Expert says media can be good for children

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Blame the media.

It's an easy, finger-pointing excuse for all the world's problems.

But not according to Gloria DeGaetano, a nationally recognized educator and expert in child development and media literacy.

She will discuss how the media can help expand children's potential rather than limit it at "Meeting Our Children's Needs in a Media Age," a seminar running from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Waikiki Ballroom in the Hale Koa Hotel.

Sponsored by the Hawai'i Association for the Education of Young Children, the seminar will focus on how parents and educators can take advantage of technology in a socially responsible way, a topic DeGaetano knows a thing or two about.

As the founder and chief operating officer of The Parent Coaching Institute, a training and placement organization, DeGaetano has made it her life's mission to share with others how parents and educators can meet children's cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual needs in a media culture. In addition to running workshops and giving lectures, DeGaetano is an instructor at Seattle Pacific University, an author and the mother of two sons. This will be her first time in Hawai'i.

The seminar will feature discussions on the latest brain research, the relationship between lack of imaginative play and depression and aggression, effects of media violence, and ways to encourage reading in a visual world.

"Right now these are issues we're all dealing with," said Kathy Murphy, program director for HAEYC. "And we're starting to realize we have to start at even the youngest level."