Parents can reduce amount of violence kids see on TV

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 7, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

According to information provided by Cable in the Classroom, a public service initiative of the cable television industry, there are some powerful ways to harness television and control the effects it will have on children.

Helpful information is abundant and can be obtained by contacting The Center for Media and Values, The National Telemedia Council and subscribing to the "Cable in the Classroom" magazine.

Parents can do a lot to reduce the amount violence their children see on television, according to a handout. Besides turning off inappropriate shows, parents can:

• Keep reminding children that most television shows are not real.

• Relate situations on television to real experiences. Television characters routinely find simple solutions to problems, but such is rarely the case in real life.

• Question what you see and hear, and discuss it with your child.

• Ask your child if violence is ever funny, as in cartoons. Remind them that if a person gets hit on the head with a piano or falls off a cliff, they will be seriously hurt, or even killed. Ask your child why violence is funny in cartoons, but not in real life.

• Pay attention to what your young child sees you or another adult watching.

• Plan your television viewing. Have children ask permission to watch a specific show rather than just to "channel surf."

• If you are not sure whether a television show would be appropriate for your child, tape it and watch it by yourself; then decide.

Some age-specific suggestions include:

Preschool & elementary school children

• Ask simple questions about the programs young children watch. It is best if you can watch with them, but even if all you see is a few minutes, show an interest in what they think about the program.

• Play "real or make believe." Ask whether a character is made-up or real. Could an object move by itself, or an animal talk? Can they guess how an effect was done if it could not happen in real life? Why do they think the effect was done?

• Let television programs lead to other activities. Draw pictures of the whales you saw in a nature documentary. Make up a superhero, complete with a list of extraordinary powers. Act out or even videotape your own television show. Create your own sport and decide on the rules.

• During program breaks, ask children what they think will happen next. Compare their predictions with what does happen. Ask if they think the characters would really do what they did. Why or why not?

• Give young children easy-to-understand categories of the different things they see on television, and make a game of spotting them. For example, is television trying to "sell" them something, "teach" them something or "entertain" them?

Middle school, high school children

• Use television to capture your children's curiosity. Encourage them to go to the library to learn more about issues or ideas raised by programs they like. When sensitive topics are raised on television, seize the opportunity to open a discussion. Ask how your kids feel about it; explain how you feel.

• Look for connections to books. A movie may be based on a book; a plot line in a sitcom or cartoon may have come from a story; or your kids may become interested in a subject that is covered in a book. Either way, encourage them to read more about it, and then compare what they have read to what they have seen.

• Learn geography from television. Weather reports, news reports, documentaries, and even sports all take somewhere. Keep an atlas or globe near the television and see where those places really are. Make a game of it by putting pins in every location you have "seen" on television.

• Discuss points of view. Who is telling this story, whether it is a news report, a documentary or a movie? How would it have been different if someone else -- a different character or the subject of a news story instead of the reporter -- had told it?

• Turn the sound off and add your own narration or sound effects. What kind of music do you think is being played to go with the pictures? What music would be totally wrong?