TALKING POINTS
There’s nothing like controversy and current events to kickstart conversation. Seize the day and get talking with your kids about these recent news stories…
1
TikTok will try instituting a 10pm curfew on most teens (Engadget, 11/3/25)
“TikTok, which had created a Family Pairing tool for parents to limit their teen’s screen time and blocks some content, is introducing new features. Time Away lets parents set times when the app is available on their teen’s device or block it during a weekend trip or dinnertime. Parents can also see who their teen follows or is followed by, plus blocked accounts. After 10pm under-16s will have their screen taken over and calming music will play. Tiktok will test adding meditation exercises to the pop-ups. It claims this will make parents ‘better equipped to have conversations and help their teens develop digital literacy skills’”
TALKING POINT Does it help kids if parents monitor their social media? Read the article >
2
Flow review (Empire, 3/3/25)
“There is nothing like this minimalist, family-friendly Oscar-winning animation. Made on a shoestring budget, it was computer generated with open-source software and has a video-game texture, sad music and zero dialogue. This is one of the few animated films to seriously show animal movements. When a tsunami starts, a cat escapes to a sailboat with a dog, lemur, bird and capybara. As animals, they can’t discuss, understand or stop the natural eco disaster around them. This film is really about compassion, collaboration and friendship”
TALKING POINT What can Flow show people about relationships? Read the article >
3
Why Pamela Anderson Doesn’t Wear Makeup: “I Really Didn’t Know Anyone Would Notice It” (InStyle, 7/2/25)
“Actor Pamela Anderson, age 57, went viral for going makeup-free in 2023, and has since gone to festivals and award ceremonies without wearing it. She says: ‘I wanted to challenge the idea of beauty and this mask we put on. As soon as I took the mask off, the whole world opened up. I’m glad it became a positive message. I’m makeup-free at home, so why not for Paris Fashion Week? I thought: “I’m not going to sit in a makeup chair for 3 hours. I’m going to the Louvre.” I can just be me. It’s very freeing to be comfortable in your own skin”
TALKING POINT Why is it so shocking for a woman to not wear makeup? Read the piece >
4
Youngsters learn about violence against women (BBC, 11/3/25)
“The One Goal programme in Sheffield aims to get kids to recognise what violence against women and girls (VAWG) is – it was called a ‘national emergency’ by the Police Chiefs Council – and ‘nip it in the bud,’ says Molly Bulmer, who runs the sessions. ‘It starts with stereotypical comments that get brushed off and become acceptable. That leads to abuse.’ In the sessions, which focus on healthy relationships, stereotypes and consent, the kids designed a board game. Eva, age 11, said: ‘It’s like Monopoly, but we have positive and negative space. The negative is abuse.’ Oliver, 14, says if girls and boys discuss issues together: ‘You get 2 different mindsets and maybe different ideas about solving problems’”
TALKING POINT When and how can you talk with kids about VAWG? Read the article >
5
Melania Trump speaks for first time on Capitol Hill against revenge porn (Metro, 3/3/25)
“In her first public remarks since becoming US first lady again, Melania Trump spoke out in favour of the Take It Down Act, which would make it a crime to publish nonconsensual intimate imagery and AI-generated images, aka deepfake nudes. It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls,’ she said, ‘grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content.’ Francesca Mani, age 15, who was 14 when she and other teens found deepfake images of themselves online, said the law should ‘shift power back to victims, ensuring they can remove harmful images within 48 hours’”
TALKING POINT Have you heard about deepfakes or discussed them? Read the article >
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All the Snow White controversies explained as Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot face backlash (Metro, 15/3/25)
“In making a live-action Snow White film, Disney has for several years been criticised for it being ‘woke’; for using CGI to create the 7 dwarfs, depriving little people of those parts and, said dwarf actor Peter Dinklage, for retelling a ‘backwards story about dwarfs living in a cave’; for Rachel Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, starring as the princess with ‘skin as white as snow’ and saying the original movie was ‘weird’ and ‘dated’, with ‘a guy who literally stalks Snow White’ (she ‘won’t be dreaming about true love’ but will become a leader), insulting Trump voters and posting: ‘Free Palestine’; for the Israeli actor Gal Gadot playing a villain, say Israel supports (and for casting her at all, say Palestine supporters)…”
TALKING POINT What do you think about these various issues? Read the article >
And finally: to discuss…
A Bunch Of Celebrities Are Flooding Millie Bobby Brown With Support After She Named And Shamed Reporters Who Have Scrutinized Her Looks (BuzzFeed, 4/3/25)
Actor MILLIE BOBBY BROWN, age 21, posted on Instagram on that she wanted to address something “that affects every young woman who grows up under public scrutiny. It’s necessary to speak up about it.
I started in this industry when I was 10. I grew up in front of the world. For some reason, people can’t seem to grow with me. Instead they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things Season 1. Because I don’t, I’m now a target.
Let’s talk about the articles, headlines and people who are so desperate to tear young women down:
• ‘Why are Gen Zers like Millie Bobby Brown ageing so badly?’ by Lydia Hawken
• ‘What has Millie Bobby Brown done to her face?’ by John Ely
• ‘Millie Bobby Brown mistaken for someone’s mom as she guides younger sister Ava through LA’ by Cassie Carpenter
This isn’t journalism. This is bullying. The fact that adult writers spend their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, it’s disturbing. That some of these articles are written by women? Even worse.
We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when the time comes, it seems easier to tear them down for clicks. Disillusioned people can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not theirs.
I refuse to apologize for growing up. I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman.
I will not be shamed for how I look, how I dress or how I present myself.
We have become a society where it’s so much easier to criticize than it is to pay a compliment. Why is the kneejerk reaction to say something horrible rather than to say something nice? If you have a problem with that, I have to wonder: what is it that actually makes you so uncomfortable?
Let’s do better. Not just for me, but for every young girl who deserves to grow up without fear of being torn apart for
simply existing”
TALKING POINTS What do you think of Millie Bobby Brown’s attitudes? Was it brave of Brown to call out criticism of her and to name some of the writers of negative articles about her? Why do some writers want to give their opinion about how Brown has changed while growing up? Why do people write judgmental, negative or critical articles about famous people? Why are looks such a big part of girls’ and women’s identities? How does being defined by your looks affect how you feel, act and think? How do attitudes towards girls/women affect boys/men?