Parent-Child Discussion Guides

A Pop Culture Coaching / Media Literacy Resource

In today’s media-saturated world, many parents want to help their children become media literate—able to both understand how media work and analyze the messages they contain. In my book The Princess Problem, I explain that parents can practice pop culture coaching to raise media-savvy kids, beginning as early as preschool.

When we act as our children’s pop culture coaches, we help them to:

  • understand how the media work
  • think critically about media content
  • create their own media–empowering them not just to consume, but also to create.

Chapter Two of The Princess Problem, “Raising Media Literate Children,” is a handbook for any parent who wishes to practice pop culture coaching with their children. The advice it offers is general, rather than princess-specific, and is applicable to boys and girls alike. Then, in Chapters Three through Six, I apply the principles of pop culture coaching specifically to princess culture—paying special attention to helping young girls think critically about the marketing, the beauty ideal, the gender stereotypes, and the racial stereotypes found in princess media and products.

As a supplement to The Princess Problem, my colleagues and I have prepared parent-child discussion films for each of the Disney Princess films, to help you put the advice found in the book into action. They’re linked to the right side of this page. You’ll find they’re full of great discussion ideas and dovetail well with the explanations, tools, and ideas set forth throughout The Princess Problem book. More to come soon!

The Discussion Guides: