TV: The Food of Champions

Good morning my people. It is once again too early to be awake but the Remewin has decided it was time, so until she falls asleep I am here. Waiting.

I was reading a magazine yesterday and it had an article that began something like this:
If you haven't heard of Julianne Hough by now you are in the minority.

Um?

Okay. Have you heard of Julianne Hough? Because I have no clue who she is.

Well, now I do, a little. She's some TV personality. And that is where the problem lies, I don't have any channels.

*shocked silence*

Yep, we are non TV people.

There was a time when we were BIG television people, but I decided that wasn't working for us. So when we moved from Phoenix we conveniently lost the rabbit ears and, surprising as it may seem, life went on.

Nearly three years have passed and although we rent certain TV shows (thank you NetFlix) we have not gone back to having channels.

There is one drawback though--I'm not very up to date on the current fads. I only see movie previews when I watch a movie and I have no clue who most of the new people are (I heard my first Miley Cyrus song about a month before Remewin was born). I also miss out on a lot of the news (6 months before I knew Saddam Hussein had been executed).

BUT, I love it. I love being able to focus more on my family. I love not being desperate for a certain day of the week to come just so I can see my favorite characters.

The biggest thing I've noticed about this new form of living is that it doesn't really matter. My life moves on just fine without the stress and violence of real time news casts. I feel more sheltered from the peer pressures society places on me and my children. I'm more capable of teaching my children what is right and good when I don't have to battle with the current 'fashionable' philosophies.

In the most recent Good Housekeeping magazine they had a little snippet about the affect television has on the promiscuity of teens. Here.

Hmm, interesting. One might make the argument that parents just need to be more aware of what their children/teens are watching on television.

Okay: (first two minutes)



This is Barbie and the Diamond Castle... Are those guys supposed to be handsome? Attractive? The type of guy's you want your daughters dating?

They seem to have an issue with hurting women and yet there they are in the middle of a Barbie movie.

Now let me just qualify, I've seen this movie... my daughter has seen this movie. We rent movies for the kids a lot. My point is that our intake is somewhat controlled. With movies I am able to go to places like kids in mind, before they watch the movies. There are no commercials to worry about:



And I can watch the language, the violence, the intent of what they take in.

Am I over controlling my children?

Well, my kids are 7,6,2 and 0 so I doubt it. For those who have older children I would argue that the older your child gets the more they are going to push the boundaries. Example: Sleep. When children are little they will mostly go to bed when you ask. The older they get and the more they have going on in their lives the later they will be going to bed. When you put your child of 5 to bed at seven is that when they are older and begin to push the boundaries they have room to push. What happens if you are putting your 5 year old to bed at eleven? Where do they push?

The same goes for television, when they decide to push you will have room to allow them to do so. Their choices won't be as detrimental:

The average child spends 25 hours a week watching television, more time than they spend in school or engaged in any other activity except sleep. Is it any wonder then that children so readily absorb the messages that are presented to them?

So what is the cumulative impact of 25 hours of television a week?

It is estimated that by the time an average child leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and over 100,000 other acts of violence. By the time that child is 18 years-of-age; he or she will witness 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders.[8] One 17-year longitudinal study concluded that teens who watched more than one hour of TV a day were almost four times as likely as other teens to commit aggressive acts in adulthood.


I don't know who Julianne Hough is. In fact I could care less who she is. I do know who Vicbowin, Albowin, Iyawin and Remewin are and the outcome of their lives is far more important to me than any movie or television star.

Comments

Wes and Lindsay said…
Wes and I had this conversation with Marc the week before we moved out here. Not the T.V. part, but the boundaries. It is so true!
Jennifer said…
Diamond Castle - Yes!! What is with those guys? After the first time watching it I started pointing out their deficiencies every time they came onscreen. Have you seen Barbie's Three Musketeers yet? The prince - not a jerk, but definitely not too swift, something else I pointed out to the girls. The earlier Barbie movies are better at showing equally strong female and male characters. These later ones I am not particularly happy with.
Lisa said…
I recently stopping letting my toddler watch Disney, Pixar, and other similar movies. I switched to PBS kids type of shows. I saw an immediate change in her behavior that day. She was more loving and considerate. Her tantrums, while just as bad, were less frequent and easier to get over.

Coincidence... I think not.
Cannwin said…
I also find that the more time they spend on the computer or in front of the TV the harder the shift to other activities goes. Like when you've spent half the day reading a book and become a real grouch when you come up for air. Kids are the same way but on a stronger level.
Sara said…
I always use that kids in mind website. love it! The dancing dogs cracked me up in the barbie video. Must be lack of sleep!?
IB said…
Hi Cannwin,

Thanks for the well wishes and kind words over at my place. Now, try to get some rest.
Cannwin said…
IB- You too! and let's just hope H1N1 isn't contagious over the internet. ;)
TerĂ©sa said…
hmmmm.... I don't know who she is either. :D
Cannwin said…
I'm cleary not in the minority!

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