Tube Surfing: When Do You Change the Channel on Your Kids?

Raising kids and having to use the television at times as my “babysitter” made me think twice before turning on particular shows. I rarely would turn the channel to anything but PBS. If I chose to have my kids view another show, I would put in a VHS—yes, a VHS, not a DVD—of a Disney movie, or even what I found to be popular tapes at the time, Kids Songs. Filtering what my kids viewed at a young age was important, but eventually, as they got older, the Barney shows weren’t cutting it any longer. My kids grew out of the PBS shows and as adolescents strayed toward Nickelodeon, and today MTV, HBO, etc.

There were many cartoons on television to choose from in the 1990s when my kids were in their childhood ages: Nickelodeon’s Ren & Stimpy, and Pinky and The Brain, for example. 

Did I want my young children watching these shows? No.

Did I know their content and screen them out? Yes.

These were shows I would prevent my kids viewing due to language and violence, and I kindly introduced them to the PBS shows Barney and Sesame Street, and other Nickelodeon shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Rugrats.

I’m sure everyone can find something wrong with any cartoon or show, whether it be violence, attitude, language, the characters, but it’s all personal preference, belief and opinion. I am of the belief that it is how we raise our children away from the television that teaches them their manners, respect and responsibility. Yes, television can have an influence, good or bad, but when it comes down to discipline or leading your child in a correct path, it’s up to us as the parent to do our job—not a television. 

I am a pretty open-minded mom, and I have the confidence today in the way I have raised my three kids to know that if my kids watch a violent show, a show with bad language, etc.—which they will and do—that they have the common sense to view it as a source of fictional entertainment and not something to duplicate.

When it comes to television, it is up to us, as parents, to make rules, boundaries and decisions on what our children can and cannot view and at what age. But remember, there is more in society than television cartoons and shows that can influence our children—good or bad.