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Show Teach children in positive manner Violence in media ' 'a problem ' By OWEN ANDERSON College of Family Life Utah Stale University Recently, while I was expressing disapproval of my 2-year-old son's inappropriate behavior, he placed one hand in the other, pointed a finger at me, and commenced shooting. I was staggered Where did this gesture come from? My wife and I had attempted to keep violent programs pro-grams and weapon-like toys from his everyday activities. That incident had slipped from my mind until one afternoon when 1 saw the same youngster running around in the living room, shooting at everything in sight As I glanced at the television set, his behavior began to make sense. He was imitating the movement on the television program. We then realized that more caution was needed, and that just leaving the television on during the day could be troublesome. Although television and other media have provided effective educational edu-cational tools for your children, the problem with violence in the media has become much worse since the Federal Communication Commission's Commis-sion's decision to deregulate children's commercial television in 1982. Cartoons with violent acts have increased at an alarming rate. Increasingly, In-creasingly, television and other media have become an important source of information for children. Those involved with research in the area of television violence and children have identified three problems prob-lems associated with heavy viewing of television violence: Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others; they may become more fearful of the world around them; and they may be more likely to behave in ag gressive or harmful ways toward others. My work enables me to interact with young children on a daily basis. One of the biggest challenges, I find, is trying to teach young children about resolving conflicts con-flicts in a positive manner. When faced with conflict, some children model the role of their favorite television character and exhibit inappropriate and aggressive ag-gressive acts. Children who view frequent acts of violence may learn that aggression is a successful and acceptable way to achieve goals and solve problems. As a teacher, I work with children to facilitate more appropriate ap-propriate problems solving skills when themes of television violence appear in their play. Replacing inappropriate in-appropriate methods of resolving conflicts with socially desirable techniques can be laborious and time consuming. Why not prevent unnecessary reproductions of violence? Parents are encouraged to support sup-port the reinstitution of FCC standards stan-dards establishing limits on violence and promote the use of the media for displaying positive social values. As consumers, parents can communicate with advertisers on programs that are worthwhile, as well as sponsors of programs that are violent We can also encourage legislators to adopt policies to protect pro-tect children from violence through the media. The media can and should direct their influence to the constructive expansion of children's knowledge and furthering further-ing the development of positive social values. At the same time we need to teach children to become critical viewers of all forms of media. Make sure your children understand the unreality of most stories they see on the screen. That means watching wat-ching the show together and talking about what's right andor wrong with it It's difficult to understand the influence in-fluence and effect television has on your child unless you spend time watching it with them. Discuss the moral implications of programs with your child and the intentions behind a character's actions. A child taught to enjoy great art will be able to distinguish its many forms. |