I just spent two hours watching television when I was supposed to be doing my homework and I don't feel bad about it because the TV turned into my homework. This afternoon, I was sitting at my computer doing some homework with the TV on in the other room for background noise. At 3 o'clock, 'Northwest Afternoon' comes on discussing varied topics of interest. I heard the host of the show announcing the special guest who was the author of "The Elephant in the Living Room: making TV work for your kids". Attention grabbed, I bagged my current assignment and watched the show finding the relevancy of the subject matter ironic. The book gives tips on how to control what kids are watching whether they are at home, at a friend's house, or in this day and age, individual parents' house in shared custody. The main question addressed is what is the importance of media in our lives and the lives of our children? I was taking notes as quickly as I could but only got the first part of the author's name: Dr. Dimitri Ch_?. I'm going to investigate further on komo's website because I also missed the first two items on his list of 'Top 5 things not to do when it comes to kids and TV watching' 1.?, 2.?, 3. not setting an example. Parents should set the standard on what to watch and when to watch., 4. underestimating commercials. Parents should realize the power that commercials have to sway young minds. Example: Young boy thinking that he, too, can have the hot girl in the commercial if he drinks the right beer., 5. letting kids watch alone. Parents should take the time to watch TV with their kids so they can observe reactions and clarify content when necessary. If I can find the rest of the information, I'll post a link!
