Women Blog

New Study Says Parents Selling Teens Short Underestimating Teens’ Charitable Nature Hundreds of Thousands of American Teens Respond To Haiti Quake and Global Food Crisis World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine, February 27th, 28th

Maybe parents don’t know their teens as well as they think. According to a new 30 Hour Famine study, less than one in ten parents of teens (9%) describe teenagers today as “generous”. More than half of parents (58%) describe teenagers as “lazy”, and almost as many (54%) describe teens as “selfish”. And yet more than half of those teens themselves (53%) say the current economic climate has made them more aware of the needs of others. And almost nine out of ten (89%) of teens in the same online survey, conducted by Harris Interactive in January, say they wish they could do more to help those in need.

According to the study, commissioned by World Vision, an international charity, only about three in five parents (62%) say their teenagers support charitable causes or organizations, whereas almost three out of four teens (74%) report that they do. In fact, 38% of teens say they support charities actively by volunteering their time or participating in an event like a run, a walk or a fast day like 30 Hour Famine.

HOW PARENTS SEE TEENS
58% of parents say teens today are lazy -9% of parents say teens are generous

TEACHING THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARITY
91% of parents say they try to emphasize the importance of charity to their teen
68% of teens say their parents try to emphasize the importance of charity

EFFECTS OF THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CLIMATE:
39% of parents say their teen has become more aware of the needs of others
53% of teens say they’ve become more aware of the needs of others

“These findings paint American kids in a new but accurate light – informed, global citizens who understand that solvable social problems like poverty and hunger exist everywhere around the world,” says Justin Greeves, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs & Policy Research with Harris Interactive.

Next month, hundreds of thousands of American teens will go hungry in an effort to help Haiti quake survivors and fight global hunger through World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine. This year, a portion of funds raised by 30-Hour Famine groups will go toward Haiti’s long-term recovery. More than 200 youth groups nationwide have already contacted World Vision about designating 30 Hour Famine funds to Haiti relief.

Pat Rhoads, World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine Manager says, “I’m really excited and grateful that teens here can have a direct impact on teens and children in Haiti. Many wish they could go there and help the people of Haiti. This is a way to directly help them, even if they can’t make the trip.” Rhoads has been working with youth groups through the 30-Hour Famine for the last seven years. Since 30 Hour Famine started in 1992, groups participating in Famine events have raised more than $130 million.

February 26th & 27th, (there’s also another National Date April 23rd-24th) hundreds of thousands of teens will participate in World Vision’s 19th annual 30 Hour Famine, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world’s poorest children face. Prior to the event, teens raise funds by explaining that $1 can help feed and care for a child a day. So $1 for each hour they’ll fast, $30, can feed and care for a child for a whole month. As they fast, teens consume only water and juice as they participate in local community service projects (at food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters). Part of the funds from this year’s 30 Hour Famine will go toward long-term relief in Haiti after the January 12th quake. Last year’s 30 Hour Famine raised close to $11 million with funds going to fight global hunger. This year’s fund-raising goal is $12 million.

Tonight, almost 1 billion people worldwide will go to bed hungry – that’s one out of every six people on earth. 25,000 children die each day from hunger and preventable diseases. Chronic poverty, affecting half the people on earth, is the cause. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day.

Where does 30 Hour Famine money go? Haiti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other targeted spots where famine, conflict and other crises make children vulnerable. A portion of 30 Hour Famine funds are also used to address poverty here in the U.S.

World Vision works in 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people every year.

Source: World Vision

Teenage driving statistics are no joke and should be a real concern for parents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car crashes involving teen drivers are the leading cause of death for teenagers.

We should also mention the $40 billion economic impact of auto accidents involving 15-20 year old drivers. These facts were the impetus for the founding of Street Smarts Interactive, LLC (http://www.streetsmarts101.com/), a trio of online courses designed to supplement basic driver’s education and to give parents a tool to use to help them meet state-mandated graduated driver’s license laws.

“When it came time to teach my girls to drive, I realized that my state didn’t have good driver’s training requirements,” said Street Smarts 101 founder Tom Lee, a widowed father of twin teenage daughters. “The classroom-only driver’s ed program at their high school offered no behind-the-wheel training. The program’s sole goal was to enable the students to pass the written driving exam and get their learner’s permit. As a parent, I found myself at my wit’s end trying to find an effective way to make sure that when my girls got their license, they knew how to drive safely.”

Lee, a retired member of the United States Navy Special Operation Community, understood the need for a comprehensive training strategy to teach his daughters to recognize and avoid the dangers of the road. “I needed to be involved, which was something that an expensive commercial driver’s ed program couldn’t offer.” He said, “I found existing online products lacking; a mixed bag of non-compatible software, outdated videos and poorly written manuals,” he explained.

Working with a team of experts in disciplines including traffic law, vehicle handling, instruction design, training technology, teen behavior and family communications, Lee designed Street Smarts 101, a three-part program that addresses the challenges of engaging teens, empowering parents and, ultimately, saving teen lives.

The first part of this three-part program is now available to the general public at an incredibly reasonable price of $79.95, Crash Reduction 101, a five-lesson course geared toward a teen’s understanding and preference for learning. The teens take lessons from their own computer and can try to gain further awareness and confidence.

“Distracted driving is getting a lot of attention in the media right now, but that’s just a small part of the problem when you’re dealing with a novice teenage driver,” said Lee. “Our program looks at the bigger picture, putting you as the parent in the ‘driver’s seat’ when it comes to teaching your child how to drive safely.”