A Go West Mom You Should Know: Shannon Sue Guernsey
Tara Burghart Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 6:30AM Our latest "Go West Mom You Should Know" is Shannon Sue Guernsey, a writer and the founder and president of Planet Fassa, a cool new online resource that rewards children for offline play. She lives in Naperville with her husband Lee Coulter, who is the CEO of Ascension Health Shared Services as well as the co-founder and CEO of Planet Fassa.
Shannon Guernsey with her stepchildren and husband Lee Coulter. Photo provided. Guernsey, 34, is actually the first "Go West Stepmom You Should Know." Using her nicknames for them, her stepkids are MB (aka Miss-Behavin), age 14 but "going on 22"; Chameleon ("all shades of pink"), age 12; and the 8-year-old Lil Dude.
Guernsey and Lee Coulter dated for a long time before she met his children. "However, no matter how long the prep is, I don’t think you can ever fully know what to expect from the big introduction, or how it is going to completely change your life," she says. "I’ll never forget the day (she met the children). I can honestly say it was the last day my needs came first, or that I cared if they did."
Guernsey just published her first book, entitled "Where on Earth Am I? Fassa's 52 Weeks of Fun." You'll find it under her pen name: S. Moo (stemming from Guernsey being a breed of cattle; She definitely has a playful sense of humor!)
In today's Q&A, Guernsey will discuss Planet Fassa. Next Thursday, she'll talk about the challenges and rewards of becoming a stepmother.
Q. Can you tell me about Planet Fassa? How it works? How you hope it can benefit families?
A. Planet Fassa is all about encouraging kids to play – without a computer, without an adult, without a coach.
F-A-S-S-A stands for Fun, Activities, Stories, Service, Awards. On our website, kids begin by reading stories. Then, to earn points (which we all know kids love!), the “computer” tells the kids to get offline and do activities that recreate things that happened in the book.
Our hope is that once kids start playing offline, their creativity will take flight, and parents will experience more active, imaginative kids who really enjoy playing.
Beyond the stories and their activities, Planet Fassa also offers a database of hundreds of easy, cost-effective activities that adults or kids can search. When I first came into my stepkids’ world, I wanted them to play outside more, but couldn’t believe how little they seemed to know about playing on their own. (OK, I admit, I’m not an endless source of ideas!)
I’d get frustrated after giving them some ideas, and then they’d end up back on the computer. I felt awful. I then searched Google for kids’ activities … WHOA BABY! Although there are thousands of great ideas out there, who has the time to sift through all that stuff? So now I just log into Planet Fassa, put in how much time I need, what I’d like the kids to do (clean, be active, etc.), if we have any particular issues we’re facing (sharing, sportsmanship, fear), if I want to supervise them, or use materials, etc. Then I hit “search” and BOOM! There’s a list of easy activities that suit my immediate need. I suddenly am the most creative adult EVER!
We hope Planet Fassa works for parents by giving them easy ideas in their home, and making it so that they don’t have to be the ones telling their kids to go out and play. Because let’s face it, that’s hard. But if the computer says to play a game (and did I mention all of our games earn the children points … a little “kind-hearted” trickery), then I bet they’ll get outside, start having fun, and not come in ‘til they’re called (remember those days?!)
Q. How did you get the idea for Planet Fassa?
Guerney's first book, "Where On Earth Am I?" was released this fall.A. Planet Fassa began because of my love of silliness, creativity, imagination, and play – and because of how sad I feel that much of the time we had for these things seems to be shrinking due to the productivity that new technologies are affording us. Isn’t that weird? The more time we have (for instance, video conferencing vs. commuting to a meeting), the more we seem to feel we must fill it with more stuff.
I initially saw this in my former role as a communications consultant. I’m a writer by trade, and because my clients could get in touch with me WHENEVER and I could instantly respond to them via email, text, you name it, they somehow believed that I could also create and write faster - not true. Although technology makes it so that I don’t have to put pen to paper, rewrite a “clean” copy, and then ship my work via snail mail, there is still a human brain inside of me, that needs time to imagine and create, and no matter how accessible I am to you; my writing – if you want it to be good – still takes time.
I believe most of us are guilty of expecting more of others -- but, even worse, of ourselves. If I have “downtime,” I’m searching the Internet, using DVR to catch up on shows, etc., always feeling like I should be caught up more on stuff, in competition with all the strangely “amazing” lives everyone seems to portray on Facebook.
Ugh. All of this stuff is hard enough for me as an adult – can you even imagine being faced with it as a kid?!
That’s where Planet Fassa comes in. Let’s face it, kids need to learn technology as it isn’t going away (and it offers wonderful things) – but they also need to learn themselves and the beauty of the imagination that lives inside of them. Planet Fassa was created to combine the two. In essence, through Planet Fassa, kids get to learn how to navigate the computer while being rewarded for playing offline.
Q. How do you think your childhood differed from what children experience today?
A. Because of my childhood, I can appreciate the value of “downtime.” There wasn’t as much cool techno-stuff to occupy me (not as much TV, just a few video consoles) so we had to make up our own games, enjoy the fresh air, play with others ... we automatically got to experience the fun of free play! Unfortunately, kids today are inundated with media, toys that talk, etc. and don’t have to use their imagination to “play.” It’s not their fault – they don’t know any different. I believe we adults need to show them the difference, especially when they’re young and their brains are developing. We need to encourage them to grow their imaginations.
With everything, I believe in moderation and a healthy balance. I believe that technology has done wonders for our world, but I’m also very passionate about giving kids a chance to have a childhood like many of us had. I don’t want them to look back and see their childhood as very similar to their adulthood – on the computer, busy, with sore necks and wrists! In my Planet Fassa books, although my characters are animals, the stories reflect my experiences as a child. I’m hoping that kids will read these stories about the “haunted” new house in the neighborhood and the pirate ship at the playground – and see how fun life can be when they can turn a water balloon into “Jaws” and chase each other around the backyard. (The day I saw my stepkids doing this was the day I knew Planet Fassa works!)
Through Planet Fassa, I want to help kids be aware of the beautiful, cool, creative, and fun ideas that exist INSIDE of them. Yes, Sponge Bob is totally cool, and you can dress Penguin avatars that waddle around online, but I’d like kids to realize that they have episode upon episode of cartoons and games inside their heads and hearts. I fear that if we don’t develop our kids’ imagination (which requires “free play”), there may not be anyone to develop the next Scooby Do, and that would be awful!
Reader Comments (3)
Tara, have you tried out the website yet? I'd like to hear some feedback from mom's and kids that have used the site. It looks great for sure! I think it'd be awesome for my six year old stepson!
Jamie .. I haven't signed up for the website yet. I think my daughter (age 3) might be on the young side. But I do have the book, and I think it is really neat. Plus, I think there is a special on the website right now where you can try it out for a month for just $1.
Good to hear that Shannon is now a part of this. I've got the chance to visit Planet Fassa and the kids really love it.
- Dylan