When Jen Swetzoff told her 9-year-old son to read a story about body odor — part of a new magazine she’s launching for kids — he was grossed out.
But he checked it out.
And he was — well, engrossed.
Jen Swetzoff
Swetzoff — a Westport mom with a background at the Council of Foreign Relations, travel writing for Frommer’s and editing for a geopolitical consulting firm, and who moved here from New York during the pandemic (though she and her husband had been planning a suburban move before it hit) — hopes more 9- to 14-year-olds will be engrossed by stories about hair care, living with ADHD, young athletes and activists, divorced parents, food, celebrities, gender, and moving to a new town.
Those are some of the features in the first issue of Anyway. A new print — yes, print — magazine, its goal is to use fun, engaging stories about health, well-being and culture to help young people know that their feelings and experiences are a normal part of growing up.
COVID, lockdown drills, climate change, social media pressure — it’s not easy being a kid these days.
Jen and Keeley McNamara — a longtime friend, certified nurse midwife and health educator — realized that although puberty starts earlier now, there was no “trusted media brand” for boys and girls to access information.
Anyway magazine: coming soon!
But why print? Doesn’t it make more sense to reach this wired/wireless generation on a screen?
“Kids are on screens so much,” Jen says. “They just gloss over what they see; it doesn’t sink in.”
Meanwhile, schools are encouraging students to read any kind of printed material. Feedback from teachers has been very encouraging.
Besides, “kids like getting mail. And they like having something they can hold and look at, and go back to again and again.”
One story on hair …
A Kickstarter drive generated enough interest to print the first issue. It’s at the printer right now. In addition to the homes of young readers, Anyway will be distributed to places like kids’ stores, and doctors’ and orthodontists’ offices.
A web launch in December will draw more attraction to the magazine.
Jen thinks she and Keeley have hit the sweet spot for 9- to 14-year-olds.
Even with — or because of? — stories like the one on body odor.
(Click here for the Anyway website. Click here for the Kickstarter website (the only way now to receive copies or subscribe right now.) Click here for the Instagram.)
… and another on ADHD.
(“06880” covers all of Westport — for all ages. To help support your hyper-local blog, please click here.)
