It is almost impossible to avoid advertising and media. Even if you don't have a TV, and even if you keep your children away from the Internet at home, they still are likely to become exposed to media influence at their friends' houses, on the street and even at school. So how do we protect our children from media influences?
One of the most important and simple things that you can do to protect your children from all types of media is to move the computer, video game systems and TV into the main room of the house. Even if you are not watching them carefully, simply having this equipment where you can see the children using it should help control what they watch.
Another vital point for anyone who wants to protect their children from media is to understand the rating system. Most of us are comfortable with the movie rating system. Video games ratings are also important to understand. Each game has both an age rating and an explanation of why it has that rating. Using this as a guideline for what you buy for your children (or let them buy for themselves), along with having the game someplace you can see it being used, should help control what your child sees.
Commercials are one of the most difficult issues for many parents. Concerns range from commercials that are inappropriate due to sexuality to those that advertise products parents would prefer their children avoid, such as fast food. One solution is to watch programs with a DVR so that you can skip offensive commercials. This is a limited solution, as you have to watch constantly. Cutting back on TV dramatically can help with this, as can teaching youth how advertisers seek to manipulate them.
No one wants to be the parent who lets media raise their children, but there is no single solution beyond time and effort. Setting firm limits on TV and video games and watching with your children are both vital. But in the end, the only real solution to inappropriate media influences is to spend enough time with your children that your influence is more important than that of the media.
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