The problem with fertile soil and a child’s brain…
Is that rogue seeds and thoughts take root…
Even though you didn’t plant them…
And when the seeds are tiny or you can’t even see them…
You can never be sure what’ll crop up…
Like what did in my eight-year-old granddaughter’s mind.
See, it started when I wanted to watch The Oscars the other night…
I, my niece from LA, and my two daughters…
Were snuggled on the couch entertaining ourselves…
By dishing on the stars—their dresses, their hair…
And even the men’s tuxes. Black on black on black—yuck!
A few minutes into The Oscars awards ceremony…
My granddaughter, who had also been watching…
Jumped up proclaiming, “It’s boring!”…
I thought that was an astute observation.
And then just last night, she had another astute observation.
While sitting next to me at the dinner table she announced,
“Grandma, I want to walk on the red carpet when I grow up.”
“Why?” I asked and surprised she even remembered that segment.
“Because then I’ll be famous like those movie stars I saw last night.”
“What made you think they were famous?”
“Because they were wearing pretty dresses …
And everyone was taking their picture.”
Well, for the next fifteen or so minutes…
The adults at the dinner table…
Kept explaining all other ways of being famous…
Including winning the Nobel Peace prize...
Or being president of the United States
But nothing really stuck in her head like the images from the red carpet.
And now it makes me wonder…
How many images has she already seen on TV and doesn’t talk about…
Are now planted in her head…
And forming opinions about what she wants to be when she grows up?
What do you think?
How deep an influence does TV and other media have on our kids future?
Always, Em-Musing
7 comments:
Yikes! We're saying we're going to have a bunch of Gossip Girls and American Idols running the country?? I think the influence is deep...
I think TV DEFINITELY influences our kid's future... and it sometimes makes me feel so guilty when I let them watch Nick Jr. for awhile so I can write/blog. *sigh*
Which is why we don't watch tv at my house. We've never had cable and when there is something on that I like I won't let her watch it with me. (usually just NCIS if I can stay up that late.)
She doesn't know who Myley or Hannah or Britney is. And that's the way I want it. I tell her all the time she can be whatever she wants to be.
She's begging me to let her get her ears pierced. She's 6. I tell her she has to wait until she's 12. Because, I didn't get mine done until I was 12. She doesn't like it but that's too bad. I'm the Mommy. I make the rules.
I think the media has a very big influence...on all of us. Kids and tweens and teens and adults. But I've read that parents and immediate family, including grandmas! have the MOST influence on how kids grow up and what they believe to be true. So, keep talking with your granddaughter and be an important counterbalance to all the images on TV, on the internet, in the magazines, on billboards, etc.
Thanks for weighing in guys
Hmmm... Good point.
On the other hand, a lot of our own thoughts are molded by what we see and read anyway.
:-)
Very true, Misha
Post a Comment