It frightens me some days to listen to my daughter. She recently turned ten, so in my eyes she’s still quite young. Certainly she’s too young to worry about being too fat, or too thin, or about boys saying inappropriate things. She has to be too young to want fake nails like her friend Chelsea, or to dress as fashionably as her other friend Crystal. Right?
Apparently not. It’s bad enough that teens are made to feel everything about them is never good enough. Now Satan is attacking children, and two of his greatest tactics are through friends and the media.
My children are fairly sheltered when it comes to media in our home. Any magazines or books they have access to are not just age appropriate, but gone through by Mom or Dad before the kids get them. We try to keep the television on PBS so the kids can watch clean, uplifting shows. Even our movies are monitored. Children pick up so easily on things we may not even realize. We learned this the hard way.
A few years ago my husband and I brought out a movie we both loved when we were younger. Neither one of us remembered how bad the language was in one particular spot. We didn’t even realize how quickly our (then) four-year old picked up on it until one rather memorable day. He was pretending to play one of the characters in this movie, and out of his sweet, innocent mouth popped a fairly nasty word. It turned out to be the very same word the character spoke in the movie.
Needless to say, our son had a really good talking to, and the movie is no longer in our home.
We are cautioned to monitor the media in the pamphlet “10 Ways to Teach Values in the Home.” This pamphlet was put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) back in 1996. If the leaders of the Church found the dangerous influence of the media alarming back then, how much worse is it now?
The dangers of the media come in two forms. The first is in time spent with family. Sitting in front of the television is not quality time, merely quantity. We might be sitting side by side, but there’s no interaction going on. I myself am guilty of this. Frequently I end up telling the kids to be quiet so I can hear better. The only message I’m sending to them is what I’m watching is more important than what they have to say. Time spent in front of the T.V. must be limited.
The other form comes in the message being sent. Seven o’clock (central time) used to be a family hour on television. Not any more. The things shown at this time of night are completely inappropriate for children (frankly some aren’t even appropriate for adults). Parents are faced with a choice: turn off the television, or send your kids to their rooms an hour earlier.
No matter how we may try to keep our kids innocent, something will always slip in. Even though I may try hard to keep these influences out of our home, it doesn’t mean everyone else in the world is doing the same. That’s when we need to be ready to discuss what our children are exposed to, not matter how uncomfortable it may make us.
In “10 Ways to Teach Values in the Home” we read:
“Be aware of the media your children use. Discuss with your children what they listen to, watch, and read. Help them understand what consequences the negative acts depicted by the media can have.”
When my daughter talks of wanting to be fashionable, I try to pull up scriptures of what happens to people who focus on things like ‘costly apparel.’ For example we can read in Alma 1:32 in the Book of Mormon:
“For those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry or idleness, and in babblings, and in envyings and strife; wearing costly apparel; being lifted up in the pride of their own eyes; persecuting, lying, thieving, robbing, committing whoredoms, and murdering, and all manner of wickedness; nevertheless, the law was put in force upon all those who did transgress it, inasmuch as it was possible.”
Costly apparel is listed here among some of the most wicked sins. Yet my daughter is repeatedly confronted by magazines, music and movie stars, even songs and books that try to convince her to wear the most fashionable clothes. Even her friends tell her it’s the thing to do. It will make her happy if she merely conforms.
This is not the way to true happiness, and as parents it is our job to help our children recognize this. We must be aware of those things our children are exposed to. Most of all, we need to help provide alternatives to the media.
We as parents are our children’s greatest defense when it comes to the influence of the world.
