Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I am upset with how "sex", "love", "intimacy" and various aspects of "gender" are portrayed in the mass media. I am concerned with how children are portrayed as "sexy" or as "little adults", whether that is in advertisement, dramatic movies or comedies.
I am horrified at how we have allowed eroticism to pervade television to the point that it is present in some form in so many programs at hours when children are watching.
And there are even kids' shows that have unnecessary sexual messages.
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Comments
You are so right, cmoneyspinner, about those "teachable moments". That's the best way to handle things these days.
I'm a child who grew up on the boob tube. For me it was an educational tool, as well as a great way to enjoy family time together. However, in my day they had “censorship”. Egads! Dare I speak that horrible word?!! :)
But I have to say that I agree with you about TV programs these days that are not suitable for developing and impressionable young minds. I tried and still try to monitor what my children and grand children view. But if something slips in under the radar and I find out about it, I try to use it as a “teaching moment”. The crap is already in their heads. So the best I can do is try to squeeze it into a corner of the mind and replace it with huge dumps of positive and wholesome data and information.
The innocence of childhood is very short! We can't extend the time, so ideally, that critical stage of personality and character development should be short AND sweet!
P.S. We still watch a lot of TV at our house.
I very much agree with you on this.
I'm so sorry to agree with you here, Tolovaj. It almost seems like a losing battle. But I put my hope in the observation that things come in returning waves, so maybe there will be a return to sanity?
We live in the world where family ties are loosing strength year after year. More and more power is transferred to educational systems and media and many parents don't even know where and how their kids spend their time. If somebody is willing to take responsibility for his own kid, he can actually be marked as weird.
Being a parent is all about responsibility. But responsibility is not very popular word in these days and TV is great excuse to be irresponsible.
Yes, it's a whole different world than the one we grew up in.
Yes so true and then there's the internet, youtube and the like. Both of my kids spend a lot of time on wi-fi devices... makes me wonder about it. I often take them away and say, time for a break otherwise they stay on them for countless amounts of time.
Thanks, Katie. It is so challenging to find the right balance for our kids between quality programming and the harmful programs. But, as our kids tend to do as we do and not as we say, if we ourselves stick to healthy viewing habits, it seems our kids grow up to do the same.
I have always been very careful as to what ad how much television my kids watch. I do appreciate the discovery, history, science and cooking channels as my kids and I both have learned a lot of valuable knowledge. There is an even greater number of programs that are not positive or healthy viewing. Great topic of discussion. :)K
I agree with you so much. My daughters don't have a TV even. Glad to see people being responsible about their kids' viewing habits. Thanks for the comment, Brenda.