Category: Youth Matters

Are You a Drone Parent?

The backlash against “drone” parenting stems from a view that these parents are using too much technology to monitor and keep tabs on their kids as opposed to taking the time for “real-life” interactions with them. This makes for older children and young adults who may be unable to have inner personal relationships outside of technology later on in life…

The #OpenTruth: How Big Soda Targets Minority Youth

My role as gatekeeper to the “sugar express” isn’t made any easier by the ploys and strategic marketing campaigns by the sugary beverage industry pushing sugar-loaded beverages through educational incentives for parents and teens. As if the showdown for sweets at the check-out aisle with my teenager isn’t enough, Big Soda is also spinning the consumption of their products through scholarships and tuition toward higher education…

‘Fed Up’ Documentary Hits Home in Los Angeles…

“I don’t want that to happen to me,” my 9-year-old son whimpered with tears streaming down his face. We’d just finished watching the documentary, Fed Up – which targets the childhood obesity epidemic and the role the food industry plays in marketing unhealthy foods to children. Motherhood provides a myriad of situations where I am faced with supplying just the right words to comfort my son in times of despair. However this time I was well equipped with what to tell him…