Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/we-are-what-we-watch-television-and-screen-time/5015647/
�" Situation �"A little girl and her father sat in their living room watching as a man swallowed fiery torches on the television screen. A visiting friend worried that the three-year-old girl should not see something so dangerous. The dad said, “She’s not really paying attention.”
As they spoke the scene changed to two acrobats �" one bent into an arch while the other climbed onto his stomach. At once the little girl bent backward and called out to the visitor, “Okay, now you climb on me!”
Children are paying attention.
�" Solution �"
Seeing is Believing
Children believe what they see because their brains are still developing. One adult friend remembers at about age three, hearing a woman on television say, “Hello. I am so glad to be with you today.” My friend, believing this total stranger could see her, ran from the room terrified. Children do not differentiate real from pretend until they are five or older, nor do they interpret what they see, as adults might.
When two preschoolers were told to “shake” before beginning a game, meaning to shake hands, they both began to wiggle and shake. Young children interpret things literally. Remember when television studios stopped airing the image of planes ...