With so much programming and content on so many different mediums these days, parents are often left wondering how to take the first step in managing what their children are viewing. Karen Ann Cullotta offers some advice writing in the Chicago Tribune “To be sure, parents can shield kids by carefully monitoring their TV consumption.”
Jerald L. Newberry, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Education Association’s Health Information Network “urges parents to remain vigilant about limiting their children’s access to technology. He recommends that children’s bedrooms be technology-free zones, and that parents limit TV viewing and computer use to public spaces in the home, which can be more easily monitored. But, Newberry acknowledges, it can be difficult for parents to limit the media exposure of a child who is visiting a friend for a play date, or a teen hanging out at a friend’s house.”
One of Newberry’s recommendations is “Don’t be afraid to call parents of your child’s friends to ensure there is supervision of media use.” TV Watch has made this task easier by creating the Parent-To-Parent Information card to easily allow parents to fill out and pass along to other parents information about their family’s viewing standards. The card also includes an explanation of the television content ratings.
Lastly, Marisa Connolly with our friends over at Common Sense Media notes, “parents need to actually participate in their children’s media life, to provide a context, which is so important. You have to be there for them.”
Read the full article here.
