An interesting study done by Juliet B. Schor, author of Born To Buy, designed to investigate the impact of children’s involvement in consumer culture, found that the more (commercial and name-brand laden) media a child uses, including T.V., the more likely they are to score high on a depression and/or anxiety scale. Other research has suggested that kids who have little connection with nature are less resourceful and less creative.
On Wednesday, Jan. 9, Awareness Film Night will be screening two films: Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood and Play Again. The post-screening discussion will focus on Sooke School District’s pilot Nature Kindergarten with Frances Krusekopf and Roberta Kubik.
Consuming Kids throws some desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless marketing machine that now sells kids everything from junk food to violent video games to bogus educational products. This film explores the explosive growth of consumer marketing to children that uses the latest advances in psychology, anthropology and neuroscience to transform our children into one of the most profitable consumer demographics in the world.
Play Again asks the question: “What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature?” This moving and humorous documentary follows six teenagers who unplug and go on their first wilderness adventure - no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality. Through the voices of the children as well as those of journalist Richard Louv (author of Last Child In the Woods), sociologist Juliet B. Schor, environmental writer Bill McKibben, educators Diane Levin and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, neuroscientist Gary Small and geneticist David Suzuki, this film introduces new perspectives on how our growing disconnect from nature impacts our children’s well being and our society and encourages action for a more sustainable future.
Frances Krusekopf is a teacher and school administrator. She has worked as an educator for 15 years in Texas and most recently in the Sooke School District. Inspired by the experience of having her son participate in a Waldkindergarten in Germany, Frances began to collaborate with Dr. Enid Elliot and a dynamic team of educators and passionate community members to develop a Nature Kindergarten pilot project at Sangster Elementary School in Colwood. Roberta Kubik is Sooke School District Assistant Superintendent and former principal at Edward Milne in Sooke.
All parents and teens and any children who are allowed to stay up a bit past their bedtime are invited to attend the film night. It will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the EMCS theatre. Admission is by donation.