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For Parents: Online Sources

The Internet is a wealth of information for parents and caregivers. Below is a list of websites that offer information relevant to home media practices. Although we do not personally endorse any of these sources, you may find the content on these websites useful as you make decisions about your child’s media environment.

We will continually update this section of the website, so please check back often to learn about new online resources for you and your family.

Common Sense Media
www.commonsensemedia.org
Common Sense media is a not-for-profit organization that recognizes that media is fun and kids love to use it.  By providing trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, Common Sense Media gives families both a choice and a voice when it comes to the media that their children consume.

Coalition for Quality Children’s Media – Kids First
www.kidsfirst.org
The Coalition for Quality of Children’s Media is a non-profit organization that seeks to teach children critical viewing skills and to make quality educational programming for kids more visible and available.  Kids First is a program within the Coalition that evaluates, rates and endorses various types of children's media (TV shows, DVDs/ movies, CDs, etc.) using volunteer, community-based juries comprising child development professionals, teachers as well as parents and children from diverse geographic, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds

PBS Parents
www.pbs.org/parents 
www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/
The PBS Parents website is a great tool for parents to find information about their child's development from birth through the early school years. In addition to a variety of educational activities that parents can do with their children, the site provides parents with guides that address important aspects of children’s early years such as school readiness and social and emotional development.

If you visit the section that highlights children and media, you can discover how TV, movies, advertising, computers and video games can shape your child's development and what you can do to create a media-literate household.

Center for Children and Technology
www.cct.edc.org
The Center for Children and Technology (CCT) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and development, which has spent almost 30 years exploring the roles that new technologies can play in young people's lives. CCT has created, shaped, investigated and informed new initiatives and approaches to foster learning and improve teaching through the development and thoughtful use of educational technologies.

Center for Media Literacy
www.medialit.org
The Center for Media Literacy (CML) is an educational organization dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating and participating with media content, CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture. The ultimate goal is to make wise choices possible.

Parents’ Choice Foundation
www.parents-choice.org/default.cfm
The Parents’ Choice Foundation offers a website designed to provide parents with resources that can help them make informed decisions about their child’s learning outside the classroom.   The goal of the site is to provide parents with reliable unbiased information about a variety of children’s products – including toys, music, television, software, videogames, websites, and magazines.  

Fred Rogers Center
www.fredrogerscenter.org/
The Fred Rogers Center is committed to building bridges between early learning and children’s media.  On their website, parents can find a searchable database which contains an extensive list of resources related to media and its impact on children from birth through age 5.  

Center on Media and Child Health
http://www.cmch.tv/
The Center on Media and Child Health is dedicated to understanding and responding to the effects of media on the physical, mental, and social health of children.   The website includes a parent’s section that provides suggestions for ways to use media in safe and healthy ways in your home.