The Death of Wholesome Television

The types of television programming children are exposed to these days are straight up inappropriate! Many adults over the age of thirty can tell you that back in the days we had nothing but quality & wholesome programs. We were never exposed to violence, profanity and nudity or semi-nudity. We learnt a lot of fun stuff on TV.

Many people who grew up in the 70's and 80's can authoritatively tell you that they learnt more from watching television than attending school. Programmes like Sesame Street, Math Score 1, 3-2-1 Contact! Square 1, Famous Five et cetera are just a few of the programmes that kept most kids glued to their television screens.

Please do not let me go on about the kind of utter rubbish the kids of these days watch and call it television! The violence on TV is just too much and please don't get me started on sex and nudity. Most adults will agree with me that many of them in the 70's and 80's would not have known what a condom looked like, until they had "the talk" with their parents. Parents were so uncomfortable with talking to their kids about the "birds and the bees". These days, most kids know more about sex than their parents.

Kids are being exposed to too much violence and sex on TV and there have been reports of kids stealing their parents' firearms and shooting at their fellow class mates. Many kids feel the only way to solve disputes is by shooting at people! They have seen it done on TV many times and it worked for Mr. Muscle-von-Beat you Silly in the last episode of Beat 'em up.

The media has made it seem like it is cool to have sex before marriage and many people have bought into the idea including kids. More and more children are beginning to have sex at an earlier age (from ages 12 and above). The advertising agencies use sex to sell everything, even things as innocent as soap and toothpaste! Why? Because sex sells!

How do we control the kind of programmes our children view?

1) Do not keep your porn collection within easy reach! Hide them in a place where your children are not likely to look.

2) Lock the adult channels with a code that you alone know

3) Watch TV with you children.

4) Buy your children tapes and DVDs that contain wholesome content.

5) Do your research about the kind of people you leave your kids with during play dates.

These steps will not necessarily stop your kids from watching TV programs with violent, nude and profane content. Remember, you will have to understand that your kids interact with other kids (in school) whose parents might not really care about the kind of TV content their kids are exposed to. Most kids are influenced by their friends and they sometimes would give in to pressure. Technology is also not helping matters because children can view unsavoury programmes on their friend's ipods or cell phones. With the advent of new technology there is little or nothing parents can do to keep their kids from unpleasant TV programs.