The Effects of Television
My best friend has two little girls that are the same ages as my two boys. Both my friend and I pay very close attention to how much television our children are viewing. We also set strict boundaries on the types of shows our kids my watch. Even with all of these boundaries in place, my friend still had an unexpected effect of television.
Her older daughter, who is five, was shown a video of Veggie Tales while at her Bible school class. As you may know, this is a Christian-based, educational animated series for young children. During the episode, the characters are educating the audience on how you shouldn’t judge a person by the way they look. This sounds like a wonderful lesson for young children to learn.
Somehow, the lesson backfired. A few days later, my friend’s daughter was refusing to go to Daisy Scouts wearing her soccer uniform. When my friend asked her daughter why, she responded, “The other kids will make fun of me.” My friend then asked, “Why would you think that.” Her daughter replied, “Because that’s what happened on Veggie Tales.”
How does an innocent lesson on “Don’t judge a book by its cover” turn into “I’m a bad book”? Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our children learn lessons we wish they never had to learn. In all of our planning, instruction, and overall good intentions, lessons get twisted and turned, and we feel deflated from the results.
Although I still feel that Veggie Tales is a wonderful show that helps kids learn about God and how to be a good Christian, my friend’s experience has reminded me that children take in everything. It is so important to continue to remind, instruct, question, and simply talk to our children every chance we get.
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Written by Laura on October 11, 2010
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