The television is a wonderful source of information but it also contains a lot of information that is misleading and inappropriate for children. So as parents it is important that we talk about T.V. with our children. The publication “Five Core Concepts” helps gives parents guidelines and suggestions they can use when discussing television. The author J. Francis Davis outlines five important points.
We do not need to believe and do everything that we see on television. Children need to realize that they are smarter than their T.V. Parents can help their children realize this by making connections between television and everyday life. You can also point out when something happens that they have read in a book or seen in a movie.
The real world is different from television. It is so easy to get caught up in television that we often forget that it is not real. For children younger than second grade it is even harder to distinguish fact from fantasy. As parents we need to point out instances that are unreal and explain why the event could never or did not happen. When watching movies with my kids I often comment during scenes that are more intense that it is not real. In the movies no one ever dies or really gets hurt. It’s just pretend.
The techniques are the same. Television uses the same techniques over and over to draw people into their shows. For many children television can seem like this incredible magical world. Yet it is important that they realize that things are done for a reason. J. Davis points out that shows continue to use “laugh-tracks, scary and romantic music, chase scenes, and close-ups. The women always wear makeup, even in bed and the men look muscular.” These conventions can be found across the board. So point out the conventions to your children. When they start playing scary music comment that something scary is going to happen. Try counting laugh tracks. Point out when things are not like reality like: a woman wearing makeup in bed or every person in a room being good-looking.
Some people are made to look more important. It is a fact that some groups and races are misrepresented and underrepresented on television. Children need to realize that just because blonds on television often appear dumb it does not mean that all blonds are dumb, or that all bad guys are tall, dark, and scary looking. When you see something that is biased, comment on it.
Television is about making money. Commercials influence how people spend their money and feel about different things. Last campaign season my husband and I thought it was interesting how convincing some of the commercials were and unless a person did more research on the topic they would have believed what they saw. Talk about how reality in the commercials is often skewed. People drinking are always gorgeous and happy. Yet that is far from reality.
The author suggests that parents play a commercial game with their kids. Predict what type of commercials will air during a specific show. For example an action show is more likely to air commercials for cars, razors, or products that men will buy. Then watch the show and see if your predictions are correct. At certain times of the year you see different commercials. During December my seven-year-old son commented that he hated all of the kissing jewelry commercials and that he thought they were trying to convince men to buy jewelry for their wives. He was right of course.
Many ads use celebrities to endorse their products. Discuss with your children whether or not they think the celebrity actually uses the product and how much they were paid to say it. The other day my son told us that we needed to get one of those stepladders they advertise on television. We told him that people we knew said they weren’t very good. His comment was that there were lots of people on T.V. that said they were great. He was surprised to learn that they were being paid to say that.
Talking about television will help ensure that your children are learning the lessons that you want them to learn and not whatever message the television is portraying.
See these related blogs:
Dispelling Racial Myths In The Media
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Stop The Marketing To Your Kids