Parents hoping to limit their kids’ exposure to excessive commercialism are understandably frustrated when marketers invade traditionally “commercial-free” venues outside the home, such as your child’s school. And school advertising abounds in many forms. Most of us are familiar with ads in yearbooks and newsletters, on team uniforms and vending machines, and even on the sides of school buses. But some schools now sell ad space in highly visible locations such as on class websites, cafeteria banners, bookcovers, and even homework folders. Even more worrisome is when marketing makes its way into the school curriculum. Here are six ways you can protect your child from harmful advertising messages:

• Teach Your Child to be a Smart Consumer: When you and your child see an advertisement, make deliberate comments and judgements about the ad, and actively explain the nature and selling intent of the marketers who made the ad. By looking critically at ads with your children, you’re providing them with the defense they need when they encounter ads without you. For more information on how to maximize these teachable moments, download Kids Unbranded: Tips for Parenting in a Commercial Culture. This guide provides sample questions you can ask your kids when decoding advertisements as well as revealing marketers’ tricks of the trade.

• Conduct a School Walk-Through: Next time, you’re at the school for a meeting or picking up your kids, take note of any sponsored materials. Are there vending machines or fast food banners in the cafeteria? Are there advertising flyers on the bulletin boards? Are there televisions in the classrooms? Our Schools Unbranded Action Kit offers resources to help you understand how to assess the level of threat your school’s advertising choices pose, and what steps to take if the advertising is harmful.

• Opt out of Channel One: If you noted that there were televisions in the classrooms, ask your child whether they watch Channel One. For more than two decades, Channel One has provided schools across the country with AV equipment if they agree to use class time to watch a daily “news” show with embedded commercials. If your child does watch Channel One, raise your concerns with the teacher (there’s more information on the “news” stories and types of marketing Channel One promotes in Kids Unbranded). If the teacher continues to show the “news” broadcast, ask whether your child can opt out and do work in another location.

• Familiarize Yourself With Your Child’s Curricula: Even more worrisome than banner ads and vending machines is when marketing makes its way into the school curricula. Scholastic, for example, has supplied public school fourth graders with materials funded by the American Coal Foundation, including a “United States of Energy” curriculum that offers a one-sided view of coal, failing to mention its negative effects on the environment and human health. Flip through your child’s textbooks and homework assignments. Have discussions with your child if you feel that the material is one-sided. Alert your child’s teacher of your concerns.

• Get to Know the Games and Apps: More and more, children are being asked to rely on technology throughout the school day. Ask them what games and apps they use in school. Have them show you how the game is played or the app is used, and note whether the site is ad-free. If you don’t approve of the marketing tactics on these sites, ask your child’s teacher if your child can use an alternative, ad-free site.

• Provide Alternatives to School Fundraisers and Incentive Programs: Does your school host Scholastic book fairs? According to a company representative, 35–40 percent of the books sold at the typical Scholastic fair are linked to a movie, TV show, or video game. If your school hosts such book fairs, talk to your librarian about working with independent booksellers to hold less-commercialized events. If they continue to host commercialized book fairs, have your child opt out and let him or her know that he can choose a book from your favorite bookstore. Similarly, if your school participates in incentive programs such as Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program, talk to the teacher about your concerns. If necessary, replace the reward with a reward of your choosing.

By taking steps to push back against the rampant commercialism in our children’s schools, you can help your child understand the effects of commercialism on our quality of life, the environment, and a just society. We need to raise a generation of young people who can lead happier and healthier lives as they build better and stronger communities. We must work to raise humans, not consumers.

For more information on how to push back against school commercialism, download the Center for a New American Dream’s free Schools Unbranded Action Kit.