Noteworthy Blogs Alert: Parental Guidance Please

I came across two awesome blogs this weekend that I want to let everyone know about, both dealing with kids and media/marketing, both written from (and for) a parent's perspective. The first, Outside the (Toy) Box, is written by a mother of two/media studies professor, and focuses on various aspects of kids' consumer culture, kids' media and gender issues...as well as news from the front lines of the ongoing battle against the encroaching commercialization of kids' social environments (for example, how her child's preschool is dealing with Scholastic's adverbooks and the branded book fairs issue). I love the first line of her bio: "Like many of you, I’m a parent with a brain and a critical eye." The blog is new but already quite extensive, with a variety of issues, thoughts, links, and news items to delve into.

The second, Corporate Babysitter is part of a larger, newly-launched non-profit organization called Parents for Ethical Marketing (PEM). The author/founder, Lisa Ray, is also a mother of two, a writer, and a stay-at-home mom who previously ran a blog called Two Knives. At Corporate Babysitter, you will find a variety of useful links -- to reports, papers, interviews with scholars/activists in the field -- and a small (but growing) selection of critical posts on marketing to kids (and what parents can do about it). Here's an excerpt from the PEM mission statement:

Of course, parents are ultimately responsible for raising healthy children. But corporate marketers would have us believe that combating their damaging commercial messages is exclusively our problem. Parents for Ethical Marketing thinks it’s about time that corporations take some of the responsibility. Through parental awareness, public pressure, and legislative initiatives, Parents for Ethical Marketing encourages corporations to adopt responsible marketing standards and practices that sustain the health of children and families.

I'll be adding both blogs to my links list. Thanks to both authors for sharing their insight, thoughts and experiences...I suspect their posts will be quite valuable to my own work, and look forward to reading them more thoroughly.