TRUCE is an organization of educators who work to counteract the harmful impact of media and marketing on children.

Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment (TRUCE) is a national group of educators deeply concerned about how children's entertainment and toys are affecting the play and behavior of children in our classrooms.

As a grassroots organization, we rely on the efforts of concerned professionals and parents to help with the distribution of our materials. We believe that toys should enhance children's natural ability to actively engage in imaginative and meaningful play. Toys should help children work on the central developmental issues of their age and be open-ended enough to allow children to bring in their own ideas and practice creative problem-solving.

» Download the latest Infant & Toddler Play, Toys & Media Action Guide (Color PDF)

We also believe that media, a powerful force in children's lives, has negative effects when it reinforces stereotypes, promotes violence and bombards children with sexually explicit images and unhealthy sexuality.

Our mission is to raise public awareness about the harmful influence of unhealthy children's entertainment and to provide information about toys and activities that promote healthy play. We are working to eliminate marketing aimed at exploiting children and to reduce the sale of toys and entertainment that promotes violence.

We hope that you will copy and distribute our materials to help spread the word in your community.

For more information about what you can do and to make a contribution to cover our printing and disseminating costs, please contact us.

TRUCE wishes to thank Concerned Educators for a Safe Environment (CEASE), Matt Damon, and Anna Treston for their generous support.

TRUCE Steering Committee*

• Donna DiFillippo, M.A., Executive Director of Raising A Reader, MA
• Christine Gerzon, M. Ed., Parenting Coach: Conscious and Creative Parenting gerzon.com
• Hugh Hanley, Early Childhood Educator, Music Specialist and Family Entertainer
• Sarae Decoster-Pacetta M.A., adjunct professor early childhood education at Boston University, taught preschool-first grade
• Irene Diamond, M. Ed., First Grade Teacher, Winchester, MA
• Alexis Ladd, M.P.H., Media Literacy teacher, Rivers School in Weston, MA. Started educational media literacy consulting firm Medialit4U
• Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Wheelock College. Co-Founder of TRUCE. Author of "So Sexy So Soon", "The War Play Dilemma" and "Remote Control Childhood." www.dianeelevin.com
• Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, M. Ed. Founder and Director Empowered by Play; founding teacher Mission Hill School, Roxbury, MA
• Kathy Roberts, Early Childhood Educator/Mentor/Consultant

*Institution affiliations are listed for identification purposes only