The responsibilities of parenthood represent both reward and challenge to young adults. In our fifth video, we examine how young adults adjust, and share the myths and misconceptions about parenting that are most common to our culture. In addition, we cover issues that are of particular concern to those who are step, foster or adoptive parents. Finally, various styles of parenting are described and assessed.

Using video diaries and workshop discussions, today’s teens explore issues of bias and tolerance in their own lives. Giving Voice weaves interviews with this diverse group of teenagers with the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. Equipped with mini-DV cameras, seven young people document their surroundings at school and at home, with friends and family, and share their emotional responses to viewing survivor testimony. In the process, they make candid and poignant observations about the examples of intolerance and bigotry they see every day and offer eloquent examples of how each of them strives to take responsibility for building a better, more tolerant world. When young adults see the faces and hear the voices of men and women who suffered what others can only imagine, they make the connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives, opening up the possibilities for profound change. Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation After completing the Academy Award-winning film Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg established Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation to preserve the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. Ten years later, the Shoah Foundation has created Giving Voice, a new educational product for students. This is the legacy of Schindler’s List: a vehicle for facilitating a "dialogue" between students and the testimonies, this extraordinary three-part set is an immensely powerful tool for launching a meaningful discussion about the causes and effects of hatred and prejudice. Student Video Diaries & Workshop This half-hour reality TV-style video illustrates how the participants grew, changed, and rethought their own closely held assumptions over the course of the filming project and the daylong workshop that brought it all together. The video weaves student video diaries with first-person, primary-source interviews with Holocaust survivors and witnesses. (25 minutes) Survivor & Witness First-Person Testimonies This video, a compilation of the actual testimonies the students watched, can be used as a part of an in-class re-creation of the workshop—or on its own to deliver a transformative experience that will open eyes, minds, and hearts. (43 minutes) Standards-Driven Teacher’s Guide This modular, standards-driven teacher’s guide provides educators with all the materials they will need to utilize both videos to maximum effect—and, if desired, to conduct the entire student workshop in their own classrooms. Ideal for curriculums involving character development, conflict mediation, and human rights. (36 pages)

This information-packed video offers realistic expectations of what single parenthood is like as well as skills for coping with raising a child alone. After watching this program, the viewer will understand the ups and downs of raising a child alone; learn how to manage practical needs, such as prenatal care, daycare, and finances; learn how to manage their own emotional needs as single parents; and understand how to cope with the child's psychological and emotional needs. Case studies involving single mothers and fathers help the viewer identify with stories about how they coped with pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. These interviews reflect the struggles and joys of single parenthood, as well as real-life solutions to common problems. Experts in prenatal care, single parenthood, psychology, and child rearing offer practical guidelines for pregnancy and birth, preparing for parenthood—including finances and daycare, balancing home and work with raising a child, recognizing and dealing with the new parent's special needs, as well as the special needs of an infant. An excellent tool to start class discussions, and to give the viewer a "real-life" scenario of single parenting. A Cambridge Educational Production.

The teen years are a time of experimenting with identity, but along with that search for self come major decisions about what groups to fit into—and how to fit into them. This video explores peer group influences; how they can cause young people to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors in order to conform; and what can be done to avoid their pitfalls. Topics include positive, negative, direct, and indirect peer pressure; cultural forces, especially media-driven ones, that push the desire to be a “star” instead of making a genuine journey of self-discovery; and media stereotypes of what it means to be attractive, smart, or successful. The program also looks at how friendship groups can become cliques, how low self-esteem leads some people to manipulate or intimidate others to fit in, and how peer pressure, as pervasive as it is, can be countered with honesty, self-expression, and self-knowledge. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Cambridge Educational Production. Part of the series Combating Conflict with Character. (30 minutes)

A dynamic struggle between contrasting forces is necessary—it creates ideas and drives change. But as everyone knows, life is also filled with hurtful and even tragic forms of conflict. Students learn about both types of opposition in this video, which illustrates ways to use conflict constructively while avoiding violence, alienation, and resentment. Beginning with the notion that we deal with conflict largely through patterns learned as children, the program explores four behaviors that push conflict into the destructive zone: miscommunication, demonizing, refusal to negotiate, and “kitchen sinking” or pulling past events and unrelated frustrations into a present disagreement. The pitfalls of a “conflict loop” are also discussed. Viewers gain an understanding of the potential rewards of recognizing an opponent’s needs as well as one’s own. Mediation, including peer mediation and the “third side” method of negotiation, are examined. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Cambridge Educational Production. Part of the series Combating Conflict with Character. (30 minutes) 2011

Prejudice isn’t something we’re born with—and if we learn it, we can unlearn it. The first step in that process is to study it objectively, as this video does through candid interviews, dramatizations, and expert commentary. Offering a practical definition of prejudice, the video explores its basis in ignorance and fear of outsiders, the qualities it most frequently targets (race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, physique, social class, and political beliefs) as well as its principal results—namely, discrimination, racism, and oppression. The program focuses in a teen-friendly way on prejudice in American society, with discussions of the “melting pot” concept; how such diversity, while unquestionably desirable, carries with it the potential for racial, ethnic, and cultural conflict; and how individuals, communities, and our nation can benefit from more dialog between cultures, religions, races, and other demographic groups. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Cambridge Educational Production. Part of the series Combating Conflict with Character. (30 minutes) 2011

In the thick of life’s challenges, helping children grow into confident, respectful, and well-behaved young people seems to require some kind of magical roadmap. While there are no miraculous shortcuts to successful parenthood, there are fellow travelers and professional experts who can shed light on the parenting journey. This video presents just such an opportunity for new moms and dads. They receive practical advice on building a strong parent-child relationship, teaching and reinforcing desirable behavior, creating an environment that stimulates intellect and confidence, developing a routine that offers reassurance and stability, and working through parental conflict constructively. Concise dramatizations that highlight problems and solutions are combined with helpful commentary from educators, counselors, and psychologists. A Co- production of Meridian Education and MotionMasters. (23 minutes) DVD is Subtitled

A new baby in the house can produce mixed reactions from older siblings. This program explores the emotions children of various ages may experience with an addition to the family and how parents can help them adjust. One 17-minute video. © 2003.

A person normally wouldn’t shout out the details of a secret hookup or give a credit card to a total stranger and say “Max it out for me.” Yet as this video playfully points out, in effect that’s what people do when they post indiscreetly on social networking sites or are duped by phishing scams. Think b4 u Post uses a light touch to deliver some very serious information on how people can protect their reputation and guard their privacy online while still having a good time using social networking sites. On the “reputation” side, viewers are advised to keep their postings positive, remember that “intended readers” (friends) are only a subset of “actual readers” (friends, teachers, prospective employers…), and more. And on the “privacy” side, viewers are made aware of the consequences of cyberbullying and defamation as well as steps they can take to safeguard their personal information and avoid online/offline predators. Data mining is also discussed. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Cambridge Educational Production. (22 minutes)

Parenting styles are often a combination of a parent's own personality with the parenting role models she or he grew up with. The authoritarian style imposes will through rigid rules and allows little flexibility or freedom. A permissive style has few rules and abdicates power. And the democratic style is a blend of the two, sharing power and encouraging children to make good decisions and think for themselves. Using three vignettes, this program shows teens interacting with their parents in stressful situations that demonstrate the traits of each parenting style. A Meridian Production. (27 minutes, color)