Every home today has a television set and with the entire furniture pointing towards it, the television provides a seemingly endless number of programs. Many television programs are also squeezing through the end point of decency and appropriateness.
TV has a great power to expose a child to positive as well as negative influences and behavior.
A child takes in all what he or she sees and they are known to follow whatever they see on screen whether good or bad. Also, researches show that children learn a great deal through visuals rather than from reading books. It can be worrying for parents that a lot of TV shows and commercials are not child-friendly. Violence, alcohol, drug use and other truths of adult life are shown in a positively bad light.
For a lot of children television is used as a baby-sitter or for some, as reward and so it becomes their teacher. The parents need to ask themselves these questions, what is their child learning through television? That only glamorous people walk on earth? Or like the ads portray that expensive toys are cool? That even serious problems or accidents are funny and not to be taken seriously? Is it OK for the children to believe in these ideas?
Children very easily believe what they see or hear from TV shows and commercials. For example, children are bombarded with programs and ads of low nutrition snacks and expensive toys. They create a desire which more or less put them at conflict with their parents.
These disadvantages would have the parents believe that television is the culprit but eliminating the television set from the house would not be the best move. Not knowing about famous shows like Barney, Dora the Explorer or Jaan can leave a kid feel like the odd one out around his or her friends. Instead, it would be smart to just get in the driver’s seat and to set limitations on children’s television viewing. Parental supervision is the key. Adjusting what children watch can bring change in children behavior.
With the amount of channels that are available on the TV today, media should be able to cater to viewers of all ages. TV channels should take under consideration the importance of the influence that television has over children and work over the idea of children-appropriate programs. They should produce programs that do not violate the innocence of a child’s mind. The main objective of the shows should be to entertain as well as educate. In this way, it wouldn’t be so hard on the parents to keep an eye out for their children. The programs could be scheduled according to an average routine of children and be broadcasted during late afternoon or early evening.
~By Sawera Shaikh