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Overview
This authoritative, realistic guide explains why children are drawn to scary shows, why the current television rating system is inadequate - and how parents can select safe and appropriate shows for kids of various ages.
Synopsis
It's 2 a.m. and your toddler, who spent the evening watching television with his ten-year-old sister, is having a nightmare. What's going on here? Isn't the "plug-in drug" of the 1960s -- now offering hundreds of channels and a rating system -- a treasured family friend? Far from it. Joanne Cantor, an expert on children and media and a parent herself, offers a wake-up call to parents, teachers, and child-care providers that monitoring what enters their homes is now, more than ever, a genuine obligation. Based on her years of research and her experience as a parent, Cantor offers lots of real-life examples to help readers understand what children are capable of viewing safely. What's more, Cantor offers friendly advice on how to allay fears for different age groups.
Realistic -- television can be a good thing and, let's face it, it's here to stay -- reassuring, authoritative, Cantor is unrelenting in her quest to refine a rating system and offer children the best protection possible from the life-time of anguish that a misplaced moment of viewing can cause.
Library Journal
Nightmares, anxiety, intense fear, and physical pain are typical reactions that children have to scary TV. This very important book considers such childhood fears and how they affect us as teenagers and adults. Cantor, a student at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, comes down hard on TV programs, movie reruns, and TV news as the "uninvited intruders" in our home. What to do? Monitor very carefully, or discard the TV. Cantor offers ways to help children work through their fears, including distracting, desensitizing, and reasoning, and she analyzes movie ratings (Jaws, for example, is PG) and why we love violence so much. An excellent addition to public library shelves.--Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA