Page 144 - The Intentional Parent

violent crime, prejudice, and hatred. In some ways we can ask, "Does television create violence or merely reflect it?" Discussions like these exist too far out in the abstract for me. Parents want me to answer questions about what their children should be watching now.
All parents should be competent at observing their own children's reactions to things. When you look at your children and how they behave in your home, what do you see? Do they go wild when an action-adventure movie comes on? Do they start punching one another around while they are watching wrestling on television? Think about it. If your son or daughter was a straight-A student and had lots of friends, but liked watching movies where things got blown up or people got shot, do you think those movies would cause the child to suddenly snap and become delinquent one day?
I believe that what we see on television and in the movies most definitely influences our behavior. I would worry about a child who grows up in a house where he has very little contact with his mother or father, but consumes a steady diet of violent television. My concern would be that without the foundation that good parenting provides, the child would develop his conceptions of the world around the things he has become most familiar with. On the other hand, I wouldn't worry about a child who watches a few hours of television a day in a home where there is a loving relationship between a mother and father and love and attention shown toward the child. I believe that, ultimately, it is the parents' influence on the child that determines what other forces and influences shape behavior. If parents choose to allow television to shape the lives of their children by using it as an electronic baby-sitting service, then television will shape children's lives according to the message of the content of the shows. If, on the
The Intentional Parent by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D. 144