Big Changes, Big Choices

Why can't you relate to your teenager's problems? "Cause you're like so old you got Moses' beeper number," says comedian/guidance counselor Michael Pritchard in an on-target skit that will leave children and their parents in stitches. Filmmakers' David Elkind, Freddy Sweet, and Jim Watson together with Pritchard have again created a winning youth series based on a simple truism: "the shortest distance between two people is a good laugh." Whereas The Power of Choice series (reviewed in our April 1989 issue) was aimed at high school children, and the You Can Choose! series (reviewed in our September 1992 issue) addressed the concerns of elementary school aged children, Big Changes, Big Choices is for middle-schoolers--an age group that is increasingly facing more and more problems, as drugs, gangs, and even sexual issues move into the lower grades. In Big Changes, Big Choices, Pritchard visits with school children across America to find out what they're thinking and pass along a little food for thought at the same time. We watched two episodes out of the 12-part series: Getting Along With Parents and The Three R's of Growing Up. In the former, Pritchard talks with kids about the difficult transition from child to teenager, emphasizing the importance of trust, and reminding budding teens that what may seem like overprotective behavior on the part of their parents is often plain old love. Parents, on the other hand, will stop and acknowledge the importance of their child's journey towards independence. And everyone will recognize the universal lament about the power struggle between parent and teen, neatly summed up by one of the kids: "my parents could say `the sky is purple' and they're still right." In The Three R's of Growing Up, Pritchard and the kids talk about Responsibility, self-Respect, and doing the Right thing, focusing on the hypothetical situation of what a teen would do if he or she saw an elderly woman unknowingly drop a $50 bill (when I was a kid, this example involved a $20 bill, but taking into account inflation and the price of Reeboks, a $20 bill probably wouldn't generate much excitement today). The other titles in the series are: You and Your Values, Enhancing Self-Esteem, Setting and Achieving Goals, Dealing With Pressures, Handling Emotions, Preventing and Resolving Conflicts, Saying "No" to Alcohol and Other Drugs, Speaking of Sex, Friendship, and Respecting Others. Although there's a fair amount of material out there for younger and older kids, middle-schoolers have been largely overlooked. Big Changes, Big Choices admirably fills that gap. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)