“Even well-to-do schools like Hamilton have homeless kids - AZCentral.com” plus 2 more |
- Even well-to-do schools like Hamilton have homeless kids - AZCentral.com
- Keeping Kids’ Consumerism In Check - Wall Street Journal
- Group: New kids cartoon crosses advertising line - Pantagraph
| Even well-to-do schools like Hamilton have homeless kids - AZCentral.com Posted: 15 Sep 2010 09:35 AM PDT by Kerry Fehr-Snyder - Sept. 15, 2010 09:25 AM The sophomore football player shyly approached the supply closet at Hamilton High School and took a pair of athletic shorts, shirts, shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste and mouthwash. The 15-year-old student, who asked not to be identified, has been sleeping on relatives' sofas and floors for the past year, technically making him homeless. He can't afford basic toiletries. Social worker Dia Mundle wanted to make sure the student stocked up on supplies so he didn't have to take time away from his classes again for several months. "We have a lot of homeless kids with the economy being so bad," Mundle said. "Last year, we had 563 (homeless) kids in the district." Overall, the district has 38,000 students. Those who are homeless don't come just from Title I schools, where nearly half of students qualify for free and reduced lunches. Many attend school in more upscale areas of the city, such as south Chandler. "It's gotten bigger every year for the district," Mundle said. "People think Hamilton is a ritzy school, but we have so much poverty here." Students and their families are constantly tapping into community food banks and the Hamilton High closet of donated clothes. "Even the wealthy are affected because they are crashing, too," Mundle said. The school is hosting its annual Taste of Hamilton fundraiser from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of Hamilton High School, 3700 S. Arizona Ave. Eleven restaurants are donating samples. Organizers are asking thos who attend to donate $10 per family, $5 per individual and $4 per student. All proceeds go to the Homeless Student Fund. "We have families who have lost everything, dads who had (investment) properties that didn't go well, an engineer who hasn't been employed for a year," Mundle said. "This isn't your poor immigrant." In the 15-year-old football player's case, homelessness came on slowly after his parents split up three years ago. His mother found a boyfriend who didn't want her son living with him. His mother made a choice. "They wanted to be together," the student said quietly. "The attention wasn't on me." His father is in prison. His brothers and sisters have their own family and couldn't afford to take him in. "I lived with my sisters and their babies for a while, but without water and electricity," the student said. Cold winter mornings made it difficult for the student to get up in time for school, and he started showing up late or not at all. Mundle learned about the student's situation after he wrote an essay about his living conditions for his freshman English class. The English teacher alerted Mundle, and within the first two weeks of school, he was offered help. "He's my favorite," she said of the student, adding that he never asks her for anything. Her goal is to make sure he keeps attending school, getting good grades and playing on the high school's football team. The student said he doesn't want others to know he is homeless. He even hesitated talking to Mundle. "I was a little embarrassed, a little shy," he said. After he told Mundle his story, "I felt relieved," he said. Mundle said the student is typical of many homeless she's worked with in the past five years as Hamilton's sole social worker. "On the outside, you can't tell" he's homeless. "He's always neat and clean and he takes care of his things. Kids like him don't usually make it, but he's very resilient." The student has one pair of shoes, which are in good condition. A friend bought him his football cleats. The athletic shorts and T-shirts he got from the supply closet were a coveted Under Armour brand. "I almost never get donations like this," Mundle said. "It was just random that he asked for it." An Arizona Cardinals football player who lives in Chandler also gave the school 25 pairs of Air Jordan tennis shoes, size 11 and 11 1/2. "I almost started crying," Mundle said. "We never get stuff like that." A few years ago, an anonymous donor sent Mundle $5,000. That money is nearly gone. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Keeping Kids’ Consumerism In Check - Wall Street Journal Posted: 14 Sep 2010 06:47 PM PDT By Sue ShellenbargerI began teaching my kids to stick to a budget when they reached middle school. Looking back, I should have started earlier. For my "Work & Family" column today on how a growing number of families are teaching their kids to downsize spending, I interviewed many parents who started shaping their children's expectations as early as preschool. Pressed by constantly rising child-rearing costs or just weary of consumer excesses, parents have come up with some smart teaching techniques. For example: –A Virginia mother has her daughters, now 5 and 7, share a bedroom since her younger daughter was born, one factor that has enabled them to avoid moving from their 1,300-square-foot house into a bigger one. She also has canceled direct-mail catalogs for American Girl dolls and other consumer items, so the girls aren't tempted. –An Illinois mother taught her children in elementary school to sell possessions on eBay or at rummage sales, to raise money for new clothes and gadgets. She also makes a family game of ridiculing such shows as MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," which showcases excessive spending. –A Maryland mother turned her 12-year-old son's pleas to replace their road-worn 2006 minivan with a new SUV into a teaching opportunity. He was horrified to learn that that the real cost of taking out a loan to buy a car is nearly twice the sticker price. –A Massachusetts mother taught her three children as preschoolers to recycle juice boxes and paper cups and to shop on a budget. Now, 10, 8 and 6, they know how to find brand-name clothes at resale stores, and to take apart flashlights and calculators to build other devices from the parts. Some families ask relatives to give their children gifts of time rather than purchasing presents, says Wendy Philleo, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream, a nonprofit advocating responsible consumption. For example, her children's grandmother takes them on a walk to look at wildflowers or birds, rather than buying them a toy, she says. Another technique is to translate the price of an item a child wants into the hours you have to work to buy it, says Rosalind Wiseman, author of "Queen Bees and Wannabes," who also does training with teens. When one boy complained that his mother wouldn't buy him new shoes, she told him, "If those shoes cost $125 and your mom makes $12 an hour, with 20% taken out for taxes," the mother has to work 13 hours, or almost two days, to pay for them. The teen stopped grumbling, Ms. Wiseman says. Readers, do you try to shape your children's expectations about how much they will spend, or how much you will spend on them? What teaching techniques do you use? Or do you feel, as many parents do, that making a big deal about spending merely makes kids anxious? This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Group: New kids cartoon crosses advertising line - Pantagraph Posted: 15 Sep 2010 07:55 AM PDT NEW YORK -- An advocacy group on Tuesday asked the Federal Communications Commission to block a soon-to-debut TV cartoon show starring characters first created to market Skechers footwear to children. Unless banned, the group said, the show could pave the way for Ronald McDonald, Tony the Tiger and other iconic cartoon pitchmen to become stars of their own series -- potentially inundating children's television with what amounted to full-length commercials. The complaint was filed with the FCC by the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, targeting a series called "Zevo-3" that's scheduled to premiere Oct. 11 on the cable network Nicktoons. Its three teenage, super-powered heroes -- tasked to save New Eden City from evil monsters -- have previously appeared in comic books and TV ads promoting Skechers' line of children's shoes. The main characters "are walking and talking advertisements for specific lines of Skechers shoes," said the complaint. It depicted "Zevo-3" as "the first children's television program starring characters that are known to children only as commercial logos and spokescharacters." Specifically, the complaint said the half-hour show would violate a federal requirement in the Children's Television Act that that no cable TV operator shall air more than 12 minutes of commercial matter per hour during children's programming. The show also would violate the FCC's requirement of a clear separation between commercial content and programming matter, the complaint said. Kristen Van Cott, co-executive producer of "Zevo-3" and a senior vice president of Skechers Entertainment, said she and her colleagues had worked hard to ensure the show conforms with FCC provisions and were confident it would air on schedule. "Skechers Entertainment is tremendously proud of 'Zevo-3,"' she said in a statement. "It's a fun, action-packed and beautifully animated series." There are no overt pitches for Skechers' products in the cartoons, and Van Cott said the plot lines "often reflect issues that kids deal with on a daily basis - from peer pressure and bullying to relationships with family and friends." A spokesman for Nicktoons, David Bittler, responded concisely to the complaint: "This show does not violate the Children's Television Act." Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, said she did not know what timetable the FCC might set for considering the complaint. "It's our hope they'll act quickly and decisively," she said. "We believe that the show violates several of the few existing rules we have to protect children from over-commercialization." According to background in the complaint, there were plans back in the early 1990s for children's TV shows based on commercial spokescharacters - one that would have featured Chester Cheetah, who pitched Frito-Lay products, and another that would have starred Cheesasaurus Rex, a cheese-colored dinosaur who appeared in ads for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Plans for both shows were dropped after an advocacy coalition raised objections with the FCC. "Now Skechers and Nicktoons are attempting to escalate commercialization on children's television," the complaint said. "If they are successful, we can expect other companies to follow suit. "A McDonald's show featuring Ronald McDonald, a Burger King show featuring the King, a Kellogg show featuring Tony the Tiger these are just some the possible children's television programs we may see in the future." The three heroes of "Zevo-3" - Z-Strap, Elastika and Kewl Breeze - were created by Skechers several year ago to promote sales of shoes to children, and each is linked to a particular shoe. "For children, these characters have become the embodiment of the shoe lines they represent," said the complaint. "So much so that retailers report that kids often ask for a shoe by character name rather than the shoe model." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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