Television and Parents

Moreover, they considered watching television as a hobby instead of doing healthier and benefiting activities, such as reading, exercising or interacting with other. Ever since the television become popular with films and programs, more and more children began to get obsessed with watching television. Parent's nowadays have become the prime targets of accusation. In fact, despite being the target of blame, they themselves were also unaware of the conditions themselves. On the contrary, the caretaker(s), whom was/were hired to babysat their children, are also a part of this blame. Part A: InterviewsFamily one Jesse Couch Wee Chin is thirty-nine years old, she works as a part-time piano teacher who teaches music at her own home. She has a family of four. Her husband works as an accountant. She has two adorable sons, Teeth Tweeze Gang, 9 years old, and Teeth Tweeze Junk, 5 years old. Jesse said she is aware of the statement above and strongly agrees that watching TV is indeed harmful, e specially to children. But there is no way that activities her sons love doing it very much, she said. Her children usually spent exactly an hour every weekday on watching TV while two hours on the weekend.They are only allowed to watch TV after they have finished their schoolwork. If their children did not follow the TV-watching schedule set by her, they will be banned from watching TV on the next following day. When it comes to the type of television programs that Sissy's children watch, she is quite selective about it. Her children usually watch educational television programs that are showed by Disney Channel such as Little Einstein(classical music), Handy Many(good manners) and Mackey Mouse Clubhouse(problems solving).Because besides learning skills that are taught n the television programs, her children have also picked up English language in a short period of time. Other television programs such as soap operas and cartoons such as Benny and Chowder are not allowed to watch be cause it does not contain any educational substance and the language used in those programs are improper. How does she knows about whether which program is suitable for her children to watch? She will spend her free time to watch all the television programs that is aired on Disney Channel and decides which ones are the best for her children. I cannot trust the TV guide whole-heartedly she said. So the way to solve this problem is to filter the TV programs by herself. Watching television is indeed harmful to children and there is no point avoiding watching TV Just because of that. ‘Not to avoid, but control. ‘ said Jesse. Family two Unite Eric Prefer is a thirty-five years old full-time housewife. She has three kids; their age ranging from seven to two years old. During the interview, she confessed about how busy her life is. With three young kids to take care of, and the never- ending house chores, she did not really paid attention to the statement.Apparently he is aware and heard of the statement, but had never taken it seriously. She has read on how TV harms kids. That is why she does not allow her kids to watch TV so often and she was surprise that watching TV would cause such harm to kids. â€Å"Having said all that I still feel if there is a limit for the kids as to how often they get to watch the TV and what program they are watch then it should be fine†, she said during the interview. Since her children are still in pre-school and primary school, so, most of the TV programs that they watch are more towards cartoon channels such as ‘Ben 10Alien Force' and ‘Tom and Jerry. Also sometimes they watch Disney Channel movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King and Brother Bear. She said her eldest son likes watching Animal Planet and National Geographer's animal documentary as he has an interest for animals. When asked about how many hours her children usually spent on watching TV, she said ‘l only allow them to watch T V for 30 minutes a day during the week after they are back from school or at night after their homework is all done. However, during the weekend they get to watch longer depending on what vie or program they are watching. As a parent, Unite agreed that watching TV is harmful for her children, but then again on the bright side, some of the TV programs also helped her children to learn more and by watching those TV programs she realizes their proficiency of their language increases as well. However, if watching TV for long hours she agreed it is not only harmful but is also a waste of time. Everything pay more attention on her kid's time management on watching TV. Setting limits to the duration of time that her children spent on watching TV does not make watching TV harmful to them.Besides, she always encourages and sends her children for outdoor activities such as football, badminton and swimming to diversify them from being confined in the house and glued to the TV. â€Å"l have be ing doing this for some years now and I find it helpful to my children as well as they don't seem to be obsessed with the TV set as compared to my friends children. â€Å", she said. Family three An accountant with a family of four, Felicia Limp said she was completely unaware of the statement but it has arouse her interest as it may cause a huge impact to her children's health mental development.She never knew the harm that is caused by watching TV is so serious but she never really allowed her children to watch TV for long hours as she would rather them in engage with other activities like playing outdoor games or reading. The thirty-six years old mother said that her Pink Panther, Narrator, Fantastic Four from The Cartoon Network channel and Totally Spice from Disney Channel are her children's top choices of cartoon programs that they usually watch. Felicity's children spent approximately 30 minutes to an hour a day in watching TV.They watch TV while having their lunch, during t he night after their dinner and homework session and also if they don't have tuition classes to attend that day. When asked about how she feels watching TV is harmful to her children, she said: â€Å"As a mother, of course I agree to the statement that watching TV is harmful to my children because long hours of engagement with watching TV will make them slack off and forgot what they suppose to do. That is why I set time-limits for them to watch TV. â€Å".By the way, Felicia admitted that she does not like the idea much of her children itching TV so often that is why she got them many story books of their choice and books of the cartoon they like to watch, and she insists on them reading the cartoon books first then only she allows them to watch the programs on TV. She said it helps as her children find it nice that they get to read books of their favorite cartoon programs. She suggests that the best solution is to divert children's interest to other activities which is beneficia l to them.Leave them more options like indoor and outdoor activities, spending more family time with them and explaining to them that TV is harmful to them. Family four Wendy Simi is currently thirty-eight years old and is the mother of two daughters. She used to work as an accountant before becoming a full-time housewife. She claimed that she is not aware nor heard of the statement stated before. Since Wendy has not heard of the statement, she cannot really come to an agreement regarding the statement.But she stated that she does realize watching TV is harmful for her children eyes as it can cause eyesight problems. Her children usually watch cartoon channels from ASTOR. â€Å"l, myself usually hand-picked the cartoons for them to watch. Just to ensure the programs are educational, that they can actually learn something usually spend one to two hours per day in watching TV after their school time and also after they have completed their schoolwork. If during their school holidays or the weekends, the period of watching TV will be longer – two to three hours a day.When asked about as a parent, does she feel that TV is harmful to her children, she said: miss, we can't deny that TV has played its role in educating the children but if spending too much time on it, it will be harmful to my children. Their schoolwork and exams will lay forgotten in their school bags. And they will have eyesight problems for sure. † To solve this problem among children, Wendy stated that she will shorten the length of time her children spend on watching TV because after knowing the statement, she realized her children spent too much time on watching TV.In order to diversify her children's attention from the TV, he will try to make them focus more on their studies or encourage them to go for sports activities such as swimming and dancing. Family five A house wife with a family of three, So Me Way said that she is not aware of the tenement of problems that are caused to children by watching TV. She found the statement is weird as she could not see any logic in how watching TV can harm her child. The forty years old mother said that her only son usually watches cartoon programs that are shown on the TV.When asked what type of cartoon her son usually watches, she said she has no idea about it. Her son watches almost every cartoon that is shown on the TV, regardless in what language that is delivered by the cartoon shows. She does not limit or schedule the time for her son to watch the TV, her son is ere to watch anytime he favors and is allowed to watch until the show is over. â€Å"l don't see there is any reason in stopping him watching cartoon shows that he likes,† she said. As a mother, she does not really feel TV is harmful to her son. I'm neutral for the statement. † she said. She also added that as long as the show that her son is watching does not contain anything that is inappropriate for his age, there is no reason that watchin g TV is harmful for her son. However, if there comes a point where her son watches shows that contain inappropriate contents, she will take capillary actions. She prefers giving her son lectures regarding about what TV shows that are suitable for him to watch, because to her, beating is overrated. Art B With reference from the interviews carried out on parent's with children on their television watching habits, we can see that the problem is that parent's in secured on their children watching the television. In addition to that, the statements seems very appealing for the parent's as they fear for their kids brain development growth and the statement can be of a good excuse to prevent their children from watching television. Secondly, looking from the children's point of view, the problem children faces is they do not know what kinds of programs are suitable for their age.Sometimes, out of innocence they would find themselves watching a program which is inappropriate. As an example, matured shows such as The Matrix contain violent content like gunfire, fighting or sexual content. Other than that, some Japanese animation sometimes contains mild sexual themes. Children cannot make the watching inappropriate programs for their age. Because children can pick up Just anything from the programs they watched easily. If it's a good influence, no harm done. What if it's the other way round?Children sometimes may carry out these acts on someone thinking its normal or it's the new social trend and get themselves into trouble. Besides tuning into inappropriate programs, children also tend to spend too much time on watching TV. Most parent's feel that the television is the root of their children being spoil and its where the pick up most of the social trend from. Parent's says that sometimes kids these days are taking watching television as a hobby where if without it they would be spending their time reading or doing physical activities to pep themselves healthy.Hence, li ke what the statement has stated, it may decrease their IQ which is leaving worry especially to parent's. The parties which find themselves having this problem are both parent's and children. Parent's are too afraid of their children being too influence by watching television and the children are the victims of the statement. Firstly, not every parent has the time to keep an eye on what they children are watching. Looking at our life styles these days, parent's are very much work- oriented which leads to them spending lesser time at home with heir children.Though, parent's do try to make do with a schedule for their children to follow as to how long the duration on watching the television and what program they are allowed to watch, in the end the children are left alone or with their sitters to monitor them. How often do you find those children following the schedule? Secondly, parent's who knew about the statement would most probably start banning their children from watching TV an ymore. This isn't really the right way to solve this problem because children will most probably do not understand why their parent's o so and the urge to watch TV for all the time will get stronger.So there is no point in banning children from watching TV Just because the statement said so. Looking from the children's point of view, they are too engrossed with the programs that they tend to have it as a hobby. This is also a problem to their social life as soon interaction among young children will lesser. No doubt that should they be watching good program such as the once you can find on the Discovery or National Geographic which helps develop critical thinking about the society and the world. What happens f they watch cartoon program that uses improper language or unethical behavior.Children have to learn more about the kind of program that they are watching. After all, excessive amount of time being spent on watching TV will indeed harm them. There is no doubt that parent's want the best for their children. By knowing about the statement now, they would be more passive about the idea of their children watching TV. Having said that, to not lose our Job as working for a television station, we need to change the mind set of these parent's. Parent's should also understand that there are always two sides of a coin. Watching television may be harmful, but by not watching is also harmful, as the television reflects the real world.For the children to not see people like themselves in race, ethnicity, or physical ability. For example may diminish their self -worth. A lack of role models should spark discussion about how TV portrays different types of people. Being the people behind the television station, we too have to see the children as students to be educated, as future citizens to be engaged in the community, or simply as children, whose work is play and not as mind set. There are ways and measures that can be done to help parent's believe that watching televi sion can bring benefits to their children.The first tool that can be used to solve this problem is that insert more educational programs during after- school hours, because the children will be most probably watching TV during that period. By doing this parent's would feel more secured that their children would not be influence of the inappropriate behavior or language used. By replacing the shows of cartoons that use inappropriate language with educational programs, the hillier will surely learn something by watching them. Hence, their parent's will not ban them from watching TV anymore.Besides educational programs, TV station can also create tutorial programs for students up to secondary school to have them guided through their major exams such as PUPS, MR. and SUM. For example having programs such as Educational programming can develop young children's colonization and learning skills. Other than that, news, current events and historical programming can help make young people mor e aware of other cultures and people. Documentaries can help develop critical thinking about society and the world. Parent's should be aware of this as it benefits their children.During the nights, where before children go to bed there can be programs that are recommended for family viewing with this it gives family members of all ages an opportunity to spend time together. Other than that, these TV programs may explore controversial or sensitive issues, which can make it easier for parent's and kids to discuss them as they are watching it together. The second tool that can be used to solve this problem is that, our television station could come up with a system which is friendlier for parent's monitor they schedule of the programs their children are watching.Parent's could make do a schedule to limit children's time on watching TV. This system would especially help parent's who are away from their children. The system will form an age restrictions to prevent children from tuning in into inappropriate programs on the TV. This helps so that parent's do not find their children watching the wrong programs. The system will also enable parent's to view a summary on the program hey would wish for their children to watch. They can view it in the television itself, via online or in their monthly TV guide.The information we will provide are like the language used, should there be guidance, the behavior of the casts. If there should be guidance, the system will not allow the program to be viewed. To view it there should be a code that has to be type in. With this parent's would feel more secured as they can monitor their children's viewing habits and they will also be able to see the viewing program history to know if their children have watched other programs.The last tool would be television stations can use TV as a catalyst to get kids reading following up on TV programs by getting books on the same subjects or reading authors whose work was adapted for the programs. With this parent's would feel more secured as it helps their children to develop reading habits. Children will be more enthusiastic to read as they have an idea of what they are reading. By doing this, children can learn important values and life lessons as well. As an example, programs such as Hannah Montana, Thro, Ben 10 and so on has the book version.Being the television station what we can do is that we can sell these books or for the viewers who want it so it would be easier for parent's to purchase it and it is create powerful touchstones. TV also enables young people to share cultural experiences with others. This helps the children in many ways. Conclusion As portrayed, not all parent's are unaware of these circumstances. In fact, some have already took up measures to these problems. Obviously, everyone did not literally ban their children from watching televisions. As a matter of fact, they simply limit the frequency.Therefore, the fact that children had been watching too much television had been overruled. On the other hand, in relation with the contents that their children had been watching, parent's has shown display of supervision. In fact, they are well aware of what their sons and daughters should and should not watch. Some shows such as Narrator or Ben 10 have some slight mild violence content; these contents are not harmful enough to be categorized as inappropriate for children. Therefore, it is safe to say that children are not watching violent shows, which has blood and gory contents.