Tips for Parents: Teach Kids How to Use News Correctly

Technology brings a constant barrage of news and information to children these days. That's why it's more imperative than ever for parents to create a healthy news diet for their children while they are young and impressionable. A healthy news diet improves many of the skills children are learning at school, including reading, writing and vocabulary, current events and cultural differences. But that's not all.

"Children who are exposed to a variety of news learn to use deductive reasoning and critical thinking skills, which is why news can be a valuable learning tool, if used correctly," said Fair Media Council Executive Director Jaci Clement. "These are the children who will possess the skills to become world-class citizens, which is what is demanded of our future generations."

Recommended by the Fair Media Council:

• Teach your children to spend more time reading news than watching news.
• As a general guideline, newspapers (whether print or online) should make up two-thirds of your child's news habit. Newspapers give important details not found in TV news. Television news will give more recent news than what is available in newspapers, but the lack of detail means television news reports are really "briefs," not stories. That's why TV news is often referred to as "fast-food news."
• Teach your child to get news from many places. Don't read one newspaper or simply watch TV news from one channel. To get news from many sources, read a daily newspaper as well as your local weekly paper. (Because it takes 21 days to build a habit, make reading the newspaper a game: Have your child read newspapers everyday for 30 days and reward him or her with something fun when the goal is met. That will reaffirm the importance of news, all the while instilling a new and healthy habit.) Also important: Watch a different news channel each night.
• Teach your child to seek out different perspectives in the news. News should challenge a child's brain by constantly offering new information to be consumed and processed. The same news story may be reported quite differently depending on which news outlet you choose. Many adults are skeptical of political agendas driving the news (and rightly so), but there's more to it than that. Try international outlets, like the BBC, for a view from outside America. Avenues like NPR will deliver the view from inside.
• Teach your child to filter out talk and commentary. Many adults cannot distinguish between a news story and an opinion piece, although the difference is night and day. Pay attention to labels in newspapers (columns, op.eds., commentary and advertorials are biased) and on television (be weary of talk shows). It's very easy to be swayed by peoples' opinions when you don't have the facts: That's why it's important to focus on the news of the day first.
• Talk to your child about the news. While parents are encourage to monitor the news their children are consuming, sometimes graphic images and information "slips by" the most vigilant observers. Talking to your child about what is happening in the news and helping them to understand the information will reassure children who may be scared or upset by something in the news.

  Think your child's too young to understand news? The majority of newspapers are written on the fourth-to-sixth grade reading level. And, since a child's critical thinking and deductive reasoning skills are formed between the ages of 12 to 15, it's never too early to start building those important skills by introducing news to a child. learning tool, if used correctly," said Fair Media Council Executive Director Jaci Clement. "These are the children who will possess the skills to become world-class citizens, which is what is demanded of our future generations."