Thursday, May 9, 2013

News or no news?

In our house, we have a pretty strict media/tv blackout.   The tv that he does watch is premeditated and time limited.   Cartoons, Animal Planet and History Channel are fair game.  I watch the news, usually in my bedroom at the start and end of the day.   I watch a great amount of mindless TV as well.  

But here is the thing, I really don't let him watch the news.  I never have.  However we do read the newspaper, and since he can read in the past few months we have been confronted with movie theater shootings and the tragedy at Sandy Hook.   The have been so many things that have happened in the news lately that I have used it as an opportunity to talk about the world around us.   

Yesterday I had a conversation with another parent.  We discussed what we let our kids watch on tv.  My take on network news is that it is sensationalized and tends to focus on the horrible things that happen in the world.   I know that there is evil.  I know that bad things happen.   I am just not sure that a six year old needs to see it.   I don't want him to see all of the bad things around us all the time without learning about some of the really great things that happen in our world. 

Then at a break at a work conference I caught that the verdict was in on the Jodi Arias trial.  People were cheering and acting like their sports team won a major series.   I kid you not.  I don't think it is great that someone is guilty of murder.  The judicial finding of guilt won't change the fact that a family lost a loved one to murder.  Nope, not one bit...it won't make them sleep better at night and for the most part, those that were cheering have probably never been touched by tragedy.  

I find the tv coverage laughable at best and disenchanting in the least.   I also found it ironic that this conversation had taken place this morning and I was instantly grateful that Munchkin won't be exposed to this three ring circus on the news for weeks to come.  

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