Television, newspapers and children...

[Pacion]

The following, from my online rag mag :lol: had this paragraph in connection with Madonna's adoption of a Malawi child...

"She made it very clear that they would tour as a family unit, and the importance of normality in her children's lives. They are allowed half an hour of TV twice a week, they are not allowed newspapers.

Half an hour of TV, twice a week. This means, an hour a week, which means, four hours a month. Hmm! I think one of my young friends (under four), see about an hour of television a day! He loves certain DVDs, eg Thomas the Tank Engine, Angelina Ballerina, Ice Age, and then there is another one he absolutely loves! When it comes to meal times, the only way to get him "focus and eat" is to threaten to switch off the television! Works like a charm! He doesn't know though that the threat is usually a "painful one", as the adults also want to see what is happening! :lol:

As for newspapers, Madonna's oldest daughter, Loudres, is the only one that could probably read...!

So, how much television/newspapers do you allow/did you allow your children? How much do/did your friends say they allowed theirs?

Am starting to think, I ought to limit my reading of the newspapers to "half an hour, twice a week"!

 

[Sagitta]

Reading is good. I can see the logic of no newspapers beacuse of the crap in some...I'm ok with the TV thing. Never watched TV growing up as we didn't have a TV until I was in my teens...and even then did not wtach much. THere is a lot to do without TV. My cousin's kids 3 and younger watch hardly any TV. What they do watch is some DVDs picked by their parents...

 

[meow]

I didn't watch a heap of TV growing up either. My kids didn't watch much, not because I limited it but they chose to go outside and do other things. As for newspapers and TV news, well, yes alot is doom and gloom but it is what is going on in the world. Schools here are making kids read newspapers by getting them to write about articles they have read. I think it is good to be informed about events and then have discussions with your kids regarding their understanding and feelings on the issues. The world isn't always a nice place but we can only protect them to a certain degree - ignorance isn't protection IMO.

 

[thespina13]

TV is generally poison... it robs the kids of their focus on the more important things. We're pretty old-fashioned; no TV at the table or at any food time, no TV before school, and I generally let the kids watch about an hour or so after school and after their homework is done. Then it's ok to zone out a little bit. They used to watch quite a bit more but I noticed the tone and attitudes in the house got really quite bad when that happened. And I still, admittedly, use it when I'm really really tired, and MY tone and attitude is worse than the TV. That said, however, I think they're really better off without it.

Newspapers? What child reads newspapers anyhow? We realy only have books laying around, and newspapers are opened on the kitchen table along with Newsweek and MacLean's and things like that, but the kids aren't remotely interested. They prefer their dinosaur and pirate books.

I think by being IN popular culture, and by creating it, Madonna is absolutely justified being so stringent about what kind of popular culture the kids are exposed to. They'll have more than enough of it when they come of age. I think they deserve as rich and brain-healthy a childhood as possible. (That's not to say they'll GET it, but it's worth a try, no?)

 

[quixotedlm]

I was exposed to everything as a kid.

Lots of TV (practically no curfew during daytime hours after I was in 8th grade or so).

PC games - first person shootout like Hexen, Heretic, Doom - completely unsupervised. This was when I was 18 or so.

Whatever comics I could lay my hands on.

Unrestricted access to books, newspapers, magazines, small libraries except those with explicit images of naked women. Words didn't count though.... so if it was not porn, I could read it. I learned more about taboo subjects from the Oxford English dictionary than anything else!

Newspapers, Sunday magazines etc - learned a lot about counterculture, feminism, God questions etc. even though I was born into a very religious and orthodox family, and I eventually ended up embracing a lot of these ideas to my folks' consternation.


If you want to control how kids think and learn, you need to control every form of information input they get, and you've got to cap their thinking. Otherwise, they are going to get data from many unrestricted sources, think about it, and form their own conclusions that you (as a parent) may be completely opposed to. For eg, your kid might read Karl Marx and decide that communism is great, or read new about the history of Sri Lanka and choose a life of an armed revolutionary like the LTTE.

TV is just a small speck of dust amidst all this. In my experience, unlimited access to TV will just cause the viewer to get over the infatuation in 3-4 months and start discovering more fun stuff. That's what happened when I got a job and earned enough to have my own cable TV with premium channels and an unlimited sized recorder - I thrived on it for a year, and then disconnected my cable. Have been living without it for 2 years now and not regretting it at all...

 

[bordertangoman]

I agree with you all.

 

[thespina13]

I think TV viewing for kids is not so much about content, nor is it it an absolute yes or no. I think it's more about quantity, context, ad the child's average day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12405429&dopt=AbstractPlus

The above is an abstract that outlines the physiological effects of TV watching ,and certainly there are more out there. Actually, there are suggestions than NO tv watching is detrimental too... that a little is a good tool.

There is also a lot of research that has discovered how the developing brain responds to a lot of TV viewing. I think it's only prudent as a parent to not ignore this stuff... but to respond in a manner the encourages the best health for our kids, along with a solid diet and emotional security. We have to do the best we can! Of course we can allow treats and TV watching and cotton candy, but it's about trying to place limits. And I applaud Madonna for her attempts at raising healthy children in whatever way she deems fit. it's a mother's job.

 

[NURDRMS]

While I admit my daughter isn't interested in the least in the newspaper in general, once a week the paper publishes a "Kids News" section filled with interesting tidbits and facts about a different topic each week. She loves that part of the paper.

 

[Pacion]

And I applaud Madonna for her attempts at raising healthy children in whatever way she deems fit. it's a mother's job.

I applaud ANY mother for their attempts at raising healthy children in whatever way she deems fit.

What I am amazed at, is that according to my rag mag, she does not allow them newspapers. Makes me wonder. At what age do children develop an interest in newspapers?

NURDRMS wrote: While I admit my daughter isn't interested in the least in the newspaper in general, once a week the paper publishes a "Kids News" section filled with interesting tidbits and facts about a different topic each week. She loves that part of the paper.

I remember when I was younger, having an interest in the Kids sections. All the other bits about 'current affairs', financials, etc etc came much much later! As for my parents 'banning' newspapers? :lol: They didn't have to. I wasn't interested! Was too, too busy reading books rather than newspapers!