Discretion or Deprivation?
As a child we have always wanted something special. A toy, a pencil box or a new school bag depending on what was the rage among the other children. And most of the times the new stuff would come only after days of pleading and pleasing. Sometimes we would know better than to ask for stuff we knew our parents would not buy. Media, ads and overall exposure for children has changed the scenario now. Television, internet and mobile media has so much reach among children that they know the new products, the cost and its benefits even before we could realize the ad is for a new product. Going by the recent trend of positioning everything from detergents to cars with children audience in mind, it is going to be tough to wean off kids from the ad addiction. And cutting down on TV, internet and tablet time raises a question in my mind - Am I applying discretion or resorting to deprivation?
My son was watching TV around 1 hour a day in the evening. The quintessential programme of kids of these days - Chota Bheem. It is quite an addictive program and secretively even i would love to sit and watch the same. But yeah, as parents we have to be a lot more better than letting the kids be like ourselves. I feel the program was instigating a violent tendency in him. Hitting and punching the air on non-TV time became the norm. My response? I told him that he could watch TV for some time, but not chota bheem. CBeeBees has lots of soft, non violent programs that i thought could help him. While the shows are really good and my kid loved them, I knew a part of him still ached for his super hero, Chota Bheem. Nevertheless I was determined to erase off any sort of violent acts from TV. This was going on well until one day, as a reward I promised him Chota Bheem. The moment he set his eyes on the child hero, he had tears of joy brimming his eyes. My heart sank. I wondered if I was really doing the right thing?
Similarly various devices have a strict time limit set to them. Laptop, tablet and mobile phones have a half an hour duration where they can use it. Only exception being chess on laptop as I cant play against him [I hate losing]. When I see other kids of his age being much more adroit on such technologies, I am torn between my choices. Am I applying discretion here or depriving my child of the necessary exposure?
My son was watching TV around 1 hour a day in the evening. The quintessential programme of kids of these days - Chota Bheem. It is quite an addictive program and secretively even i would love to sit and watch the same. But yeah, as parents we have to be a lot more better than letting the kids be like ourselves. I feel the program was instigating a violent tendency in him. Hitting and punching the air on non-TV time became the norm. My response? I told him that he could watch TV for some time, but not chota bheem. CBeeBees has lots of soft, non violent programs that i thought could help him. While the shows are really good and my kid loved them, I knew a part of him still ached for his super hero, Chota Bheem. Nevertheless I was determined to erase off any sort of violent acts from TV. This was going on well until one day, as a reward I promised him Chota Bheem. The moment he set his eyes on the child hero, he had tears of joy brimming his eyes. My heart sank. I wondered if I was really doing the right thing?
Similarly various devices have a strict time limit set to them. Laptop, tablet and mobile phones have a half an hour duration where they can use it. Only exception being chess on laptop as I cant play against him [I hate losing]. When I see other kids of his age being much more adroit on such technologies, I am torn between my choices. Am I applying discretion here or depriving my child of the necessary exposure?
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