Like
any good parent, you are constantly aware of dangers that might affect the
well-being of your child. You don’t let
him cross the busy street without you.
You keep all the small, hard to swallow objects out of her reach. But what if the danger was less obvious? How would you protect your child from
something that you don’t always pick up on?
Would you finally admit defeat or would you work even harder to be
cautious and aware?
There
is a danger that often makes its way past the ever-watchful eye of good
parents. It enters homes hiding in
books, wafting through music, and displaying itself casually in movies and on
internet websites. These subtle
entrances make it difficult to catch but the quality of media that enters your
home is nonetheless important to look for.
Many of
you are saying to yourself that your children aren’t exposed to the worst
things like violence or sex or drugs.
Children’s programs on television are safe; they’re geared to educate
children, right? And you never let them
watch your “adult” shows because you don’t want them to know about adult themes
yet. You buy all their books and you are
usually in control of the radio in the car.
There’s no possible way that media containing unworthy material is
entering your children’s lives. You’re
there; you’re on top of this.
You, as
the parent, could run yourself ragged keeping your children from poor media
quality. Don’t be fooled into thinking
that your children are protected. In a
2011 study
adolescents were interviewed on whether or not they sought out sexual content. The adolescents ages ranged from 13 to 18
years old and over half of them went seeking for sexual content! Their primary forms to gain this content were
movies, television, and internet websites.
These modes of entertainment are incredibly hard to censure because of
their easy accessibility. So difficult,
in fact, that occasionally you and I miss the danger entirely as it presents
inappropriate material like verbal abuse and physical violence.
Think
back to the last movie you watched. Was
anyone hurt physically or emotionally?
Do you remember if the characters did anything more intimate than
holding hands? What about their topic of
discussion and their language? Was it
vulgar and derogatory or uplifting of others?
Can you see how easily the quality of our media can plummet without us
even realizing it is happening? So, now
that we know, what do we do? How do we
protect ourselves and our families from this constant and sly onslaught?
Limit Free Time
In
2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation compiled a large amount of data
on media in the lives of children. They found that when children don’t have any
media rules, they spend about 13 hours interacting with media in any given day
(this is for combined media usage, i.e. surfing the internet plus watching television.,
etc.) compared to 10 hours for those children who do have some media
rules. While this isn’t a huge change,
it does show that parents are more involved in their children’s lives. By limiting the time that children use media,
we’re also limiting what they have time to view. Parents and caregivers can do better at
enforcing media usage and content on all devices, from cell phones and laptops
to iPods and televisions.
Keep it Public
Growing
up my parents always made sure there was a space in public areas for the
television and computer. They did this
because they didn’t want us to be tempted to view inappropriate material. However, it seems like this trend is no
longer very popular. According to the
Kaiser Family Foundation data set from above, 71% of all 8- to 18-year-olds had
their own TV in their rooms as well as having video games, cable, or even a
computer with internet access. This
trend has increased even more since the study was done in 2010. With “private” and “personal” televisions and
computers, parents may feel that their children will exercise wisdom in their
use. However, unless children are raised
knowing what is good for them to view and what is not, they are not capable of
monitoring their own intake of media.
Parents have a responsibility to do what they can to help children. Keeping media sources public is one easy way
of doing this.
Take Appropriate
Public Action
Television
programs often gather data to let them know how many people are watching their
shows and how they enjoy them. We can
make it clear through petitions and letters or emails that we do not appreciate
nor condone what is being displayed on children’s television and adult
programs. Earlier this year, One Million
Moms used their energy to speak out against Disney
Channel’s choice to include a lesbian couple on “Good Luck, Charlie”, a
popular show on their channel. People
who were against Disney’s decision weren’t afraid or deterred from letting them
know exactly what they thought. Although
Disney disregarded their opinions, the group and its supporters continue to do
what they can to fight against “trash
in today’s media.” We have an obligation
as parents to speak up and speak out against material that we don’t want our
children exposed to.
In the End
I asked
you in the beginning what you would do if the danger that threatened your child
was less obvious. I have only suggested
a few things to change that can help you help your children. While these actions may seem small, it’s
important that we, as parents, get involved with our children’s lives. We need to stay alert and take any
opportunity that comes our way to protect our children. It’s up to us to raise them to be good people
and we can do this through teaching them about appropriate media and how to
manage their own content. No parent
wants to know that they stood by and watched as their children, both young and
old, were faced with material and temptations that could have been avoided if a
more active role had been taken.
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