Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
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Media literacy for preschoolers, pt. 4: Tips and resources
This week, I’ve been writing about how parents can help their preschoolers become media literate. [See: Part 1: how media work, Part 2: media content, Part 3: media creation.] For my wrap-up post in this series, I’d like to share…
Read MoreMedia literacy for preschoolers, pt. 2: Thinking critically about media content
As I began discussing yesterday, young children can become media literate with their parents’ help. In today’s media-saturated world, raising media literate children is an increasingly important goal. Our kids need to (1) understand how the media work, (2) be…
Read MoreMedia literacy for preschoolers: Explaining how the media work
Media literacy is a concept that’s often taught in schools–though not often enough, in my opinion. Being media literate means having the ability to think critically about media content, as well as an understanding of how the media work. It…
Read MoreDisney-Pixar’s Brave: Critiquing the criticisms
I saw Brave the day it debuted in theaters, and I’m glad that Merida is a different kind of princess–one who can be read as a critique of both the trope that princesses are passive and the trend to tell…
Read MoreFor Father’s Day, shared experiences make the best gifts
When it comes to selecting great gifts for kids, it’s important to gift experiences, not just toys. After all, studies show that experiences make people happier than objects do: Objects break, become outdated, or pale in comparison to superior items, and the…
Read MorePracticing slightly subversive parenting: Toddlers and gender
Gender representations in popular kids’ storybooks make me sigh. Books based on TV programs and movies seem among the worst offenders; yet they’re inescapably popular. To manage them, I do two things: First, I keep movie- and tv-based books to…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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