Over the weekend, I interviewed both my mom, Donna, and my older sister, Joan.
My mother has 5 children, ages ranging between 33 and 14.
My sister has two children, 7 and 6 months.
When asked about how they think the media affects their children, my mom and my sister had differing opinions.
My mom is 55 and believes that the media hasn't really affected her children. She explained that she would never allow a young child to watch a movie that was too mature in nature for their specific ages, but she never overly monitored us.
When I was younger, this was true. My mom would always watch PG 13 or R movies before my sisters and I were allowed to watch them, but if she saw it as nothing too big of a deal, we were allowed to watch it. Generally if I or my sisters watched a movie with our mom that had graphic violence, or themes that were too mature for us to grasp, we'd talk about the movie after and she would explain what we didn't understand. I distinctly remember watching the very graphic first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan when I was about 10. After, my mom explained that war is very similar to that. War isn't a pretty or glamorous thing. These men were risking their lives and sanity to protect our rights at home.
My sister, Joan, is 31 and believes that the media can really affect her children. She explained that she only allows Seth, her 7 year old son, to watch tv for an hour a day and that most of the channels are blocked with parental controls. She previews all the movies, cds, and video games that Seth is exposed to and makes sure that there are other ways for him to entertain himself around the house. There are always crayons, books, and toys for him to play with.
My sister and my mother have very different views on the media's effect on children but both are concerned with the images that can be exposed prematurely.
One weekend, I visited a friend of mine and we decided to get nostalgic and watch some old Disney movies. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was our first pick. A few minutes into the movie, we quickly realized that two of Quasimodo's gargoyle friends, Victor and Hugo were actually a reference to the original story's author, Victor Hugo. (The third gargoyle is Laverne, a name that is just plain funny in context.)