Are your children exposed to more media than you would like? How can you not only block unfavorable media from your children but identify what media that is?
I am one of those annoyingly conservative parents that wouldn’t even let my young children watch Sponge Bob Square Pants or Disney’s Lilo & Stitch because the characters were name calling and disrespectful to authority. On the other hand, I have a friend who doesn’t have a problem with his young child watching the gorily graphic The Walking Dead or play rated M video games.
Wherever you fall in the amount and type of media that you allow your child to experience, it is important to have a decent set of rules in place. Media sneaks up in the strangest places these days. Knowing how to identify what is appropriate and how much of it to allow is important.
One resource that I turn to often is Pluggedinonline.com. The site is part of the Focus on the Family network, so offers admittedly conservative and Christian-based reviews of popular media, including television, movies, video games and music. But I do find that their reviews are pretty objective. They will point out any issues of concern but usually refrain from being preachy, allowing parents and caregivers to make up their own minds about content.
The best way, though is to do what you can to experience the media yourself, either before you allow your child to experience it or at least alongside of your child. This way, you have the opportunity to talk about things and have teachable moments, or at least understand a little more of your child’s world. I know, we are all busy and who has time to prescreen, right?
My oldest picked up my copy of the first Harry Potter book when he was in second grade and read all of the way through it late at night before I even realized the book was missing. I didn’t particularly have a problem with that first book at the time, but it gave me a wake up call about being more proactive and keeping the communication open.