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Welcome to familywisdom.com, a website dedicated to informing and inspiring couples and families. Each week you will find a new article, story or essay about parenting, marriage or life. Suggestions for articles and questions to Ellen Terich are welcome. You can contact her at e.terich1@verizon.net |
CHILDREN AND THE ULTIMATE REALITY TV 2003-03-17 Reality TV has been a big thing for the past few years, ever since "Survivor" gripped the television audience. Within days, if not hours, the real thing - the ultimate reality TV - will invade our living rooms as Gulf War II begins. As war appears imminent and television stations get ready for saturation coverage, as reporters are "embedded" with troops ready to transmit all the horror, our children are at risk of seeing more than is healthy. While most reality television is vacuous and value-less, the horrors of war broadcast live on television is not healthy for any of us, but it is especially harmful to our children. Ever since television was invented, war has been a media event. The first war coverage that I recall seeing on television was during the Vietnam War. While there was some reporting from the front, most of what was reported every night on the news was the body count. The enemy body count was always higher than the American body count, which was intended to give the public the impression that we were winning. After a while, the public became numb to the nightly body count, at least until the war protests began and reminded us that behind the numbers were real people. Gulf War I ushered in a new era of war reporting: around the clock coverage of scud missile attacks, stealth bombing raids, patriot missile defenses, air raid sirens, damage assessment, and daily news briefings by the Pentagon. You could turn on CNN twenty four hours a day and see the war, albeit from a distance. At least during Vietnam, you only heard about the war on the nightly news. This coverage of this war is likely to be even more intrusive. There are now more news channels and the three oldest networks are likely to do extensive coverage as well. It will be hard to escape to an ordinary talk show or infomercial, and because of the ramifications of this war, many of us may not want to. We have become used to television drama, and there is nothing more dramatic than war. As adults, we are fascinated with the drama that television provides us. We have become hooked on daytime and nighttime soap operas, titillated by the sexual innuendoes of situation comedies and mesmerized by the new reality shows. And to some extent, because everything is far removed from us and we are simply spectators, we may have the same reaction to watching the war reporting. And this war, with its possible connection to more terrorist attacks, is particularly compelling. Our children, however, are more impressionable and have difficulty understanding the violence they see. Even a violent cartoon can impact a child. The violence of war, broadcast day in and day out, for the purpose of informing the public as well as improving ratings, can have a devastating impact on children. War coverage is something they do not have to see. It will do nothing to help them grow up to be secure, loving, strong, and caring people. Too much exposure to the war coverage can damage children in all of these areas. It can make them feel insecure or teach them violence and hatred, make them fearful or numb them to the suffering of others. My recommendation to parents of young children: turn off the television while the children are awake and in the house. If you want to be informed about the war, wait till the children are asleep. Continue on with life as you always do. Play with the children, help them with homework, have dinner together as a family. Enjoy the reality of your everyday life with the children and leave the reality of war to the broadcast media. Unless they ask questions, which you should answer as simply and honestly as possible, offering them reassurance that they will be protected, children don't need to be exposed to this war. They will grow up soon enough and have to face a dangerous world as adults. Let's protect them from having to grow up well before they have the coping skills to handle the real world. |