Hi, I'm Terri from Florida. I took my child out of public school because of hwat he was coming home and doing. He was imitating things he's seen his classmates do, who got it from the TV. (I had a few talks with a few of their parents). Needless to say, I was upset and want to know if others view this as a problem. Do any of you think the inappropriatness of TV is problem. Now don't get me wrong, I know I'm not idle when it comes to what my children are exposed to, but what else can be done?
we just monitor what the kids watch very well. They know what cartoons are alowed. (mostly PBS, SPROUT and some Disney cartoons) and in the evening we watch together. Thats just one of the reasons many of us don't care for Public schools and if you have the choice to homeschool I gueess thats a good thing. You can't protect your kids for ever, but its nice to know we can for a little while.
I also monitor what Tanner watches on TV. However, no matter how much you try and keep the negative influences away, they pick things up from many other sources outside of tv too no matter if they are in ps, homeschooled, etc. And if we put our chlidren in a tiny bubble away from the world, they will only grow up to want to rebel. In those moments of negative influencing, I take the time to use it as a teaching opportunity.
I agree with Jennie. As much as we would love to protect them from all the "bad" things of this world...it just isn't that easy. I remember feeling just sick when my kids would come home with some new "knowledge" they learned at school or elsewhere. But, I, too, ALWAYS use it as a learning experience to teach them the values I want them to learn. I can't always stop them from being exposed to certain things, but I certainly feel better knowing that they can talk to me about it and I can teach them right from wrong. It's hard...very hard...these are our babies. Hang in there! OH, and keep monitoring the TV...at least we can control that!
99% of what the kids here watch is videos. I know exactly what is on each one.. so it's monitored that way. When they are watching TV with the Cable (we only recently got cable) It certian PBS programs ro one or two Disney shows. And they do know what is and isn't allowed.. I don't allow teletubbies (I didn't like an episode I watched that focued on "see Lala" do this and that and it was lying to get out of work ) the min that sun with the baby on it starts to come up they run to turn it off. When I'm not sure about something we watch together and discuss anything that is a problem. Quite often Sami will point out things I miss now.. "Oh MOMMY! That kid is not talking nice to his mommy!"
Syele, I can't stand Teletubbies and that darned Boobah! I have no idea how either of those shows are educational in the least. ICK!
the only cute part about teletubbies is the part where you get to see real kids. (we like to compare the kids in brittin to here- if we catch it at that exact moment other wise its too young for my kids. the other day my ds was telling daddy about the rain cycle, I thought it was from the few times I've explained it......... they said no, they saw it on Caiu:roll: I like the show: post Cards from Buster on PBP, they can see different things different families do. And may I say from the food network--unwrapped and the life of .... actually are kind of educational showing where foods come from how the things we buy in a grocery store actually get made, and how people did things differently before machines and such.
another show I liked them to watch is cyber space, the math cartoon, even if I show them the same things on paper it just sinks in better when you see it in cartoon form. I just don't think its on anymore.
We still get cyber space here. There are things I allow my son to watch and others I don't. But I agree they are going to learn things if they are hs or in ps. My son still has nieghborhood friends and I don't alway like the way the are acting and my son and I talk about the things other do and if they are right or not. But its like jennie said you can't keep them in a bubble. If I did that there would be so many things my son would not learn. Motor work, construction, gaint pumpkins, pengions the list could go on and on there are so many things that I need other peoples help for teaching him. Thats one reason I love hs, the people we meet and the things we learn.
Boy, you hit me at just the right time!!! We had a discussion not too long back about being "TV-Free". My family does have one TV-Free day a week (Wednesdays). Starting TODAY, we are going TV-Free for the whole month, except for Family Movie Nights on Friday. My husband declared earlier this week that he wants that to be COMPUTER FREE, also!!! Well, I really need to be checking my e-mail regularly. I get too many notices that are homeschool related about what's going on to stop. So I'm allowed to get on once a day to do e-mail, plus I can still use it for doing important things, like typing the paper work I need to have turned in for next year, etc. I'll let you know how this works when the month is over, lol! Normally, my family watches very little television. We watch no netwrok tv on a regular basis. The kids watch PBS some during the late afternoon, and the only show DH and I watch on a regular basis is "Mystery" (when it's on!)! I would strongly encourage you to read the book "The Plug-In Drug". It's very good on the subject! Welcome, BTW! I'm Jackie, homeschooling three in central Ohio!
Lorna, I'm not sure I'd agree with that. Yes, they CAN, but you also need to outweigh the good and the bad. How much good do your kids REALLY get from the TV? Phillip has picked up phonic rules from "Between the Lions", but he would have picked them up just as easily elsewhere. Most of it is mindless. We don't have the History Channel or Discovery Channel, but I wouldn't trust any science presented there because it comes from the presuposition that God doesn't exist. I'm not saying TV IS HORRID, GET RID OF IT!!! There's a place for it in today's society. But the majority of families let it rule their home.
I agree with you Lorna. There are so many good educational shows out there for kids. It's just the bad ones we have to look out for. I don't think tv is "bad" for kids, as long as you monitor and moderate it.
I agree Jen...there are several good shows that my kids learn from. Unfortunately, the bad usually out ways the good...but, you just learn when the good shows are on and only watch those. We love Animal Planet. There is a show called "Backyard Habitat" that my kis love. It's all about learning about and creating a habitat in your backyard for specific animals such as hummingbirds, or frogs, butterflies, etc. We are getting digital cable soon because they have channels that you don't get with regular cable...Discovery Kids is one I am looking forward to. We will watch a show...do a study on it, then have the kids write a report on it. My kids love doing that.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks some shows can benifit. Plus some just for entertainment. And thre are a lot of shows on the history chanel about God.
Leslie, I LOVE animal planet. My son also loves Zooboomafoo! It's a great show for children about animals. He started watching it when he was 2 because he has always loved animals. Needless to say, we also have a zoo pass to our local zoo...it gets LOTS of use.
Oh, I HATE "Animal Planet"!!! (But I DO really like Zaboo!) The kids were at Grandma's, and she let them watch "Animal Planet". Trouble was, she didn't know it was a channel, she thought it was a show. So she told them that Animal Planet was the ONLY thing they could watch, and the TV went off as soon as Animal Planet was over, lol! Two hours later, they were still watching it!!!
LOL The kids I babysit always wacth Animal Planet at their Grandmas house too, They want me to leave it on all day. I let them watch and hour and a half a day of movies or TV shows, sometimes more if it the Sound or Music or MAry Poppins (Those are LOOONG movies)! I Like Zaboomafoo too. They aslo love the Doodlebops, they don't like Between the Lions, I don't know why. I have a Bible Math video they like to watch alot too.
