Established in 1978, Parents’ Choice is the nation's oldest nonprofit guide to quality children's media and toys.

While teaching a graduate seminar in children's literature, author and educator Diana Huss Green pulled together a small discussion group of parents who felt their rigorous standards for their children's education were not being fulfilled.

The mandate of the discussion group was clear: create for parents a non-commercial clearinghouse of supplementary media experiences and learning products.

Diana Huss Green established Parents’ Choice Foundation on the following beliefs:

• Reading is our children's key to the world's histories, literatures, arts and sciences.
• Accomplishment is essential to self-esteem.
• Learning requires discipline.

The Foundation's mission is to provide parents with information to participate wisely in their children's learning outside the classroom.

We continue to adhere to the founding principles because:

• Children deserve material to sharpen young minds, not blunt them.
• Children learn most easily when they enjoy it.
• Knowledge gives parents confidence to teach their children.

And above all, because learning is fun - and we want kids to know it.

The Foundation’s purpose is to search out and recommend products that help kids grow – imaginatively, physically, morally and mentally—fairly priced products that are fun, safe and socially sound.

Parents’ Choice reviews books, toys, music, television, software, videogames, websites, and magazines for children and families of all achievements and backgrounds.

If you’re looking for a list of “Hot Toys,” you won’t find them here. Parents’ Choice recommends toys with staying power, books with honesty and integrity of characters, illustration of elegance and imagination, music that families can sing together, storytelling that teaches us lessons from lands and cultures close and far away, magazines that do not mask editorial content in advertising, television that teaches with civility and not chaos, and software and videogames that encourage sharpening skills not leveling landscapes.

Parents’ Choice Foundation strives to provide parents with reliable unbiased information about tools to help their children learn, to explore new challenges, to discuss ideas and to pursue dreams. It’s that simple. And it’s that complex.

Fortified with information, parents and caregivers of all achievements and backgrounds can make informed decisions about which new products are right for their children.

Parents’ Choice®, the Foundation’s online publication, provides parents with quick study guides including: What Makes a Good Toy?, How to Choose A Good Video/DVD, and What-Kids-Who-Don’t-Like-To-Read-Like-To-Read™. In a variety of themed articles, experts offer objectivity, respect, expertise and yes, a sense of humor. Our unofficial motto: Read More. Play More. Learn More. defines the website sections.

Millions upon millions of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles have been using Parents’ Choice as a guide to children’s media since 1978. Many an educator, librarian and storekeeper won’t make decisions about buying or borrowing children’s media without recommendations from Parents’ Choice.

 

Parents’ Choice approaches its mission with a deep passion and a remarkable clarity of purpose. Our experts and advisors, join us in the hard work and determination required to navigate the vast array of children’s media and toys available in today’s marketplace. With the generosity of time and spirit, parents, grandparents, librarians, educators, writers, artists, musicians, performing artists, and yes, children from across the country participate in the process.

 

Learn More About the Parents' Choice Awards Program >