The cyberbullying virus

Thanks to Shira Weinstein for sharing this video. I truly don't understand why people feel the need to be so mean to each other.

A magazine is an iPad that Does Not Work....

Thanks to Skylar Smith for sharing this!!  This one year old is VERY confused when the magazine is not a touch screen. I have to confess that I have done this with my laptop before after working on my iPad for awhile. My two youngest also think that anything electronic is a touch screen.

Anyone else willing to admit they've gotten confused like this before?

Kids getting older, younger. Makeovers, manicures and pedicures for 5 year olds?

"Kids getting older younger"

What is profitable to businesses can be harmful to young girls at the same time. Girls as young as four become addicted to images like Hannah Montana that they see in the media. Manicure and pedicure parties are becoming a big hit for 5 year olds due to the celebrities they see all transformed on the Disney Channel. For example how Miley Cyrus turns from Miley to Hannah all done up. Kids are early exposed to products and images which send them messages telling them they need to be more attractive, affecting their self esteem, body image, future eating disorders, and sense of who they are. Girls as young as six are getting highlights. This video shows how young girls are seriously getting affected by the media and affecting their day to day lives.

-Rachel Papaioannou

Using robots to help autistic kids learn to communicate....

Here is an interesting angle on learning/interactive technology!  Thanks to Katharina Young for sharing!

http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/04/how-robots-can-help-children-with-autism-learn-and-communicate/

Thanks to Janet Tela and Lauren Kahn for sharing this clip from the George Lopez show. In this episode they are concerned that their son is chatting online with a teenager he met in a chat room. It raises a lot of interesting concerns about mediation, online safety and protecting our children while on the internet.

2 year old barely talks but rules the iPad....

Thanks to Shira Weinstein for sharing this one. What reactions do you  have to this little one's mastery of digital technology?

 

Parental Mediation of scary news and children's fear

Thanks to Melissa Watcher for sharing this research article about parental mediation strategies and violent news. All too timely!

I found it interesting that restrictive mediation was not helpful in reducing fear. This has mostly been my strategy and will continue to be with my 2 youngest. It occurs to me, however, that it may backfire with older children like my son because just because you don't allow access to the news doesn't mean they won't hear about something scary from someone else. If you don't even know they've heard about it, you  have no chance to reassure them. Very interesting.

http://crx.sagepub.com/content/34/2/212.full.pdf+html

Not feeling the love, Dove

It's GUEST BLOGGER TIME!! WOO-HOO! 

Everyone's into this Dove video at the University of Michigan too, so you're not alone. But let's think like researchers for a moment, and examine the state of the evidence. 

It's hard to find fault with someone who calls you beautiful, so thanks, Dove--but research on self-objectification (i.e., definition of self in terms of appearance, see Harrison & Fredrickson, Journal of Communication, 2003) shows that adolescent girls and women who define themselves in terms of their appearance are at greater risk for depression, body shame, and eating disorders. Key point: it makes NO difference whether you think you're ugly or beautiful. The fact that Dove is encouraging us to feel good about our appearance is nice, but it doesn't make self-objectification any healthier.

I link this body of research on self-objectification being harmful even if you like what you see with Carol Dweck's research showing that telling kids they're "smart" backfires as well. They do worse on successive assignments and choose less risky options. It's a compliment, but the underlying message is "Your value TO US is your intelligence." So they get scared of performing poorly and thus losing their value to others. When we tell our daughters that they're beautiful and smart, they hear that we value them for their beauty and intelligence. If not, wouldn't we mention other attributes? It’s a sort of individual-level agenda-setting process. So they conclude that they'd better not risk seeming stupid, or looking ugly, and those duties suck energy away from what's important. Even telling someone she's funny can put pressure on her to be funny all the time. If you think you look ugly, you put energy into fixing that problem, because your value is your appearance. If you think you look beautiful, you put energy into maintaining it, because your value is your appearance. The solution is not to convince yourself that you’re beautiful; it’s to reduce the frequency with which you think about your appearance as a central aspect of self altogether.

As for beauty specifically, let’s be literal about what it is: an observer’s brain’s judgment of the aesthetic pleasantness of the array of light rays that bounce off your skin and hair and through their retinas. Kind of a weird thing to incorporate into our definition of self. But our willingness to make beauty part of our self-definition is essential to Dove’s success. Witness the script line at 5:35: “I should be more grateful (for) my natural beauty. It impacts the choices and the friends that we make, the jobs we apply for, how we treat our children… it impacts everything… it couldn’t be more critical to your happiness.” Really? I think the truth is, thinking about ourselves in terms of our beauty couldn’t be more critical to Dove’s bottom line.

As a parent, I try to compliment my kids mostly on things they have control over even if they're not at their best. Anyone can be persistent, curious, thoughtful, inquisitive, humble, and honest--and all of those things end up producing good performance without putting the child's "smart" identity at stake. As for beauty, do I tell my kids they’re beautiful? Of course, because they ARE and it slips out sometimes. But I try to make it the thing I mention least often, so they don’t get the wrong idea about what makes them people of value.

Harrison & Fredrickson (2003):

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2003.tb02587.x/abstract

Article about Carol Dweck’s research and the inverse power of praise:

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

More Dove Beauty

Thanks to Kristin Brady AND Melissa Fanelli for sharing this video clip. This is more great work from the Dove campaign illustrating that women are their own worst critics when it comes to describing how they look.

http://mashable.com/2013/04/15/dove-ad-beauty-sketches/

"Look for the helpers....."

Thanks to Kelsey Selig for sending along the Mr. Rogers quote related to helping children cope with scary things they hear in the news.

TV blocking using V-Chip Technology

Thanks to Laura Dembofsky for passing this link along. The aim is to help parents understand and use blocking technology to filter inappropriate TV content. As we'll see in lecture, many parents aren't aware of the v-chip ratings or how to use them. 

http://www.thetvboss.org/

Sexual assault followed up by cyberbullying leads to a teen suicide...

I'm warning you upfront that this is very upsetting. This teen took her life after being sexually assualted while she was passed out at a party. As if that wasn't bad enough, her assailants took pictures of the act and shared them online. They went viral. Ultimately, the victim killed herself.

Thanks to Jesse Lyons for sharing.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-teens-arrested-assault-girls-suicide-024221519.html

With this type of thing in mind, I'm sharing with you a link I plan to share with my own son in the next year or so. It's a letter another blogger wrote to her 11 and 8 year old sons about stopping rape.

Stopping Rape

Virtual piggy bank

Thanks to Katharina Young for sharing this article about a virtual piggy bank to help young kids shop online responsibly and safely. This is very timely given our discussion about kids accidentally spending hundreds of dollars online!

http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/03/28/virtual-piggy-focuses-children-growing-e-commerce

Shield Genie: blocking software and tips for parents to help protect their children.

Thanks to Zachary Lewis for sharing this blocking technology. As a parent, I find this one appealing because it texts and emails you a screen capture the moment your child uses a 'blocked" search term. It also monitors emails, IMs and webcams.

Shield Genie

They also provide some great tips for internet safety.

The Potential of Exergames for kids...

This article found that when kids consistently play exergames, like DDR max, their physical health AND academic achievement improve. I have a theory as to why playing DDR improved math, what do you think?

http://www.bitescience.com/Knowledgedatabase/Article/tabid/81/ArticleID/158/ArticleName/ThePotentialofExergames/ChannelID/12/ChannelName/Homepagerotator/Access/Anonymous/Default.aspx?utm_source=Labnotes+Newsletter&utm_campaign=17b78e6740-Labnotes&utm_medium=email

Kid trades Mac N Cheese for PG-13 movie...

Thanks to Melissa Wachter for passing along this commercial. Aside from the "dads are buffoons and will let kids do anything mom doesn't want them to" I think this commercial does a good job illustrating one of the main challenges of setting rules and limits regarding kids' media use. Kids want to watch TV...and they want to watch things that are not necessarily appropriate for them. This can set up conflict within families. Do you remember having any conflict related to media use in your family?

Today is Tolkien Reading Day

Tolkien Reading Day!

Would you read Tolkien with young kids? Why or why not?

Calvin Klein Concept 2013 commercial

Thanks to Zach Lewis for sharing this commercial.  If you'll recall (and I don't for some reason?) this aired during the Superbowl which is watched by many families with young children.

What is your reaction to this ad,  particularly in light of our discussion about men and distorted body image? I feel like the model in the ad probably even feels bad about himself when he seems the "airbrushed" and "photoshopped" version.

Social Media and Social Impacts

Thanks to Shira Weinstein for sending along this video. This video really plays up how integral social media has become in our lives. I thought it was interesting that a very high percentage of children under the age of 2 have a "digital shadow." Anyone else familiar with that term? What are the ethical implications of posting so much information about your children online?

78% of teens now have a cell phone...

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Tech.aspx#.UUDBpH4xjOI.twitter

What do you think? What are the pros and cons?

Celebrity endorsements of food products spur kids' unhealthy meeting...

Kids eat more of a food product when it's been endorsed by a celebrity.

http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/3600-celebrity-endorsements-unhealthy-child-diets.html

Board games vs electronic games

http://www.bitescience.com/Knowledgedatabase/Article/tabid/81/ArticleID/149/ArticleName/MobileEducationalGamesMuchMoreFunandJustasEffectiveasTraditionalBoardGames/ChannelID/12/ChannelName/Homepagerotator/Default.aspx?utm_source=Labnotes+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5731c5ef3a-Labnotes&utm_medium=email

The argument here is that mobile educational games can transmit just as much knowledge as traditional board games. Kids find them more engaging and interactive.

But, traditional board games are about more than learning. They are about doing something together, engaged with another person.

What do you think?

Comics books good for kids?

My son loves graphic novels.  Here are his two favorite series:

I was dubious at first. But, he read over 1,000 pages of the Bone series. Since then he's written three of his own graphic novels.

This article makes the argument that comic books can be good for kids. What do you think?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/common-sense-media/comic-books-for-kids_b_2832507.html

Stereotypes in Children's Media

Chellis Allen:

Stereotypes within toys and their advertisement have been helping to aid societal stereotypes of what roles women should play in society. Watching channels that geared to children toy ads are in the top 3 types of commercials. Many of these toy commercials are gendered, aiming to relate to at least one of the genders. Women have been shown to have a higher percentage in purchasing products. They are the target consumer. Naturally more of the ads shown during commercial breaks will be geared to girls or have a neutral trend to it. Habits and norms are engraved into children because of how impressionable they are, and we tend to learn at an early age through observation. Societal norms tells us women should cook, clean and me feminine and attractive. The toy ads that have been shown are products such as, the Easy Bake Oven, toy modeled kitchens and Barbie. Boys usually are in commercials with water guns or toy action figures or even something related to sports. Why would a young girl need a toy oven or kitchen? This continues to show the stigma of women being in the house to cook and clean. It is made to seem like fun and as the girl gets older she is already prepared to do what society calls for them to do.

Barbie has been displayed as this character that girls should strive to be, she can do anything she puts her mind to, she has more than 20 different career paths mind you, and let us not forget she is attractive. She is a slim doll that has and extremely small waist line and some curves. According to numerous studies done, girls who play with Barbie, ages 5 and over, have lower self-esteem regarding their body image. Barbie also has products like her dream house, which stick with the stereotype of females being in the home. In the videos below, each of these commercials only shows girls playing with these products. This only begins to let both genders know that it is only socially acceptable for females to play with these toys. We know society has changed, but it seems like advertising for children hasn’t. Sexual orientation is a touchy topic for all ages, but also difficult to explain to younger children. The stereotypes displayed for girls to play with dolls and to cook and clean may limit them to being who they are as well as boys who would much rather lay with toys that aren’t marketed to males. Children are supposed to have free imaginations but stereotypes with toys ads have constricted and defined who they are before they are even sure of themselves.

Links

Easy Bake Oven:

Barbie:

Source

http://empowering-girls.blogspot.com/2011/03/research-does-barbie-impact-girls-self.html

David Daniels IV:

           As we’ve been learning in class, the media creates, shapes, and affects children in a number of ways, including indoctrinating them with gender norms that teach them how they are “supposed” to behave.  They learn that to be a boy or a girl comes with a certain set of roles one must perform in order to properly belong. This phenomenon occurs at every level, and advertising to children is a powerful tool of gender socialization.  One of the most potent forms of gender socialization comes through toy advertisements.  So-called playthings designed to promote a domesticated worldview are promoted to girls, things that are aimed to excite and encourage them toward housework, such as Easy-Bake Ovens and toy vacuum cleaners.  Boys, on the other hand, are targeted by ads publicizing more violent forms of play, as violence is equated with masculinity.

            Take commercials for “boys toys,” like the NERF gun ad I have linked here. A mock firearm advertised completely to young boys, as evidenced by the lack of female “players” in the commercial and appeals to “toughness,” viewed as an inherently male trait. This commercial stereotypes young boys as violent and tough, insinuating that they are supposed to play with things like guns, because guns are for boys (and NOT girls, because there are no girls in the commercial…inadvertently creating another stereotype of girls as being weak, or at the very least unfit for faux-gunplay.) What are these types of ads teaching our children about what it means to belong to a gender?  

Diana Niehaus:

Food, Funny and Fat.

            A stereotype that has become more frequent in the media is the idea that a fat character needs to be funny or has to be there to make the other characters look better. This character is either cracking jokes or doing stupid things to get the audience to laugh, they are there as comedic relief but never as a character the audience is supposed to fall in love with or root for. Off the top of my head Melissa McCarthy comes to mind as an overweight actress whose roles consist of crazy, tomboyish brides maid in Bridesmaids, and a southern identity thief whose main joke in the trailer is not being able to run away from the man chasing her. Of course we like to believe that these characters are doing good things for the overweight community. There are some who like to say that even having them on television is adding to the acceptance of people being overweight, however this type of stereotyping is not a accurate reflection of any person.

          The second type of character, which can be added to the first kind, is the character that is there to build up the main character. Every positive aspect the main character has, responsibility, determination; the secondary character has the opposite. And more often then not this secondary character is a bigger size than the main character. It perpetuates the idea that the fat character isn’t the main character, that they have a plethora of negative traits that help the audience identify that the main character is the idol; they are the ones you need to be rooting for.  

The Goonies

References:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/08/138958386/big-fat-stereotypes-play-out-on-the-small-screen

http://pcasacas.org/SiPC/20.3/wedwick.htm

Brittany Robles:

          Stereotypes are something that are portrayed everywhere in media. Whether it be about different age groups, cultural backgrounds, gender or sexual orientation, it is hard to watch a television show that does not include these incorrect schemas. Perhaps a place were stereotypes are most prevalent are in tween and teen TV shows. Often times these shows take place in high school settings, which is a breading ground for stereotypes. There are countless examples of the high school captain of the football team being considered a “dumb jock” that gets all the girls and the cheerleaders being the mean girls that rule the school.  They depict the nerdy kids that do well in classes as the ones that get picked on and have no friends and everyone else is trying desperately to cling to their clique that they belong to.  Stereotypes such as these can be throughout the whole movie of “Mean Girls” but are especially dominate in the lunchroom scene. It is depicted a lot in shows that were you sit in the cafeteria defines your social standing and says a lot about your personality.  These stereotypes believe a lot of children to believe that what groups they belong to in high school can make or break how they are seen in the eyes of their peers, which is not true. By exposing kids to these stereotypes at a young age it is only making them become more of a reality and allow there to be countless “Mean Girls”. 

Skylar Smith:

            As children begin to develop, they start to absorb all of the information that surrounds them and this is why stereotypes in the media can be very dangerous to children.  Children might believe the stereotypes they see on television and associate them in real life.  There are a few issues in the representation of Latinos in cartoon characters, mainly “whitewashing” Latino characters and representing them as exotic or “the other.”  By 2050, Latinos could potentially be over 50 percent of the population (CNN, 2008).  This will be a historic event in the generation of the children today, so the representation of them should stop implementing the many stereotypes associated with them.  Disney just recently introduced the first Latina princess, Sofia who is the main character in Sofia the First.”  At first it may seem like a good step for the representation of Latinas but at looking further in to it there are many issues that concern the Latino population.

            Sofia is very light-skinned resembling other white characters like Snow White.  Latinos have a variety of skin colors from light-skinned to dark-skinned and are not defined by the color of their skin but rather base it on a “more culturally defined perspective” (Rodriguez 2000, p. 10).  This “whitewashing” of Latinos, also found in Dora the Explorer and Dragon Tales, is stripping them of their identity and assimilating them to fit the dominant culture. 

            Latino’s are also consistently being represented as a foreign character or exotic.  They tend to not fit in to the dominant culture, which is always pointed out to the viewer by the extreme foreignness nature assigned to them.  Enrique from the children’s show Dragon Tales is exoticized and represented as very different from the other characters.  Yes, Latinos and Hispanics have roots that trace them throughout Latin America and Spain but many Latinos are born in the United States and are a very big part of our population.  This constant portrayal of Latinos as foreign is a negative misrepresentation.  Unfortunately,  “Latino identity remains an alien presence that seemingly cannot be integrated into the mainstream social economy” (Serrato, 2009).

            Generally, the culture of children’s television shows today is getting more positive for Latinos and other minority groups but there are still these big issues that occur in children’s television shows daily.  Below is a link to a video project I had previously done with other University of Connecticut students, showing the important issues I have listed above.  Our goal of the video was to introduce a potential solution for an online show only, that allows viewers to customize their character before each season, allowing them to create a variety of representations.  

References:

Broughton, A. (2008, August 13). Minorities expected to be majority in 2050. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/13/census.minorities/

Rodriguez, C. E. (2000). Changing race: Latinos, the census, and the history of ethnicity in the United States. New York, London: New York University Press.

Serrato, Phillip. (2009). “They Are?!”: Latino Difference vis-à-vis Dragon Tales. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, Volume 9 Number 2. SAGE Publications.

Superficial New Video Game for Girls!

Thanks to Brittany Robles for sharing this gem!  Apparently a game developer in Romania has designed a video game with the main goal of giving young girls the "tools" they need to be accepted into Upper East Side NY socialite society. These goals include things like fashion, hair care, skin care etc. The ultimate goal, according to the game, is to get invited to thousands of parties!!  

What do you think the effects of something like this could be on young girls?

Upper East Side Makeover!

Milwaukee Children use Social Media to Lobby for More Recess

2nd grade students at a Milwaukee elementary school wanted 10 more minutes of recess. Their principal told them to take their plea to social media and if the could get 1,000 likes they could get a day of extended recess.  

I thought this was very relevant given our recent discussions about childhood obesity and children not getting enough exercise. 

http://www5.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/dept/superintendent/2013/02/hartford-2nd-graders-use-persuasive-writing-to-ask-for-more-recess-1-million-fb-likes/

Taylor Rooney:

How much do children really understand?

It comes as no surprise that children’s minds are shaped largely by what they see every day—whether that be through their parents, siblings, friends, or most importantly the media that is constantly surrounding them. These advertisements, commercials, television shows and movies have a much greater effect than many people never realize on these children’s molding minds. What’s most important to recognize is that children who watch violent/scary shows are shown to have much more anxiety at a young age; “Finally a random national survey conducted in 1999 reported that 62% of parents with children between the ages of two and seventeen said that their child had been frightened by something that they saw in a TV program or movie” (www.beliefnet.com).

        Typically, what children are most afraid of is violence, or the perceived threat of violence, such as Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians who is relentless in chasing after the Dalmatian puppies. De Vil never succeeds in her attempt to capture the puppies to make a fur coat. However, the threat is constantly there, and it is a very gruesome one indeed. I used to watch this movie over and over and I don’t remember being scared by this, but that is because I simply didn’t understand what exactly it meant to make a fur coat. Surprisingly enough, “…research supports the generalization that preschool children (approximately 3 to 5 years old) are more likely to be frightened by something that looks scary but is actually harmless than by something that looks attractive but is actually harmful…” Knowing this, it is even more important that parents stay informed about current movies because it is never certain how a child will react to the movie. As children mature, Disney movies may be less likely to affect them because their cognitive brains will be advancing--yet, things such as the nightly news may begin to scare them. You really can never be sure, but it is better to be safe than sorry and check out that new kids movie for yourself before you let a child watch it! 

http://www.beliefnet.com/Love-Family/2000/08/Media-Violence-And-Childrens-Fears.aspx

 Karlyn Tupper

As a child, I always remember being very scared of the “Wicked Witch of the West” in the Wizard of OZ. After learning about media effects on children, it is easy to see why scenes like the one above are scary for children to watch. The sounds used, the exaggeration of facial features, the bright green coloring of her face, the long fingers, and her-weapon like broom are just some of the many reasons why most children would cringe. Furthermore, this scene in particular not only emphasizes the witch but also her frightening flying monkeys (Youtube, 2009).

In the article by Weiss, one study was to see if a “predisposed photo” of a scary creature would help desensitize the child to the same scary creature in the movie (Weiss, page 18). Results showed that children were less scared of the creature after seeing a picture of it (Weiss, page 18). Thinking about this video, it would be hard to desensitize the child from the witch and flying monkeys considering both of these are fantasy characters. Their emotional responses could have been directly affected if they were shown a flying monkey or witch prior to watching the movie.

 Liam Heeks:

 Along with most of the other families around the country, my siblings and I grew up watching Disney movies. From The Little Mermaid to Aladdin, to Beauty and the Beast, they were all so much fun to watch as a kid. One thing that these films, and all of Disney’s films, had in common was having a villain in the film. These villains put fear into the child’s eyes and almost every time, the ‘good guys’ will save the day taking the fear away. These villains are usually portrayed in a certain way compared to the heroes. This study examines facial features of heroes and villains in Disney animated films, and the effects that these features have on children’s perceptions of people.

        The main featured differences for villainous characters to have were: more likely to have darker eyes, arched eyebrows, thin and pointed noses, a widow’s peak, straight hair (versus wavy), wrinkles, and appear to be older than 30 years old. When presented with images of people with features similar to these characters, they associate the negative personality traits of the villains with the real people. This is a negative consequence causing “prejudicing children against groups,” such as the elderly, who posses these characteristics.

When showing pictures to kids and giving questionnaires, the study found this idea to be true. They found that the faces with no widow’s peak, rounded eyebrows, no wrinkles, blue eyes, and the extreme hero face were rated more positively than the faces containing a widow’s peak, arched eyebrows, wrinkles, brown eyes, and the extreme villain face. The kids, after viewing these scary figures, have stronger stereotypes of faces with any of these characteristics than children who watched fewer Disney films. So, when looking at what movies to show your kids, rethink Disney because Villains may scare your kids to the point of prejudging others with similar facial features and creating stereotypes!

Maleficent –“Sleeping Beauty”

Maleficent’s evil knows no bounds as all of her insidious plans are devised out of spite. With her devil-like horns, she is easily seen as the most evil villain of all. If you don’t agree, look up “maleficent” in the dictionary and the definition will be “doing evil or harm.”

 

Scar- “Lion King”

Not all Disney villains are human as was seen in “Lion King” with Uncle Scar.  With His scary eyes and ominous scar, it is no wonder why children are afraid of Scar.  As noted, his pointed nose also is a point of reference with evil characters.

 

Marissa Dyson:

What about the previews?

        Many parents are very cautious about the movies that they allow their children to see. They check reviews and ratings to make sure that movies are not only appropriate for their children, but also that they will not be too scary. Parents can control which full length films their children see, but what about the previews? Parents have no way of knowing what previews will be shown before a movie begins, and if you are in a theatre, you have no control over whether or not your children view a potentially scary trailer.

        In an article called “Parental Guidance Suggested”, Barbara Lippert analyzes the reactions of many children to previews for movies that are supposed to be kid-friendly. Lippert says, “With the tech breakthroughs in the last 10 years, trailers have only gotten more intense, chaotic, and overwhelming (Lippert).” Lippert believes that due to time constraint, the makers of trailer must compress a lot of movie into a few minutes, causing previews to be much scarier than the actual movie.

        Some movies, Lippert feels, are actually adult movies, which are “cross-marketed to kids” (Lippert). An example of this is Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The Disney version of this story was made for children, but this newer version is much darker. Lippert says she has a friend whose children saw the Alice trailer before a children’s movie in a theater. The kids were terrified not only by the movie itself, but also by Johnny Depp, whose character in the re-creation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory had already scared them.

        Lippert explains that there are ways for movies to give a lighter feel to scary parts. In How to Train Your Dragon, Lippert says, “…the music goes from dark to lighthearted and triumphant, so most kids responses positively”(Lippert). Lippert feels that the potentially frightening topic of dragons in this film was well portrayed to children using sounds and music.

        Lippert emphasizes the point that children younger than 8 years old cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality, causing frightening films to seem real, and therefore terrifying. When parents take their children to see seemingly safe movies, they cannot control for potentially frightful previews. Lippert recommends waiting for the movie to come out on DVD if children are young and easily scared by intense trailers.

Lippert, B. (2010). Parental guidance suggested. Mediaweek, 20(17), 19-19. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/213643144?accountid=14518