Recently I attended Campy Mighty, a retreat out in Palm Springs.
Camp Mighty is Go Mighty in real life…an annual retreat for bloggers, Go Mighty members, online content creators, and life list enthusiasts who want to do good for themselves and for others. Each year more than 150 people attend Camp to trade ideas, gain motivation to start new projects, and find the support that can help make things happen.
You were asked to make goals, up to 100. I signed up for camp 4 days before camp and only made up 5 goals.
My number one goal was to get a celebrity to do a PSA that promotes driving safe as sexy.
This is not because I want to be in close proximity to sexy people, besides my sizzling husband of course. It's because I want humor and charisma to reach out to the masses. This has worked for ages so why go against the grain here.
Campy Mighty has recently paired with a philanthropy called Too Small To Fail. Too Small to Fail is a joint initiative of Next Generation and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation that is focused on improving the health and well-being of children ages zero to five.
http://youtu.be/pwn0YGKM-Fg
Here is their mission statement:
Too Small to Fail aims to help parents and businesses take meaningful actions to improve the health and well-being of children ages zero to five, so that more of America’s children are prepared to succeed in the 21st century.
We are working to promote new research on the science of children’s brain development, early learning and early health, and we will help parents, businesses and communities identify specific actions, consistent with the new research, that they can take to improve the lives of young children...."
When I first heard about them I was really excited as I was hoping they might be interested in honing in on car crashes as well, as they are the number 1 cause of death to children. I spoke to one of their representatives and she said they had narrowed it down to focusing on the "word gap."
Nourishing a child’s mind in the first five years of life is as essential as feeding her body. New scientific research confirms that what happens to children’s brains in their earliest years shapes the adults they become, the success they achieve, and the contributions they make to our economy and society. Unfortunately, too many of our kids today are not getting the nourishment they need.
Researchers have identified what they’re calling a “word gap.” (Too Small To Fail)
Even though I was disappointed that Fix The Toaster wouldn't be able to connect with someone there and sparks would fly I do use my words with my 7, 3 and 2 year-old to talk about car crashes. Here are words I use:
The power they will one day have when driving a car.
The responsibility they will have.
The danger that cars present.
Statement from Ann O’Leary, Next Generation
"In today's New York Times, we learned about new research by Stanford Psychology Professor Anne Fernald and her colleagues that adds powerful evidence to the theory that children's learning starts very early. Professor Fernald’s research shows that by the time children are two years old, there is already a gap in language proficiency of six months between higher- and lower-income children. But income does not have to predict life long learning outcomes.
According to Ann O'Leary:
"America's kids today face enormous challenges to their health and struggle to get the education and training they need. It is a shame on our country, and a shortsighted economic plan, that we have not made a national commitment to America's children in the same way that we support our seniors."
The facts demonstrate that all of America's kids are "at-risk" kids:
- More than one-quarter of our children have chronic health conditions such as obesity and asthma, a doubling since 1991;
- American students – even those from educated families – are lagging far behind international competitors in math, science, and reading, and risk losing their edge in the highly competitive global marketplace;
- More than half of students from middle-income families who score highest on their 8th grade reading and math tests don't complete college, undermining their social mobility and future income security;
- Two-thirds of students completing college or other post-secondary education or training are burdened with heavy debt, limiting their ability to build middle-class lives.
Let Too Small To Fail know that you are using your language with your little ones about road safety. As it is killing far too many kids and far too little is being done to change these terrifyingly accepted statistics. Use #2smalltofail as a hashtag.
Their Twitter is @2SmalltoFail