Page 142 - The Intentional Parent

disturbing. The reasoning "It's only a movie" might not be too effective with a four-year-old child who may be just learning to tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
SATANIC MESSAGES AND HEAVY METAL
Our twelve-year-old daughter will only listen to "heavy metal" music. We have heard that there are satanic messages embedded in the music that can influence children. Is this true?
Even if messages were subliminally placed in the music they would not influence your child's behavior. Research on this subject does not indicate that subliminal messages influence behavior in any way. Think about it—if subliminal messages could influence us, advertisers would probably have us all acting like spend-happy zombies by now! As children reach their teen years, they are influenced more by their friends than by their parents, and that is where your concerns should lie. Musical preferences, sexual activity, and drug and alcohol abuse are all influenced by peers. That's why it is very important to communicate with your children when they are very young and more readily influenced by what you say.
VIDEO GAMES
My ten-year-old is obsessed with playing video games. When he comes home from school that's all he will do. He has no friends and no social life unless the kids he's playing with are just as much into these stupid games as he is. What can we do?
The first thing you can do is try to understand what kind of need playing the video games might be satisfying. Some kids are driven to become expert video-game players because it gives them a lot of social power. They can demonstrate their skill to
The Intentional Parent by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D. 142