Galatians 6:7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
And children tend to reap whatever their parents sow, which can be either a curse or a blessing depending on the circumstances. It shouldn't be any surprise that children exposed to sex in the media are more sexually active. With parents increasingly disengaged from their kids -- and parents who allow their kids to "find their own way" without imposing restrictions -- it's only natural that kids pick up values from the sources that are available: television and their friends.
More than 1,000 American children aged between 12 and 15 were asked to identify from a huge list the kinds of media they were exposed to regularly.They also answered questions about their health and levels of sexual activity, including whether they went on dates, kissed, had oral sex or full sex.
Researchers then examined the sexual content of 264 items on the list, which included teen magazines, teen movies and TV programmes.
They looked for examples of romantic relationships, nudity, sexual innuendo, touching, kissing, puberty and sexual intercourse.
The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health and in Elsevier, found that films, TV programmes, music and magazines usually portrayed sex as "risk-free".
Sex was usually between unmarried couples and examples of using condoms or other contraception were "extremely rare".
Like it or not, television is the common carrier of our culture, the way oral history, church teachings, books, and other forms each were in their respective times. Parents have a right and responsibility to control what their children learn, and society itself has a vested interest.
I would say that parents who allow their children to watch sexually-charged and/or explicit content are bad parents. Allowing one's children to watch sexually explicit television shows a lack of boundaries on the parents' part. My opinion is that these children would end up being sexually active anyway later on in life with such lenient, unaware parents.
I think a good parent should be able to explain to their children why sexual behavior is something very special, powerful, dangerous, worthy of great care, and worthy of waiting to explore with the right person rather than every chance you get. I think a good parent should be able to explain to their children why the behavior you see on TV is not good behavior, why the relatioships and problem-solving techniques you see on TV do not reflect those that work in the real world.
Once a good parent has done this, their children can watch whatever they want on TV and not become terrible people for it, know why one ought not try and emulate it, know that the path to getting what you want (even if what you want is what the TV characters have) is not the one taken by the TV characters.
Unfortunately, TV is (before anything else) a product, and it will be shaped to sell as well as possible (to gather as wide an audience as possible), regardless of what it displays. If there is a market for clean TV that talks about the world as it really is (including realistic relationships, the consequences of bad choices, etc), then that kind of TV will exist. Right now, the market seems to be asking for sex and violence, which is a shame since so many parents neglect to prepare their kids to distrust the "messages" this kind of TV delivers.
And there's more: The parents neglect to prepare their kids to distrust the "messages" this kind of TV and magazines and video games and movies deliver... and then go ask their politicians to help them "protect" their kids from these messages! Some politicians, seeing a chance to terrorize the masses into voting for them, then start preaching about the dangers of these messages and about how kids ought to be protected from them. None of this would be necessary if parents did their jobs. Parents push this responsibility onto politicians, and the politicians gladly accept it. Pretty soon parents are going to expect that the government teach their kids about moral values and sexuality...
What we put in our eyes goes into our heads. Pour in junk long enough and it begins to affect our thought processes. What ever is noble, what ever is good, what ever is just: These are the things we should dwell upon.
I submit to you that one can not, by one or two hour long talks, offset the hours upon hours of smut and trash being shoveled out over the television.
Yes! Tell the children that the media spews garbage! But the battle is not over yet, not by a long shot.
I, for one, don't receive TV in my home. I get news via other sources, and I don't expose my children to the constant attack. We play with our kids, and encourage them to find something to DO. And I can see the behavior differences in my kids relative to other children every day.
As much as I admire and support your approach, Dallas, I have one minor question: Don't your kids feel left out when other kids talk about cartoons and TV shows?
TV is a pretty big part of modern culture, especially for kids. TV characters and situations are part of the shared culture we draw from when illustrating points in conversation, or just to give us something in common to chat about. I don't really watch that much TV - probably about 3 hours a week other than news - but I used to watch a lot more (about 2h a day until I went to college). Many things I do and conversations I have with other people have their essence better exposed (or are made funnier) through a reference to The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Frasier, Raymond, Daria, or Star Trek. Those shows are insightful and give you interesting ideas with which to look at life and the world.
And you have to admit the Discovery Channel has some dang good shows on. From when I was 11 to when I was 18, I probably watched about ten hours of Discovery Channel a week. I honestly believe I benefited from this very much.
All I'm saying is, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Some of the stuff on TV is really good. Some of it is really terrible, but that's no reason to keep all of it away. I probably watched about 1-2 hours of TV a day from when I was 7 to when I was 18, but I still read a lot, played outside, played sports, built things, wrote, and drew. And played video games.
So, personally, I think some TV can be good, if it's educational and/or well-written, and if it helps you understand and participate in your peers' conversations about TV shows. Although I will grant that no TV at all is better than too much TV.
Of course, I don't HAVE kids, so my perspective is admittedly theoretical, but I was a kid not too long ago and I think I remember it fairly well...
We get videos. Most of cartoons are at the video store. And the stuff like Kim Possible etc, is usually fine for the kids to see.
Yes, saying I don't watch TV is like saying I don't wear shoes. But not watching TV is not the same as saying I don't partake in the good stuff that comes over the air waves. Sometimes I get stuff recorded by friends, and a lot of stuff is available for rent, without commercials.
So I don't throw out any babies either. But have you ever noticed how Dad can't light the BBQ without burning himself and he can't figure out how to do laundary in commercials? Men are idiots, women are absolute sages and children are the smartest creatures in existances! And that's just from the commercials! Take a look at how people talk to one another in sit-coms. Even family ones. It's absolutely unacceptable! The lack of respect for one another is appauling!
No thanks! I'll see a program a month after it airs, minus the trash, thank you very much.