How much influence does your TV have on your children? We can teach them certain attitudes and values at home but chances are that many of the attitudes and values they see on TV shows will be counterproductive to what we are trying to teach them.
In some homes the TV seems goes on first thing in the morning and says on till the last person is in bed at night. The TV is on during meals and when visitors come. It appears many people forget TVs come with an off switch. They sit and complain about the shows on TV, yet continue to leave them on and watch rather than turn it off and read, play a game with the kids, or do something else.
When our children were young TV viewing was strictly monitored. As pre-schoolers they watched ‘Playschool’ and ‘Humphrey B. Bear.’ Like many families we watched ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ ‘The Brady Bunch’ (though I shudder now to admit that) ‘Highway to Heaven,’ ‘Family Ties,’ ‘Happy Days,’ ‘Skippy’ (my son’s favorite Aussie show about a kangaroo,) and many other shows about animals.
Our son in particular loved animal shows as well as animal books. When we went to the zoo our son could tell us about the animals! And I admit they watched the footy when with us – that’s Australian football. But the TV still spent quite a lot of time off.
Each week we’d mark the TV programs to watch. The rest of the time the TV was off. It was more likely to find our children reading, playing games or drawing than watching TV.
As they grew older certain shows their friends watched were banned in our household. These included ‘Melrose Place,’ ‘Beverly Hills 90210,’ ‘The Simpsons.’ Yes. I know ‘The Simpsons’ mentions God and church but that doesns’t make it good viewing. There were other attitudes and behavior I objected to. ‘Home and Away,’ we watched for a while when it first started but soon stopped as we became concerned about attitudes and lifestyle choices presented. We sat down and explained why we no longer watched it, the same as we explained why the other shows were banned because we did not agree with the attitudes and values portrayed.
It’s important to teach our children godly values and attitudes but it needs to be re-enforced in everyday living. They will absorb enough of the world’s attitudes without adding to it through excess TV. When we choose to leave the TV on and not monitor what the children watch, we are asking for trouble.
Sadly children spend many more hours watching TV, playing computer and video games than interacting with others. As I talk to children at school, I am astounded at the types of shows they are allowed to watch.
Sometimes it may mean the parents need to curtail their own television viewing. For example we never watched the news when our children were young because it was too upsetting. There were other shows we didn’t watch because they were on at a time when children were up and we didn’t consider them appropriate for them to watch so we didn’t watch them either.Check out some of these links and you’ll see what I’m talking about and why.
Are you prepared to give up some of your TV viewing rights for your child’s good? Do you monitor and limit what your child watches? Like anything TV is great in moderation but it should not be used as a babysitter to keep children’s attention while Mom and Dad are busy. As we watched shows like Little House on the Prairie etc, we were able to discuss situations that arose with our children and re-enforce positive, godly attitudes. In this way we were using TV as a tool to help our kids grow.
But don’t forget that one of the best things about a TV is that is comes with an off switch. And while we’re on the subject so do computers and video games.
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