In his latest book, Fast Media/Media Fast, longtime scholar of media and culture Dr. Thomas Cooper, founder and co-publisher of Media Ethics magazine, invites readers to reclaim their sense of identity and family from the clutches of “media oversaturation.” As the Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College and founder of the Association for Responsible Communication, he recognized more than a decade ago the value that perspective, afforded by distance, would bring to his field. Resonating Thoreau’s withdrawal to Walden, Cooper encourages readers to take deliberate steps towards simplicity through a media “fast.”

Mindful of an audience that is conditioned to consume more information than it can digest, Dr. Cooper begins by listing the myriad benefits of participating in a media fast. Promises of rediscovering personal identity, sharpening senses, saving time and money, and tapping into hidden talents and energy grab the reader’s attention, like billboards on a freeway, inviting them to pull over. After outlining the guidelines for a successful fast – preparation, documentation, and reflection – he shares a candid account of his own experience. In preview, he reports, “As in a sustained food fast, parts of the body which were previously taxed with heavy workloads were becoming rested and then energized. The brain, nervous system, senses and heart (or emotions) all seemed to be ‘on R & R (42).’”

In contrast to popular notions of fasting, Cooper takes a pragmatic approach that values moderation over elimination – in other words, a media “diet.” There is a fine distinction between a conscientious effort to mediate media intake and reckless abandonment. For instance, Cooper rationalizes, “What I could not do was watch, read or listen to media for entertainment, education, therapy, habit, updates, or all the usual reasons. Hence, about ninety-eight percent of my consumption was cut down. The remaining two percent exposure to mass media came at those times when it was essential to briefly listen, read or look, so as not to disservice, alienate or endanger someone (18).”

The second section raises pertinent questions about reality, thinking, and identity. To what extent are they products of the media? How does one exercise freedom of emotion and action above the influences of the media? Cooper confronts the somber realities of media addiction in society and rouses readers into breaking such habits. Those who recognize the value of this crusade become vital role models for impressionable youth. In addition to showcasing the empowering effects of living “first-hand,” Dr. Cooper gives equal weight to the toll that mass media takes on the environment. He provides concrete examples of daily newspaper waste, and challenges the notion that new technology need not be tested for long-term environmental and health effects that food and drugs are subject to under the FDA.

Photo by Jodiepedia/Creative Commons license

Midway through his book, Dr. Cooper transitions to “group fasting.” He provides a loose manual for anyone interested in leading a group fast, which may entail students, those of a common faith, or members of various clubs and leagues. From the role of a teacher, Cooper suggests a timeframe of five weeks that combines reading from the book with media-free activities and plenty of reflection, in the form of journaling and group discussion. Whichever the scenario, a supportive and flexible environment sets everyone up for success.

Perhaps most provoking is an up-close look at modern societies that permanently fast from mass media. Plain People, such as the Old Order Amish, Mennonite and Brethren, fastidiously resist the encroachment of mass media on moral grounds. Dr. Cooper suggests, “What may best be adopted is not who they are but, rather, that they know who they are and know how to maintain that discrete identity (145).”

Bringing the issue of media penetration back to the individual, Dr. Cooper argues that the constant pressure to accelerate is spiraling out of control. There are physiological, as well as ethical, limits that demand due consideration. In a note of caution, he warns: “’Keep-up’ can make ethics a distant or deceased priority (178).”

After a bout of dismal commentary, Dr. Cooper unwinds with a tribute to the beauty and power of slowing down. Essentially, a media fast is a sure-fire way to reveal life-style ruts that we have fallen into and, more importantly, can choose to avoid in the future.

One of the basic appeals of Fast Media/Media Fast is its accessibility to the general reader. Dr. Cooper does not expect that his book be read from cover-to-cover; rather, he invites readers to skip around and use it as a reference for conducting a media fast (alone or in a group). In the appendices, he provides blocks of questions that can help enrich the fasting experience. Anyone from the curious reader to the provoking teacher stands to benefit from this guidebook. At the same time, Fast Media/Media Fast has a narrative that is substantial enough to read in full, with the understanding that the core principals of the individual media fast are echoed in the segment on group fasting.

In the spirit of simplicity, the subtitle captures the value of this book: “How to Clear Your Mind and Invigorate Your Life in an Age of Media Overload.” Dr. Cooper relates to the shared human experience of feeling insignificant and losing a sense of identity in a flood of new media. From the beginning, he establishes a relationship of equal status with the reader, using his own fasting experiences as a gauge for offering advice. He even welcomes reader feedback as a valuable contribution to his continuing studies.

There is a missing piece (PEACE) in our world today that few desire to look at head-on. It is not a religious piece, an educational piece, a political piece, an economic piece or a healthcare piece. Itís a spiritual piece, and the acknowledgement and subsequent activation of that piece begins in the home. As parents, few of us understand who we really are as intuitive, creative, powerful, spiritual beings, and therefore, do not reflect the truth of our magnificent identity back to our children. In other words, despite well-meaning and loving intentions, instead of children observing, and more importantly, feeling wholeness, authenticity, self-love, truth, transparency and well-being reflected back to them from parents, they often see a diminished version of what is possible for the parent, and therefore, a diminished version of what is possible for them.

The most important step in elevating the reality of any family is the parents consciously moving down a path of self-realization to heal old wounds, uncover hidden beliefs, release denied emotions, and allow greater joy so that they can become a clear mirror for their children. As parents begin to become more comfortable within their own skin and follow the inner linings of their own heart more courageously, they simultaneously give their children permission to do the same. There is no greater gift that parents can offer their children. A deeper intimacy with our own soul – the largest perspective of who we are – will change our world beyond the current more surface band-aids that we continually attempt to reapply in all corners of society, often with disappointing results. It is up to parents to feel a greater responsibility to model soul intimacy, as well as encourage the same in their children. This is front-end work rather than back-end that will make a huge difference in the level of dysfunction, anxiety, stress, and despair found in so many families today.

The call right now is for parents from all religious, economic and cultural backgrounds to begin to consciously integrate a new perspective – a universal SOUL perspective – into their beloved family while simultaneously raising consciousness in our world. Below are ten suggestions for parents to consider as they seek to offer their children the fruits of their own spiritual journey.

Utilize everyday life such as friendships, nature, mealtimes, music, movies, and much moreóas the perfect curriculum and forum to teach your children powerful, universal principles such as connectedness, self-love, presence, and forgiveness.

Teach your children to allow multiple perspectives in all life situations and relationships by ìflippingî challenges into positive, learning opportunities.

Train your children to be more conscious of thoughts, words, deeds, priorities, beliefs and choices so that they can assume greater responsibility for the creation of their own reality.

Encourage compassion, empathy and gratitude in your children on a daily basis by making them the most-used words in your home.

Turn the JOY in family life way up by singing, dancing, smiling, humming, laughing, and relaxing rigid perspectives as often as possible through openness and gratitude.

Model authenticity through speaking and living your truth thereby giving your children permission to do the same

Show your spirit daily so that your children can witness multiple aspects of you, and in turn, see multiple aspects in themselves.

Teach your children that they are intuitive, creative, eternal spiritual beings – much larger than simply their physical form – and filled with infinite possibility and the capacity for direct divine connection.

Assist your children in understanding that an appreciation for life in the present moment, coupled with enthusiasm for their future, plants the necessary seeds for manifesting their true heartís desires.

Provide the space and opportunity for your children to focus on their interior world as much as the exterior world, allowing greater intimacy with the voice of their own soul to feel what resonates as truth for them.

Research by Marty Rossmann, emeritus associate professor of family education, shows that involving children in household tasks at an early age can have a positive impact later in life. By involving children in tasks, parents teach their children a sense of responsibility, competence, self-reliance, and self-worth that stays with them throughout their lives.

How the research on involving children in household tasks works

Rossmann explored outcomes for 84 young adults based on an in-depth study of their parents’ style of interacting with them, their participation in family work at three periods of their lives (ages three to four, nine to 10, and 15–16), and a brief phone interview when they were in their mid-20s. Variables such as parenting styles, gender, types of household tasks, time spent on tasks, and attitudes and motivators connected to doing the tasks were analyzed for their relationship to outcomes for the children.

Rossmann looked at previously unexplored data collected from a longitudinal study by Diana Baumrind, famous for its analysis of authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles. Baumrind started her study in 1967 using a sample of parents and children living in the San Francisco Bay area. Rossmann’s own family had been a part of the study.

What the research shows

Using measures of individual’s success such as completion of education, getting started on a career path, IQ, relationships with family and friends, and not using drugs, and examining a child’s involvement in household tasks at all three earlier time, Rossmann determined that the best predictor of young adults’ success in their mid-20s was that they participated in household tasks when they were three or four. However, if they did not begin participating until they were 15 or 16, the participation backfired and those subjects were less “successful.” The assumption is that responsibility learned via household tasks is best when learned young.

How the tasks are presented also influences children’s abilities to become well-adjusted adults. The tasks should not be too overwhelming, parents should present the tasks in a way that fits the child’s preferred learning style, and children should be involved in determining the tasks they will complete, through family meeting and methods such a weekly chore chart. They should not be made to do the tasks for an allowance. The earlier parents begin getting children to take an active role in the household, the easier it will be to get them involved as teens.

What others say about involving children in household tasks

Rossmann brings practical findings from her research to the public by making presentations to parent educators, at PTA meetings, at the Minnesota State Fair, and to a filled-to-capacity room at an international meeting of psychologists in Stockholm. The research has directly impacted the work done by fellow researchers and authors, parent educators, and parents.

Jean Illsley Clarke—director of J.I. Consultants, widely-published author, and alumna of the college—is featuring Rossmann’s research findings on children doing household chores in her upcoming book on overindulgence, Indulge Them Less, Enjoy Them More: Finding a Balance Between Giving More and Saying No to Your Children. Clarke explains that in the book’s three separate overindulgence research studies, “adults who were overindulged as children reported not having to do household chores as the most frequent way they had been overindulged. The pain that many of them experienced as children, and even more during adult life, presents a sad picture of lack of skills and low self-esteem. Marty Rossmann’s research offers independent and important information on the role of chores.”

Kris Loubert, parent educator at the Early Childhood Family Education program for Minneapolis schools, says that “involving children in household tasks is a topic parents typically want to discuss, especially parents of three- to five-year-old children. The good news about Rossmann’s research is that getting children involved early (preschool-aged) in household tasks seems to have a ‘payoff’ beyond getting kids to learn how to keep a home in order. The responsibility learned via putting those toys away positively affects their success in young adulthood—at the university, in their careers, and in their families. The parents I work with all dream of success in these areas for their children.”

“I hear parents of young children complain about how difficult it is to get kids to cooperate and how difficult it is for them to follow through with their children to the completion of a task. They often will say it easier if they just do the housework themselves. I believe Rossmann’s findings could create more resolve in parents to teach, work with, and be more patient with their children as they learn how to contribute to the upkeep of the family home. Teach your kids responsibility and contribution at home early and they are likely to be successful later in life.”

Wendy Wicks, president of the Dowling School PTA (Minneapolis), organized a presentation by Rossmann for parents which they found “inspiring.”

“Rossmann’s presentation on household chores increased our awareness of leveraging opportunities to assign our kids easy tasks on a weekly basis. After learning about the positive outcomes of those children who participated in household tasks at an early age, I think the Dowling parents who attended this presentation will be looking for ways to regularly involve their children in helping around the house.”

Why this research matters

Involving children in household tasks at an early age helps them learn values and empathy as well as responsibility. It is important for children to internalize values when they are young because household responsibilities continue to play a significant role throughout one’s life. Young adults are living on their own longer and they need to have household skills as part of becoming well-adjusted adults. Managing household responsibilities can be the biggest cause of stress in marriages. “There’s a lot of talk about family values, but little action,” Rossmann says. She would like to do more work in this area that would replicate the study with a larger sample of the population and groups that represent greater diversity.

By now, we are all familiar with the conversation about American parenting and the concern with over scheduling. And there is a growing consensus that maybe our kids really are being run ragged by the pressure to perform and, to our credit, we are looking into the problem.

But at the same time, we are talking about extending the school year, hitting the same old panic button over our sinking test scores and our (in)ability to compete in the world market.

Until we see clearly what our goals are and how to meet them, we will forever be on this rollercoaster of trying to zoom ahead and then putting on the brakes – a life of whiplash for American families.

So what can we agree on? We all know we must prepare our kids for The Future. President Obama says this:

The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do – what America does better than anyone else – is spark the creativity and imagination of our people.

Who can argue with that?

So when we hold this idea of adult innovative thinkers ready to tackle the world in our minds and when we try to roll the tape backwards and see what kind of childhood these uber adults would have needed, our own lack of creativity stumps us. We fall back on the future we were holding out for — the stable company career where we fine-tuned our vocation, our specialty, our area of expertise, and in return received security and a pension for our old age. Adulthood like that could benefit from a childhood where we learn things from within a box, are taught to meet expectations and people-please. It’s the super structured childhood we keep going back to.

But those days are over. To get a job at Google, say, a programmer needs to be able to write code on a whiteboard, on the spot, confusing their habitual way of sitting at the keyboard. This clever trick is asking the applicant to show just how well they can perform when their little world is shaken up. When looking for employees, Google says they “want to know how you’ve flexed different muscles in different situations; we’re looking for people who have a variety of strengths and passions, not just isolated skill sets; we’re less concerned about grades and transcripts and more interested in how you think.”

If we rewind to a childhood that makes an adult like that, what do we see? Is it racing around from one prep course to another? From soccer to piano to Mandarin? A childhood on the clock and filling up the gaps with zoning on the iPad and obsessing about making more friends on Facebook?

I don’t think so.

A movement like simplicity parenting, a way of life that promotes play and creativity and honors a kids’ needs and natural rhythms, can seem so Little House on the Prairie, like a privilege for those precious few who don’t need to prepare their kids for a tough road ahead. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the super-scheduled childhood is a throwback to the 1950’s, as if life is ever going to be so structured and straightforward again!

When we really look at what happens for a kid when they slow down, tune in to themselves, take space and get busy in serious play, we can see that what they are learning is how to be create a kind of inner structure that will serve them (and us) well in the world ahead. After all, what future employees need is a variety of skill sets that they can apply in multiple areas. This is the very definition of play: You have a breakthrough and then you apply it in multiple areas. Ah, so this dress snaps like this! Now I can put it on all my dolls. Play provides a deep and wide-reaching domain for kids to experiment with the real work of the real world.

The world our children are moving into is rapidly deconstructing. The average stay in any one job is under three years. Many economists project that self-employment or what I think of as “blended employment” will become an increasing feature of the economic landscape. Those that have jobs experience fewer structured benefits. The world ahead is going to require people who can substantially “create” their own structure, not solely rely on others to do it for them.

Subjecting a child to a life of super structured and fast-paced activity in order to prepare him/her for the world is a well-meaning falsehood and a more than serious mistake. Simplicity Parenting is not some silly retro concept. It is a forward-looking attempt to help families get real about what we’re facing. The great news is that we don’t have to do that much to introduce our kids to the benefits of their own intelligence and freedom. Just relax a little bit. Give them just a bit more space than you think you can. Allow playtime to extend just a few minutes longer. It doesn’t take much to bring out the innate capacities for innovation that are already there. In fact, covering it up takes a lot more effort. And all of us who need your kids’ brilliance in the future will thank you for it.

(This article first appeared in the Huffington Post in September 2012.  This is an edited version of that article.)

By Barbara Sokolov

Everyone who comes in contact with Waldorf education is sure to notice how beautiful it is, from the enchanting natural toys and seasonal themes in the kindergarten rooms, to the incredible chalkboard drawings in each classroom. Visitors and prospective parents enjoy the amazing array of children’s artistic creations — the paintings and drawings, knitted dolls and animals, woven baskets, beeswax figures, and wood carvings, just to name a few. The music that the children play, their singing, and the wonderful plays each class performs are truly impressive. They admire the main lesson books written and illustrated by the students, books that artistically reflect the rich curriculum of a Waldorf school. And of course they can’t help but notice the happy faces of the children in a Waldorf school.

But invariably the question arises of how and when children are taught to read in a Waldorf School. The growing anxiety in our society over declining reading skills is so pervasive that suddenly, all the wonders and beauty of a Waldorf education pale in the shadow of the reading issue. “But Waldorf schools take a laid back approach to reading,” people say. “Waldorf students are not taught to read in first grade like public school students.”

Click here to read full article.