Watch what your child watches.

We monitor what the kids are watching plus we use the program block on the cable box to block shows above a certain tv rating.

i always try to watch what my children are watching on tv. it is hard sometimes though. i have a five year old and a two year old. i will set the tv to one channel so it is appropriate for my two year old and as soon as i leave the room my five year old will change the channel. so they are watching something the shouldn't before i realize that he changed the channel. i have told him many times not to touch the tv but he still does.

Great discussion! But, it not only ends with TV watching, it's darn near everything. Hubby and I were watching the previews to the up and coming movie, "Shrek 3" and we were appauled that there was this transvesite male crossdresser character who obviously got alot of spots on the movie. This is a children's movie! "Lilo and Stitch" had a male crossdresser. I don't know about you, but hubby and I are bringing up our children in the ways that will not be confusing to them. My 6 year old son was telling me of the TV shows he and his stepmother watches. They are shows from the Food TV Network and I remember watching them with him when he was just a tiny baby. He'll get older knowing some delicious 30 minute meals and the difference between a shallot and green onions are instead of what to call a female if she's dressed showing more skin than you really care to see.

I completely agree with you. My children are only 13 months and 4 years old, but I closely supervise what they watch. I prefer that they only watch the PBS shows, but once in a while they get to watch the Disney channel or Nickelodeon, but only select programs. However, we completelyl banned the cartoon network channel, as I think a lot of these programs on cartoon are inappropriate for children to watch as they feature lots of violence and no solutions. I do not think that we should shelter our children completely, but as you say watch what they watch with them. My son watches some movies with us, where we then talk about what he sees, and I think this is a very essential part of parenting, to talk about what your children experiences in the real world and on television, in order to help them deal with what they see. I have a degree in communication and journalism, and I once did a studu on the effects of tv violence on children. The effects were obvious, and it really made me realize the effect that tv has on our society. When I realized that my son's grandmother let him watch Nickelodeon and cartoon all day, when I was in school, we simply cancelled cable tv and then there was only the PBS programs, which were more appropriate. We got a new tv about a month ago, and my husband wanted to the old tv in our kids rooms. I got him talked out of it though, because when the child has a tv in the room, you do not have the same control or supervision. If you do have a tv in the kids room, I strongly recommed that you use the rating programs availavble such as the cable box that was mentioned in an earlier response in this discussion.

I am also concerned with the kind of TV shows we have today. At this point, I can still control what my little one sees on TV but when he gets older, it would be more difficult. I am aware that blocking certain channels helps as well as rating the various shows. However, there are still some subtler pictures and issues that get through. Good parenting will ultimately win over these confusing issues. But I wouldn't want to have to explain them to my son before he's ready. There should be something that we can do collectively as parents to protect our children.