Post
by kccc » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:22 pm
I could not agree more. And in fact, I could go on a DIATRIBE about this and about pernicious media influences in general.
I try to be a good parent, but at times I am so frustrated that my lone voice is expected to counteract millions of dollars in advertising and the army of brilliant minds all bent toward making my child want an awful array of junk food, expensive and useless toys, and goodness knows what else. It used to be that society helped to socialize a child. Now, I feel that I have to guard against it. It's so wrong that as a society we prey on our children for profit, and don't concern ourselves with how it affects their development.
We chose not to have tv "with channels" (as my son calls it) for that very reason - even if we approved of the shows, the ads were SO inappropriate! But if it's not TV, it's computer ads on kid sites, or other kids at school who are exposed to more media. It's endless.
Aside - on the food front, which is particularly irritating to me, I turned the media against itself by telling my son that ANY product with a cartoon character on it was something he could not have - that the cartoon character meant that it was too unhealthy for parents to approve of, so they were trying to get kids to buy it because they didn't know better. That worked when he was little. I would also read the labels of cereals that he was really interested in, telling him that I would check on it. Usually my response was that he could have it if he really wanted it, but it had so much sugar in it that it had to count as dessert. He lost interest then, b/c he'd rather have a real dessert. (I do allow sweets, but strive for moderation...at least where I have control.)
. Parents' Telivision Council is one: