Are your children left alone in front of the television set the whole day?
Most of us perhaps are busy parents. We just can't afford hiring somebody to provide daycare services for our children while we are away for work.
One of the ways we parents cope with this situation is to leave our children at home,
consoled by the fact that the television is there to at least preoccupy our children's attention while we are gone or perhaps just at home doing some household chores.
Just be mindful of the fact that our children quickly pick up and learn from what they see and hear from shows they watch over television.
My daughter Samantha learned a lot of her early English vocabulary from Barney and friends!
She has watched Barney's DVD shows over and over again.
Then there was Hermie and friends by Max Lucado!
I personally liked the Christian values taught in their shows.
Similar to it were those Veggie Tales DVD shows.
These cartoon characters taught good values to our children.
I would smile whenever my daughter would recite some rhymes or sing out some of the songs she has learned from watching these shows over and over again.
Now that she is older, I allowed her to watch cartoon shows over cable television.
At first I thought there was no harm to it, not until recently I learned that not all cartoon shows are for kids!
Who would have thought cable channels like that of Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon featured shows that were best suited for adults? For example, the Bart Simpson show is not for kids, but its in cartoons. There are also other shows in these channels that have language that are not suited for young ages.
If we as parents don't really take the time to watch these shows with them, we wouldn't know.
Just recently, I'm glad to have found a safe alternative - Baby TV.
It's a very good and safe show for our young ones.
No foul language, none of those violence kind of shows.
Watch over those television commercials as well.
Just a few weeks ago, I have been hearing my daughter say "I hate you" a couple of times.
Well, it was not said with angst.
Just the same, it made me and my wife wonder where she heard those words.
Not until we have seen this television commercial at home,
from the very television set our daughter was watching.
Another television commercial worth giving concern over is this ad used by McDonalds.
We all know how these campaigns are made so effective, it even influences our children to patronize their products.
Right now, my daughter has learned to use the term "boyfriend" and "girlfriend".
She might not understand the adult implications of those terms yet,
but seeing television commercials like these somehow relates actions, terms, and values in a subtle way.
The challenge then is for us to really take active responsibility over our children's learning.
Some parents have embraced this challenge by opting to have their children learn through home school. Among many other valid reasons, they feel its safer and more effective for them to personally teach their children than to leave them in schools, exposing them to a lot of those uncontrollable influences that are not desirable.
Isn't it shocking to note how many children out there have become victims of bullying from their peers or even strangers? You can just imagine the trauma it brings to these children, without their parents even knowing about it at times. But what does this kind of experiences teach children about themselves?
This will never be a perfect world, I know.
But the greatest evil that can happen is when those who are "good"
don't do anything to avoid or overcome that which is potentially evil.
Our children are helpless, very helpless.
The least we can do is somehow to do something about what we already know is harmful towards them.
I might have more questions than answers about effective parenting.
But the concern and desire to proactively do something about these "evil" realities,
should be a good compulsion for me to act responsibly onwards.
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