Spreading The News

Within my blog, I categorize content into five sections: Learn, Engage, Balance, Empower, and Inspire. The Balance category focuses on sharing information about educational products and services. Additionally, it is where I will provide tips on fostering a conducive learning environment for your child, expanding their learning horizons, and demonstrating how mindfulness can enhance your child's learning journey. I am hoping this blog post will achieve all of the goals that I set for myself in my balance category.

When we intake and process information, we are learning. Information is everywhere and comes in many forms. How the information is presented can be just as important as the information itself. As a parent, I place information for my child into one of two categories; "healthy" or "unhealthy".

Healthy Information:

• is age appropriate

• provides facts

• aids in understanding

• broadens ones learning perspective

• engages

• builds a healthy curiosity

• inspires

• is beneficial to growth and development

• expands knowledge

• supports healthy conversation and dialogue

  
  

Unhealthy Information:

• is not age appropriate

• is misleading or confusing

• is toxic

• creates feelings of distress, anxiety, and despair

• negatively impacts growth and development

• does not support healthy conversation and dialogue

It is important to me that my son has knowledge of and is aware of the world in which he lives. Staying updated on current affairs is one way that he can achieve this.

Regrettably, I find most news is reported in the unhealthy manner that we try to avoid. What we needed was news provided in a healthy and kid-friendly format. Three years ago, we received a free copy of The Week Junior in our mailbox, and ever since then, we have remained loyal readers.

The Week Junior is a weekly news magazine for kids between the ages 8-14. Each issue contains 32 pages and covers news and facts in the following sections:

• This week's big news

• National News

• Around the World (international news topics)

• The big debate (pros and cons of a featured debate topic)

• People

• Animals and the environment

• A featured story (varies each week)

• Science and technology

• Photos of the week

• Sports

• Arts and entertainment

• Book club (book of the week and suggested readings)

• Puzzles, games, and more

To take a look inside and view a sample issue, you can click here.

One of the things I like most about The Week Junior is that it speaks to kids and not at them. Each article is written to provide facts so that kids are empowered to form their own opinions about what they have read.

I also like that the articles inspire kids to act. Whether it is sounding off on a topic in The big debate, sharing their ideas on how to make the world a better place in Junior Voices , reading and discussing a book from the book club, becoming members of the Junior Council and participating in the Junior Journalist program, or learning new skills by participating in activities, kids are motivated to find their own voice, be confident, and get involved.

Lastly, The Week Junior facilitates communication. It has become a conversation starter in my home. Weekly, my son and I carefully review it, exchanging our opinions on the articles we liked and the interesting facts we found.

I know that not all news is uplifting. In times of distressing events around the world, The Week Junior not only provides information with a kid-friendly approach, it offers online resources to help parents talk to their children about challenging topics.

Finally, news that I can spread good news about.