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But Seriously Folks...Jun 07 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line It's our role as parents to take an interest or at the very least monitor what the broadcasts choose in their weekly line up for our kids. Responsible parenting involves limiting television time AND monitoring kids' choices in "entertainment" - and I do use the term loosely for what passes for a kid's show these days. My teenage stepson does watch television, but we monitor what he watches, and neither one of us has to be embarrassed when the other walks in the room. Children's TV shows aren't always what we think they may be. It's our role as parents to take an interest or at the very least monitor what the broadcasts choose in their weekly line up for our kids. As the stepparent of this growing thirteen year-old boy, and educator of young people in the same age group, I consider myself in a unique position to see both the end and immediate results of frequent and mindless television viewing. When he moved into our household at the age of 8, he had been accustomed to watching (and doing) just about anything he pleased due to the lack of supervision in his previous household. It's understandable. Most parents, particularly, but not exclusively, single parents, have a difficult time enough in life with overwhelming work-related, familial, and relationship obligations to monitor what a child is watching or doing all the time. It's very easy to shrug it off and just not make that a priority. But if we don't monitor our children in our own home or elsewhere, who will? When we took television privileges away early on with the understanding that he would get them back on a limited basis, he experienced some visible and painful withdrawal symptoms. It was not a pretty sight, but sometimes kids have to come to the realization that parents ARE the adults in the home. And that parental role comes with easier said than done responsibilities. We know we made the right choice when he dumbfounded us by thanking us for our role in limiting the garbage he was exposed to. After we turned the tv off, we pulled out the perennial classics that we grew up with to find some source of passing time. Not surprisingly, I found that his reading skills were quite lacking. He was in 3rd grade reading at approximately a 1st grade reading level. Well! No wonder we were spending excruciating hours every night completing simple homework assignments. He could not read the material!! While this is not the case with all kids who are seriously engaged and/or hopelessly devoted to TV viewing, many of the students in my district are grossly lagging behind in their reading. Diving into a book once in awhile would certainly prove beneficial. In any case, we practiced and practiced reading aloud to no end. TV was clearly going to the back burner! I read. He read. His dad read. The neighbors and grandma read. We all cried, and oh boy! the toil and sweat we endured!! But it was quite worth it. "The House that 'Jack' Built" is standing strong. He is now several reading levels beyond his grade, and it pleases me to know that when he does watch TV, he can read through it as well. TV viewing options couldn't be more different from when we were growing up. I'm in my 30's and the vast number of channel choices alone demonstrates the monumental gap in the way things were. TV was way different and sadly, so were the "times" different. Ah! I remember the days when we knew when to go to bed at the sound of the station broadcast sign off (usually the Star Spangled Banner"). Kids were different too, of course. Our share of childhood pranks pale to risk-takers of today's kids. Our mischief somehow had limits that few of us dared to cross. Today the battle cry of "Everyone else is doing it" seems to have won over the voice of reason in too many households. Fortunately, the teenager in our home is still a self-proclaimed kid at heart. We let him pour through the TV Guide and highlight shows of interest with in his flexible schedule that includes martial arts, homework, school clubs and other extra curricular activities. He's a closet Nick-at-Nite and Disney fan with an occasional and healthy interest in what pop culture has to offer. There are some great children's TV shows out there, but as parents, if we don't monitor, we are communicating to our kids that boundries just don't matter. While we know he's exposed to other viewing opportunities outside the home - at school and with friends and family. We do what we can to manage the unbelievable overload of less than responsible commercially driven media mania. He may be a little naïve to the hippest, grossest, or most risqué television refuse, but he's not without the common cool kid things his peers have, and we can rest easy knowing that we're in control of the remote. It's not in control of us!  |
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