Children and TV

I have never agreed with free access for children to TV. My wife and I have four children we have done our best to bring them up with awareness. If we made a rule we explained the reasoning behind it and never said this is the way it is because we say so. We have had to explain our rules over the years and adapt our language to match their ages. The conversation we had with our son for example, when he was fifteen years old was very different to the one we had with him when he was five. The children were always given the opportunity to discuss a rule we proposed and if it was found that a rule was indeed unreasonable or based on something that was not for the common good then it was scrapped. From the time they could watch TV we chose the programmes that they were allowed to watch and only when we too were watching it. For times when we were unable to watch TV with them we let them watch programmes we had taped from the TV or movies we had bought for them. Just as we were very careful about who we allowed to babysit we were were careful about what TV and movies baby sat our children. We developed a wonderful collection of movies and taped programmes that they watched over and over again.

We also subscribed to LoveFilm which is like renting movies from an internet shop. We chose a package which allowed us have have a DVD and when we were finished watching a movie you put it in an envelope provided by LoveFilm and returned it free of charge. There are no late charges and you are sent the movies you want from your rental list which you just keep updating on your computer. The great thing about this method is that you as a parent are in charge of what your children see and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either.

As the years progressed we did receive complaints from the children that they were unable to join in conversations at school about various soap programmes but we just reminded them each time of the reasoning behind our request. They could have gone to friends' houses to watch these programmes and I am sure they did from time to time but they never became hooked on TV or any of the soaps. To this day we still gather together at the weekends to watch a movie together or to go out to see a movie at the cinema.

My wife and I realised that TV was a very powerful tool and unmonitored it could be used to undermine the values that we wanted our children to learn. TV commercials are so powerful that they make us believe we need things that would never cross our minds had we not seen the advert on TV. We are not given a choice of whether we wish to see the commercial or not. We have to watch it if we want to see the rest of the programme. Most of us just couldn’t be bothered to mute or turn off the TV between commercials and use the break to chat with each other. In a way we are held captive and we have grown to accept our lot as the hostages of advertising companies as their frequency and duration increase. We know the power of being repeatedly told something over and over again and our senses being bombarded by images to reinforce the messages we are forced to hear. Children, whose critical filters have not yet been properly formed, absorb all of these messages directly into their subconscious minds where they are planted like seeds to bear fruit later. Why then are parents surprised by the high demands made by children today. They have been brain washed into believing that without the things they ask for they are less than human beings and need these things to be beautiful, lovable and acceptable.

TV programmes and movies are very powerful ways to reach the subconscious of children too young to have formed a critical factor to defend what they choose to believe. Every story they watch contains a message and the message is based on the human values of the writer of that story. TV has become more than just a babysitter for our children. It has also become the means by which our children are now receiving their moral education. If a message is received often enough and we as parents do nothing to stop its transmission then we are seen as condoning it.

Sometimes love is tough but in my opinion it is our duty as parents to teach our children human values and not allow random people on TV to do that for us. Look at what is happening in the world today as a result. I am very aware of “How Thought Creates Your Reality" and that is why I have been very vigilant about what our children watched. What people watch and listen to on a regular basis is going to affect how they think and those thoughts are then used by the subconscious as a guideline for how to create their reality. Wouldn’t it make more sense to nurture positive wholesome thinking in order for our children to create peace, happiness, joy and success in their lives?