Parent Tips

Ten Ways You Can Use Television Actively With Your Children

Pre-School/Elementary School

1. Ask simple questions about the programs your young children watch. It’s best if you can watch with them, but even if all you see is a few minutes, show an interest in what they think about the program. You may be surprised by how much they understand once you ask them to explain what they’re watching.
2. Play “Real or Make Believe.” Ask whether a character is made-up or real-life. Could an object move by itself or an animal talk? Can they guess how an effect was done, if it couldn’t happen in real life? Why do they think the effect was done?
3. Let TV programs lead to other activities. Invite them to draw pictures of the whales they saw in that nature documentary. Make up a superhero, complete with a list of extraordinary powers. Have them act out or even videotape their own TV show. They can even create their own sport and decide on the rules.
4. During program breaks, ask your children what they think will happen next. Compare their predictions with what does happen. Ask if they think the characters would really do what they did. Why or why not?
5. Give young children easy-to-understand categories of the different things they see on TV, and make a game of spotting them. For example, at any given time, is TV trying to “sell” them something, “teach” them about something, or “entertain” them?

Middle School/High School

1. Use TV to capture your children’s curiosity. Encourage them to go to the library to learn more about issues or ideas raised by programs they like. When sensitive topics are raised on TV, seize the opportunity to open a discussion. Ask your kids how they feel about it; explain how you feel.
2. Look for connections to books. Your kids may particularly enjoy a movie, TV show or even a video game based on a book; they may be engaged by a plot line in a sitcom or cartoon that came from a story. Encourage them to read the book, and then compare what they’ve read to what they’ve seen. Ask them whether characters or scenes from the book were left out, and why.
3. Learn geography from TV. Weather reports, news reports, documentaries, and even sports can take viewers to new places. Keep an atlas, globe or big wall map near the TV set, and see where those places really are. Make a game of it by putting pins in every location they’ve seen on TV.
4. Discuss point of view. Whether it’s a news report, a documentary, or a movie, ask your children who’s telling the story. How would it have been different if someone else—a different character, or the subject of the news story instead of the reporter—had told it?
5. Turn the sound off and have your kids add their own narration or sound effects. What kind of music do they think is being played to go with the pictures? What music would be totally wrong?

For more information about ways parents can apply media literacy skills like these in the home, check out these articles from our publications archive:

• New Media, New Rules from Cable in the Classroom Magazine, July/August 2006
• Screen Time, Quality Time from Access Learning magazine, July/August 2005