Sheltering youth from the media...helpful? harmful?

Question

This question branched off from one I asked yesterday, regarding the media's effect on learned deviant behaviors in children and teens (here's a link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Many answering parents claim that, to combat the effect of the media on their children, the don't allow their kids to watch television or use the internet.

While I agree that monitering your children's television watching and internet use, I feel as though completely eliminating it could leave kids ill-prepared for the realities of life.

Is being so strict detrimental? Or is it the best way to sheild youth from deviance? Do more parents prefer to shelter their kids from such things in an attempt to avoid starting a dialog about proper behavior?

Answer 1

It has helped our children. After watching the news they are very wary of people out there. They know that you cannot hitchhike from one end of this country to the other without someone wanting to beat you up or kill you.

They know that the government cares nothing for the voters. The governments only care for profits. They know that the only way you get ahead in life is by name, status, s*x, race, or who's butt you kiss.

It's better they watch it now and learn early, than to walk blindly out there and discover it the hard way for the first time.

College girls on the news getting raped and murdered. What did they do wrong?

Soldiers getting killed in war. What did they do wrong?

Parents murdering their children. What did the children do wrong?

Nothing!!! This is America. A country with a weak justice system where the criminals are considered victims and actual victims are mere statistics.

Besides the media we teach our children the hard core realities of life. Just how dangerous and treacherous humans can be. How they don't mind robbing the elderly of their pensions or beating down another child/student for their IPhone.

I may be wrong to some people, but my kids won't walk out there with their heads up their @sses getting attacked. Then many parents today wonder why it happened to their kids. Because these same parents felt that sensitivity was more important than hard cold facts. There's nothing sensitive about being beaten and robbed. Or raped and killed.

Answer 2

I believe you shouldn't shelter your kids from EVERYTHING, this being said, there is such a thing as age-appropriate. I think it is good for kids to develop critical thinking skills by questioning what they see and hear, I also think it is more of a shock if the parent isn't there when the child is exposed to whatever the parent is sheltering them from.

Kids should be educated and be taught how to distinguish credible sources. I agree that this over monitoring leaves children ill-prepared for reality.

No, I don't think this is the best way to detour deviant behavior, talking to your children and teaching them how to react in situations is the best way to detour unwanted or harmful behavior.

I do believe many parents try to shelter out of a mixture of (mainly) concern for their child's welfare and the parent's wanting to prevent/minimize hard questions.

EDIT: I do not think this should be used as a scare tactic but instead a learning tool to help children distinguish fact from fiction and to help them learn the ways of the world (at an age appropriate level of course).

Answer 3

To some degree we monitored and avoided letting our son watch certain things at certain ages.  When he was very small, we kept him away from the violent, gorey and sexual.  As he grew, we allowed him to choose shows with more violent content and adult themes but we used them to discuss the reality and consequences of the violent and adult situations.  We used an internet monitor called "net nanny" to block the most objectionable sites when he first started to get online.  When he became a teenager and had been taught the "facts of life" we allowed him unrestricted access to the internet while we were around and the computer is in a place where it is easily visible to all.  He was also drilled with the dangers of the internet to the point where he can recite it like a poem.

I think if you take the opportunity to talk about what your children are seeing and explain things they don't understand, you can allow your child to watch what they want up to a point.  Some things are banned because they are simply unacceptable behavior that is being glorified.  For instance, no one watches the serial killer show or the "Weed" show.  We did not watch the "Sopranos" and we don't watch "reality" shows like survivor or big brother.  We also don't watch shows with explicit s*x or rape.  On the other hand, we do let him watch "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" simply because beyond the inappropriate content, they make him think and question and pique his interest in cultural and political issues of the day.

Kids need to know about the world they are inheriting.  As parents, it is our job to help them make sense of it, not shield them from it.

Answer 4

Don't shelter your children. One day they won't be under your wing anymore and will have to live in the world by themselves.  Expose them to the media, but EDUCATE them. Especially educate them to take nothing at face value and to question everything. Teach them to think for themselves. It's the best thing my parents ever did for me.