More than ever, children witness innumerable, sometimes traumatizing,
news events in the news. It seems that chaotic crime and negative news is unabating.
Foreign wars, natural disasters, terrorism, murders, incidents of child abuse,
and medical epidemics flood our newscasts daily. Let alone the particular grim
wave of recent school shootings.
All of this particular intrudes on typically the innocent world of children. If, as magic mushroom spores uk
say, kids are like sponges and even absorb everything of which goes on around them,
how profoundly does watching TV information actually affect all of them? How careful do
parents need to be able to be in watching the flow associated with news into the home, and precisely how can
they find an approach that actually works?
To answer these types of questions, we turned to a screen of seasoned anchors, Peter
Jennings, Nancy Shriver, Linda Ellerbee, and Jane Pauley–each having faced the particular
complexities of raising their own weak children in some sort of news-saturated
world.
Image this: 6: 25 p. m. Right after an exhausting working day at school, Mom is occupied
making dinner. She parks her 9-year-old little girl and 5-year-old boy in front
from the TV.
“Play Manufacturers until dinner’s all set, ” she advices the little types, who,
instead, begin flipping channels.
Jeff Brokaw on “NBC News Tonight, inches announces that an Atlanta gunman
has killed his wife, daughter and son, all three using a hammer, before proceeding in
a firing rampage that foliage nine dead.
On “World News Today, ” Peter Jennings reports that a jumbo jetliner with
more than 310 passengers crashed in the spinning metal fireball at a Hong Kong
airport.
About CNN, there’s a report about the earthquake in Turkey, with 2, 000
individuals killed.
On the Discovery channel, will be certainly a timely specific on hurricanes plus the
terror that they create in youngsters. Hurricane Dennis has recently struck, Floyd is
coming.
Finally, they will see a community news report about a journey accident at a New
Jersey entertainment park that gets rid of a mother and her eight-year-old girl.
Nintendo was in no way this riveting.
“Dinner’s ready! ” shouts Mom, unaware of which her children may possibly be terrified
simply by this menacing potpourri of TV information.
What’s wrong with this particular picture?
“There’s a whole lot wrong with it, but it’s certainly not that easily repairable, ” notes Hermosa
Ellerbee, the inventor and host regarding “Nick News, very well the award-winning media
program geared regarding kids ages 8-13, airing on Nickelodeon.
“Watching blood and gore on TV is simply not good regarding kids also it won’t do
much to enhance the lives of adults either, ” says the particular anchor, who strives to be able to
inform young children about world occasions without terrorizing all of them. “We’re into
extending kids’ brains plus irritating we wouldn’t cover, ” which includes
recent programs on euthanasia, the Kosovo crisis, prayer in schools, book-
banning, the death fees, and Sudan slaves.
But Ellerbee focuses on the necessity for parental supervision, protecting
children coming from unfounded fears. “During the Oklahoma Town bombing, presently there were terrible images of youngsters being hurt and killed, ” Ellerbee recalls. “Kids
desired to know whenever they were safe inside their mattresses. In studies executed by
Nickelodeon, we all found out of which kids find the news the almost all frightening thing
about TV.
“Whether it is the Gulf War, typically the Clinton scandal, a downed jetliner, or perhaps what
happened in Littleton, you need to reassure your own children, over and even over again,
maybe going to always be OK–that the main reason this specific story is news is that THAT
RARELY HAPPENS. News will be the exception… nobody moves on the air
happily and records how many aeroplanes landed safely!
“My job is to be able to put the information directly into an age-appropriate context and lower
stresses. Then it’s really up to the particular parents to monitor what their children enjoy
and discuss it with them”
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