Family

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How far should we take being involved in our child's TV viewing habits?

The answer to that question depends on your family and the development of your child mentally and emotionally. All parents should be involved in their children's lives as much as possible without being overbearing. Part of the morality problem in today's society is lack of strong families. But that is another article. TV viewing can be tricky with your kids. For children's shows you need and should want to know what they are watching even as they get older and get into their teens. Be aware of what they are watching and know how to handle it.

Handle? How do you handle my 10 year old watching a show like Dragon Ball Z or Batman? This depends on the development of the child and the foundational learning. Foundational learning? What's that? Foundational learning is what I call your basics in raising godly children.* If the child is mature for his age and understands that TV is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, then the only conflict is what you prefer with the show. These two examples can both be very violent. And from what I have seen and know there isn't necessarily a set 'good guy'. In Batman, although he captures the bad guys, even the police don't like him because he goes beyond the judicial system to meet his goal, which is spawned out of revenge. In Dragon Ball Z, I can't follow it enough to say. If it is a show that your child watches I would suggest watching a few episodes with him to determine if it is appropriate.

Okay, I have watched a few of these shows, and I don't like them. I think they are too violent or the innuendo is too much. What do I do? First off, don't go on about how awful the show is and that the child will never ever watch it again. That would be detrimental to the parent-child relationship. Before you even watch the show, pray, pray for guidance and understanding. When it comes time to talk with your child about the show, be calm. Give sound reasons as to why you don't think they should watch the show, because "I said so" no longer works. Use your Bible to reference verses. Be prepared. The discussion will be on going.

Well, what about the shows that are borderline. They have some good aspects but there are also some underlying issues. This depends on how well your communication with your child is.

This is a personal example that we do in my own home. My six-year-old daughter, loves Sailor Moon. The first two seasons of the show were very calm with very little innuendo and the violence is usually when the heroine has no other choice. There is no bloodshed except in a couple cases, and it is all very tastefully done. Any innuendo that does exist is above her thinking. I watch the show with her. If I am not there, she doesn't watch unless it is an episode that we have already seen and talked about. I have found that talking about the episodes help a lot. It has helped my daughter realize that we are all individuals and that not everybody believes the same exact thing. When the two newer seasons were translated to english, I was concerned. I knew what the original had in it and made sure to keep all lines of communication open and through this, we had our first talk about love and couples. I was able to lay a foundational stone down about relationships. And she is also now better prepared for life because of it.

The same shows are not appropriate for all kids the same age either. Although the majority of all animated televised shows feature a TV-Y7 FV rating, this doesn't mean that all kids 7 and older should watch the show. There are developmental issues to be concerned with. Be prayerful.

*See the article on Foundational Learning

Copyright (c)2001 Faith Tilley Johnson and Parents For Christ. - Originally written under Faith Dean

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