The media is our friend and our foe. We can gain a lot of good information from it, but also a lot of wrong information. Help your kids decide what is true or not.
Kids will watch and read a lot of information in the media over the years. They may inadvertently hear or see something in the news just because parents are watching television or leave a magazine lying around. Things will appeal to them when they sound extraordinarily good, and they may become terrified of things that happened to someone else or may happen in the future.
When teaching about current events in homeschool, you will undoubtedly choose those topics based on the age of your child and make sure that the content is appropriate for that age group. But, this is also a good time to take up a fruitful discussion with your child about how to decipher whether or not what they hear or see is true, and also how to handle those situations that either disturb them or make them so excited that they want to act on something right away.
Here are a few examples:
Judging Appropriateness
Case: Katie, age 10, finds a People magazine lying around on her kitchen table. Mom left it there, so Katie decided to pick it up. As she is fanning through the pages, an article pops out at her about how Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may want 14 kids. The article was written based on Angelina appearing on a popular talk show and directly announcing this to listening viewers. The article also included some objectionable language for children.
There are now a few questions that should be running through your mind.
- Was this appropriate material for Katie to read?
- Why or why not?
- Can this article be proven true by any reliable source?
Answers: This material was not appropriate for Katie to be reading. The magazine probably should have been put away or kept in the parent's bedroom. It was inappropriate because the nature of the topic is not one that you may want to discuss with a 10-year-old. It contained objectionable language that young children should not hear. The article can be proven true as it was taken directly from an interview where Angelina made the statement in front of viewers. This material may have been more appropriate for a 17- or 18-year-old, but definitely not Katie.
Fact or Fiction
Case: Brandon, age 8, watches a History Channel expose on the Secrets of Stonehenge Revealed. Brandon is engulfed in the show, hearing things about how archaeologists have found rare artifacts and suspected locations of where these things took place. In Brandon's mind, Josh Bernstein, is the most knowledgeable person about archaeology and must be right because he traveled so far to get to Stonehenge, so he must know what he is talking about.
Have you got some questions about this case?
- Was this television show appropriate for Brandon to watch?
- Why or why not?
- Was the topic informational?
- Can this television show be proven true by a reliable source?
Answers: This television show was more than likely appropriate for Brandon to watch. Of course, it is a parent's discretion what to let their children watch (this is just a case scenario). The topic was informational and probably provided many interesting facts that can be documented in other sources, such as encyclopedias. While the host sounds very knowledgeable about this topic, it is hard to say that the information given and the discoveries made can be a reliable source based on facts. This, of course, can open up a whole discussion about how while we cannot prove for sure all things that happened in history, we can get a pretty good idea from data and artifacts that are constantly being uncovered. A lot of history is fact and much of it is left to individual interpretation.
Talk it Over
When a child hears or reads about information that makes them scared, it is important for them to know that they need to talk to someone about it. The best way to defuse any anxious feelings is to talk to someone who knows more about the situation and can offer comfort. Encourage your child to talk to you, if they are feeling anxious about something they have heard in the news.
Lastly, we know the old saying that if something looks too good to be true, than it probably is. Kids are bombarded with advertisements in the media about really great products. It would make a good lesson to teach them that they have to read the fine lines, do research on the company offering the product (to be sure they are a reputable company), and if a place is not offering a physical address, then it is probably not worth the chance of sending them any money.
