Tweens are easily taken in by what their friends are doing. Watching television falls into this category. Help your tween make good choices about what to watch.
Not all of the movies and television shows on TV today are as family friendly as they claim to be. It can be difficult to keep a close eye on what tweens are watching because busy lives and jobs often keep parents at work while kids are cared for by someone else. This makes it even more difficult to monitor television and tweens. So, what are some steps you can take to teach your tween about acceptable and unacceptable television shows? Read on.
Teaching Tweens to Understand about Acceptable Shows
When your tween is not at home, or when you are not at home with your child, how do you know that he is not watching the TV shows that you have decided against? You have to teach them why they are not allowed to watch some shows. And you have to have trust them, and enforce the consequences if that trust is violated.
Simply refusing to allow a tween to watch a certain show will only make her want to watch it even more. Peer pressure plays a major role as well. Your child wants to fit in with friends and classmates, and if everyone at school is talking about the latest escapades of Stewie on “The Family Guy,” you can expect that your child will want to be part of the conversation.
If you sit down with your tween and talk about why a show that depicts an infant who wants to kill his own mother is just wrong, and really not that funny, you have a better chance of trusting that your child will decide for herself that she does not need to watch that show. On the other hand, shows that teach about things with subtle messages about issues such as friendship and believing in oneself, like “Hanna Montana” or “The Suite Life,” are actually good for them. Kids learn from these types of shows, without even realizing that they got the point.
Watch TV with Your Tween
When your child asks to be allowed to watch a show, find an opportunity to watch it with him, and then decide if it is suitable or not. If not, discuss why it would not be appropriate for him. If it is something that he can learn from, then praise his good judgment, and talk about the message that he or she got from the show.
Be an Example
We hear all the time what horrible things our kids are learning from the media. And it is true, to an extent. They also learn a great deal more of their morals and values from their parents. They follow parents' beliefs until they decide upon their own, and if parents have done the best job they were able, tweens will choose to have good, strong character and values. If, as the parent, you don’t laugh and enjoy the adventures of Stewie and his family, your own family is less likely to either.
