http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=468603&in_page_id=1770 Television and the Internet are making children disruptive, disrespectful and greedy, government-backed research has found. A study by the National Consumer Council will warn today: 'Those who spend lots of time in front of the TV and computer screen are more materialistic. 'These children argue more with their family, have a lower opinion of their parents and lower self-esteem.' The research will make worrying reading for Gordon Brown, who has said one of his priorities is to challenge the 'erosion' of childhood. He complained earlier this year that the Internet and TV had 'exposed children increasingly to the pressures of very aggressive advertising'. The NCC report claims to have uncovered a divided society where the influence of adverts are exerted unevenly across social groups. The authors found that deprived children are more likely to watch commercial television - as well as programmes made for an older audience. This means they are exposed to more adverts - and the ones they do watch may not be appropriate for their age group. The report found: 'Just over half of children - 51 per cent - from disadvantaged areas think that "when you grow up, the more money you have, the happier you are". Similarly, almost half of children - 47 per cent - in deprived areas would "rather spend my time buying things than doing almost anything else".' By contrast only 23 per cent of youngsters from affluent families believed that money was the key to happiness and that shopping was a good way to spend time. The NCC report, called Watching, Wanting and Wellbeing: Exploring the Links, added: 'These stark variations show that in some households the screen appears to be ever-present, particularly during mealtimes. 'In disadvantaged areas, for example, children are six times more likely to watch TV during the weekday evening meal. 'Furthermore, around one in four in disadvantaged areas say they have the TV on at lunchtime on Sunday, compared to only one in 30 from the better-off neighbourhoods.' The report could lead to Government action to extend controls on the advertising of junk food and other products - perhaps including a ban through to the 9pm watershed
I do think that children these days have lost their imagination and are desensitized to things that my generation might have found to be 'scary'.
Me and my wife have had this same conversation and pretty much agree. We were talking about children’s imaginations. While helping my brother by keeping an eye on his 4 y.o. We spent more time than she normally would ever in the backyard. He had built for her a nice wooden park style fort/slide/swing that she really was not using. By the end of the day the adults were having bbq. And she had discovered that the play-slide could be a ranch house. The front 40 had a whole herd of cattle, the lower 40 and apple orchard (crepe myrtles), the winding edge to the rear flower bed is a winding road along the eastern range, It leads to a store (where one can re-stock on ice-cream) and the other end has a gas station (the gas meter) A pine cone became an imaginary tv remote and a stick was a fence wall, a tool, etc. This was totally normal for me and my wife at 4 but totally a new idea for her. Sadly its been a month or so and she still plays the same imaginary world has not customized it to her own liking. Last weekend we had bbq brisket and uncle Joe got to show her how fun it is to take your shoes off and roll the pants up and hunt up and down the street for a perfect puddle that would make the ultimate splash. (it was sprinkling all day long.) Her mom was not as impressed.
Sadly this also happens to adults too, shadllow adults who think primarly of themselves. I've had to deal with one of them and it was always heartbreaking knowing that she was a zombie and I could do nothing.
but then there's the other side of the argument - parents like my husband and me who shelter our children too much. seriously, in our house 'stupid' and 'shut up' are bad words.. mainly because i'd go fucking nuts if the kids ever said that to me, but also b/c kids just shouldn't speak that way. when children do come over to play, i'm always astounded at how sheltered my children are. they know nothing about divorce, digimon/pokemon cards (whatever the hell that is) or bratz and so on. instead we still have my uncle wiggly books (no, i was not sexually abused by an uncle wiggily neither are my children) and we have puppet theaters and a huge dishwasher box in the living room that is a wonderful fort. the kids that come to play never want to leave b/c they have fun here. but again, those kids use language that mine have never heard and talk about things that just aren't talked about in our house. we're trying desperately not to turn them into social rejects but let them be children instead of little gangsters at 5 and 7. she's going into kindergarten in three weeks and he'll be in 2nd grade.
If I had children, I would be the same way. Kids are only kids for a short period of time. Too many kids are trying to grow up way too fast.
When you're young, you want to be old. When you're old, you want to be young. When you're middle aged however you just have breakdowns, because you're getting older but have lost all your youth
so i woke at 3 this morning laughing so hard. i dreamt i logged on to a tiff between disorder and dwaine and that diso called dwaine something just hysterical. and i remembered what it was at 3 but now i can't for the life of me access that file. all i know is i slept like hell last night and my back and shoulders just ache.
