a problem on several levels. First, packaging a bunch of crap with books diverts kids’ attention away from the purpose of buying a book in the first place: to READ it. Not to be entertained and amused by toys. Second, Scholastic is in the enviable position of being welcomed into schools nationwide, with the expectation that they will provide affordable reading items for our kids. They are exploiting their position by tossing in all this other stuff that many educators and parents don’t even want their kids to have. But kids want it, it sells, and so it’s inclusion meets the goals of the company (sell stuff), but works against the goals of teachers and parents (get kids to read.) Third, many of these items are tied to popular brands, indoctrinating schoolchildren into the culturally popular mindset of “buy, buy, buy.”
You can join CCFC in this noble effort. Click here for info on how. For fellow Facebookers out there, there is even a Facebook group you can join to get more info and help spread to work to your Facebook friends.
Feb 20, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
There have been several recent news articles about teens getting in trouble for sending or forwarding lewd pictures (of themselves or others) on their cell phones. A cute new term has even been coined for this behavior: sexting. The punishments meted out for this behavior has ranged from a stern lecture to earning a permanent label as a sex offender.
This new trend has prompted me to revisit my usual warnings about the evils of mixing technology and adolescents. On one hand, you have a bunch of tech-savvy kids who are, in many cases, more adept at using this stuff than most adults. They also OWN more of this stuff than most adults do. It’s their world, its how they live and breathe and communicate. Add to the mix hormones, poor judgment, impulsivity, and a need to be popular and cool, and you have a real mess on your hands. We’ve always had some degree of worry about kids’ behavior online. We’ve been, and continue to be, concerned about cyber bullying, sexual predators, and kids getting so entrenched in virtual games that their real world social connections began to erode. But we weren’t too worried about the phone (well, other than the texting while driving problem, which is a whole other problem.) But thanks to the advent of camera phones, kids can take pictures of every mortifying moment and then share them with as many people as they want. Unfortunately, because they are growing up in o tell-all, show-all culture, many of our kids aren’t as outraged or embarrassed by this as they should be. Another problem. Keep reminding kids about privacy, boundaries, and personal space. Keep working with them on learning what’s appropriate (or not), and why. Help them take another person’s perspective, learn empathy, and teach them when to feel appropriately embarrassed. And most importantly, encourage them to keep their clothes on, especially when there is a camera nearby.
Jan 29, 2009
Posted by Susan Carney
January is National Blood Donor Month, and if I hadn't spend most of January breaking my newly established resolutions, I probably would have gotten around to mentioning that sooner. Luckily, blood donation is something that anyone can do at anytime. Its a true gift to those in need, and requires less than an hour of your time. Plus they give you snacks! Check your local paper, church, school, or other community centers to see when blood drives are being held.
Also coming up is National Wear Red Day, which wiill be February 6th. Wear red to show support for women's heart disease awareness. We always think of this as primarily a disease that effects men, yet heart disease is the number one killer of women. Who knew? You can check out the website for ideas on how you can get involved in this worthy cause.
Over the next month, I will be talking about some other worthy causes that both kids and adults can become involved in, such as Habitat for Humanity International and Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Recently, I wrote about a great initiative called Just Yell Fire, which empowers girls to protect themselves against possible sexual assault. You can also read my review of Kelly Curtis' book Empowering Youth, which includes lots of great ideas on how we can help kids develop leadership skills. Dallas Jessup, who founded Just Yell Fire, is a great example of an inspiring youth leader. Check it out!
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