Teens in broken and/or dysfunctional families are the focus of a pair of new videos. Children of the Night, the opening volume in the two-part series Running Away, Dropping Out, is a stand-alone look at homeless teens struggling to survive on the streets of Los Angeles and New York. Interviewing teens (I recognized one snaggle-toothed waif from a snippet I recently saw on a morning talk show) and social workers (including the founder of the teen-rescue shelter Children of the Night), the program effectively explodes the myths that lure children to Hollywood or the Big Apple to become models, singers, or actors. On the contrary, what teens find is a life of panhandling, prostitution, disease, uncertainty, and, in some cases, death. a companion piece, Starting Over, goes inside organizations like Children of the Night and Covenant House to talk with teens and counselors about the road back to recovery and possible re-integration into the family. Depth-wise, the tapes don't offer much that regular viewers of the parade of grotesqueries and stories of woe on talk show TV haven't already heard--still, these do serve as a strong reminder that life on the street is brutal and sometimes tragically short. (An excellent though older film on the subject, Streetwise (VL-4/86), is still a good inexpensive choice in this area.)Survivor's Pride, presented by Drs. Steven and Sybil Wolin, is an introductory overview of an 8-volume video series on building resilience in youth at risk. Opening with an excellent discussion about why it's so much easier to claim victim status today (protection from any criticism, no need to take any personal responsibility, and the bestowal of automatic sympathy), the Wolin's point out that as a society we've become too dependent (or maybe codependent) on labels: slapping a medical syndrome or addiction label on everything from shopping to jogging--although these and other "conditions" are neither physiological nor heritable. Despite these "negative labels," the Wolins have discovered that many children do overcome adverse family conditions through seven character strengths: insight, independence, relationships, initiative, creativity, humor, and morality (each of which is treated in more depth on its own separate video). Clips of interviews with several teens are shown and commented on by the Wolins, and pointers are given on "reframing" interview sessions between teens and counselors in a more positive light. While there are some real insights on the program, the occasionally technical terminology and assumption of a professional audience limit this to school guidance counselors and concerned teachers. [Note: other individual titles in the series are 30 min. each and priced at $60 each; the series price is $399.]Children of the Night is recommended (purchased together with the companion tape Starting Over, the series price is $149.) Survivor's Pride is recommended for junior high and high school libraries. (R. Pitman)
Children Of the Night; Survivor's Pride
(1994) 27 min. $79.95. Cambridge Educational. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 9, Issue 5
Children Of the Night; Survivor's Pride
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