It would be rather unwise to deny that there is a lot of violence in television, movies, video games, literature, and pretty much everything. Perhaps it might be the best idea of a parent to not expose your children through that sort of violence before a certain age. What is not a good idea is to not take an interest in actually being a parent and then when your child gets corrupted by violence, you blame the same electronic babysitter that you use when you cannot be bothered to actually raise your children.

Don't Blame the Television For Your Bad Parenting

Funnily enough, there are a lot of children who can distinguish right from wrong. Their parents actually sit them down, teach them values, right from wrong. When they are watching television, surfing on the Internet, playing video games, their parents are monitoring them, to make sure they are not exposed to things that they are not maturely ready for. They may offer a little leeway with what is to be watched, but they explain that these actions are not to be imitated under any circumstances.

That is what a good parent would do. Here's what a bad parent would do. A bad parent doesn't really care enough, just putting their child down in front of the television or allowing them to access the Internet to get them out of their hair, so they can do whatever. The television does a wonderful job keeping children occupied and out of trouble, but perhaps a little too well. A child like this is very unlikely to distinguish right from wrong, so when they see imitable acts of violence on television, they think that is cool.

Don't blame the child. And don't blame the television program. There are certain restrictions that many television networks put on their shows, where such and such of violence cannot be showed past a certain time, but even the most cartoonish acts of violence can be the most deadly put in the context of the real world. And children who are not taught properly will imitate those acts of violence.

Thus these programs get watered down, to appease angry parents, who should really be angry with themselves. In the utterly politically correct and often times very lawsuit happy world we live in, stations and shows are going to cave in. The news media runs away with violence in many mediums, but does tend to sweep bad parenting under the rug. The news can be the most violent program on television, given that real violence can often be more horrific that any fictional depiction of violence. Not saying that many children would bother to watch the news, but given the acts of violence that have been reported, you just wonder if more than a few times the ideas given.

Still you use an electronic babysitter, you reap what you sow and you pay the consequences. It should be bad parents that are the ones that got censored.

More Articles About Parenting


Promote This Column on Other Sites:


Comments

Parenting is a tough business. The business of media is to build consumerism by any means necessary. Sometimes that comes with the cost of parenting that appears to have gone wrong. Only a parent with the understanding of media communication can have a better eye and arguments to help children not be influenced by it and its mediums. This is a good article for both debate and commenting.