by Matt Remley

Created on: February 04, 2009   Last Updated: February 10, 2009

Parenting can be a challenge, especially with all of the new obstacles that children face these days. Many people blame children's social disorders or behavior on excessive viewing of television. Which brings us to the question, should parents raise their children without television or allow them to view it?

It is in my opinion that parents should ultimately decide for themselves and their children whether or not television is a danger or not. However watching television does have many pros that cannot and should not be ignored by parents. Look at your television, imagine it being a gateway to many different worlds, and think about how much there is to learn about that world.

Now think of children, not just yours but all of them. They are the essence of innocence, and have not yet been corrupted by what us adults know as the real world. We can give them the opportunity while they are still young to learn about different worlds and cultures allowing them to have an open mind about whatever they see when they do enter the real world.

Needless to say there are many exceptions to the rules, for example it wouldn't be right for a child to watch an episode of the Real World or Sex In The City. When deciding what a child should watch, perhaps it is best if a parent educates themselves on TV Parental Guidelines.

For example if the parent owns digital cable or satellite, on the television guide beside shows it displays a rating. When checking for ratings, a G rating would mean that the program is suitable for every age group. This system of ratings is similar to that used with video games, where each one is labeled with a rating.

In addition parents could time how much television their children watch, just to make sure they don't watch too much. It seems like all parents have a problem with their children doing too much of one thing, so maybe the issue isn't them watching too much television.

From parental controls on next generation cable/satellite systems, or the already useful rating systems, there are many ways for parents to keep children safe while watching television. Parents should attempt to learn about each of these safeguards before taking away the remote from a child.

Children from the 1980's and on have been growing up with several forms of media, one being television. That generation also saw the invention and mass production of video games, and they didn't turn out to be mindless zombies. Television may have bad programming on certain channels but it's no reason to keep children from watching television altogether.

If you ask me watching television isn't a problem, there are many things that children can learn from it even at the risk of having to explain things such as life and death to them early. They have to learn about those situations one day, don't be afraid of them encountering them as they are a part of life.

Learn more about this author, Matt Remley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.