Violence In Our Children

There are unfortunately a lot of factors that can and will effect or impact the behaviors of children in this day and age. Sad to say that most of it could be contained and rectified but isn’t because our standards and morals in the world have changed. For example: T.V. shows and movies…they are all about murder, sex, and drugs. You don’t see any family movies out anymore that are clean and that you can watch without feeling uncomfortable around your children. Even all the new “kid” movies that the kids love so much like Shrek, Open Season, Call of the Wild and all those, they are all filled with adult humor. Sure some of the kids don’t catch the punch line but why bother putting it in there? To amuse the adult that took the child to see it?

{sidebar id=1}Why should we be amused by the trash that is ultimately harming our children? I mean really, look at the Tom and Jerry cartoons that everyone loves so much. They blow each other up, hit with frying pans and throw knives at each other, just to mention a few. Things like this are planting seeds in our children’s minds for violence. Letting them think that it is funny and acceptable does not help at all. And the other factor is that in some cases, people use the T.V. as the babysitter. It is a lot easier to place your child in front of the T.V. and let them get lost in all the shows than it is to spend some quality time with them and talk to them. If parents today would find time to spend with their children, talking to them and finding out what is on their mind and what is going on in their lives, I truly believe that a lot of the violence would be avoided and there would be plenty more “happy homes”. But that is only my opinion.

According to the research provided, some of the traits and behaviors that parents and childhood providers would be able to spot before childhood violence would be:

Temper tantrums lasting over 15 minutes that cannot be calmed by parents or caregivers;
Aggressive outbursts for no reason;
Overly active, impulsive, and fearless behavior;
Consistently refusing to follow directions and listen to adults;
No or little attachment to parents;
Frequently watches violence on T.V.;
Engages in play that has a violent theme;
Is cruel to animals and other children.

So by paying close attention and getting involved with your children you will notice these traits and be able to handle them before it is out of control. For more information about violence in children please visit Child & Adolescent Health, http://www.nimh.nnih.gov/publicat/childmenu.cfm and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, http://www.aacap.org

Linda Wicker
Crawfordville

This letter originally published on March 12, 2008.

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