Communicating with Children

Communicating with Children: Principles and Practices to Nurture, Inspire, Excite, Educate and Heal by Barbara Kolucki and Dafna Lemish is a resource package supporting the development priorities of UNICEF to improve the survival, development and protection of infants, young children and their families. Specifically, it is designed for use by anyone interested in communication for the holistic development of children.

Parts One and Two explain how the approach recognizes the diverse conditions in which children around the world live and the media environments to which they have access. Part Three maps the different developmental characteristics and needs of children at different ages, distinguishing generally between: early years (birth through 6 years), middle years (7 to 10 years), and early adolescent years (11 to 14 years).

The document draws upon available global literature on the role of media in all aspects of children’s lives, with potential for positive as well as negative outcomes. It suggests that media are not inherently good or bad, but are technologies at our disposal. Using this academic rationale, Part Four presents four central principles for producing communication for children, each supported by guidelines. Part Five suggests ways to avoid common pitfalls in developing communication for children and Part Six offers additional positive examples and supplementary resources (audio-visual materials, books, academic sources, etc.)  PDF.