When third graders attack.....

**Catlady711** · 04-03-2008, 10:14 PM

It's not just the video games/cartoons influencing kids. What about all the ton of CSI, Cold Case, etc type shows. These type of shows basically step by step tell you how people were killed, and a person with a twisted and/or misguided mind could easily see these as a 'how to' on murder.

Many times kids are just left to go watch tv to stay out of the parents hair. The parents frequently don't supervise the viewing. And to top it all off many parents sit and watch tv shows like this with thier kids and never speak up on what was right/wrong with people's actions on the show, and never use the shows to help teach their kids reality from fantasy.

When I was growing up my mom not only supervised how much tv I watched but what I watched as well. Whenever I was watching tv mom would ask questions or point out things during commercials to help teach things to me. Heck mom even used real life situations (kid screaming and throwing a tantrum at the store/restaurant) to teach me how to behave and to learn lessons from things around me.

This is sadly lacking in many homes. Parents don't pay attention to the tv shows THEY'RE watching, to realize the influence on their kids, let alone use the time during comercials to teach their kids.

**JenBKR** · 04-05-2008, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by Catlady711

It's not just the video games/cartoons influencing kids. What about all the ton of CSI, Cold Case, etc type shows. These type of shows basically step by step tell you how people were killed, and a person with a twisted and/or misguided mind could easily see these as a 'how to' on murder.

Many times kids are just left to go watch tv to stay out of the parents hair. The parents frequently don't supervise the viewing. And to top it all off many parents sit and watch tv shows like this with thier kids and never speak up on what was right/wrong with people's actions on the show, and never use the shows to help teach their kids reality from fantasy.

When I was growing up my mom not only supervised how much tv I watched but what I watched as well. Whenever I was watching tv mom would ask questions or point out things during commercials to help teach things to me. Heck mom even used real life situations (kid screaming and throwing a tantrum at the store/restaurant) to teach me how to behave and to learn lessons from things around me.

This is sadly lacking in many homes. Parents don't pay attention to the tv shows THEY'RE watching, to realize the influence on their kids, let alone use the time during comercials to teach their kids.

Exactly - and there have been studies done that say that kids don't completely understand the difference between 'real' and 'fantasy' until age 16. I wonder if these third graders even understood what would actually happen to the teacher.

**DJFyrewolf36** · 04-05-2008, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by JenBKR

Exactly - and there have been studies done that say that kids don't completely understand the difference between 'real' and 'fantasy' until age 16. I wonder if these third graders even understood what would actually happen to the teacher.

What studies are those? I'd be interested in seeing that actually, as I thought I had a good grip on the differences at a young age. Maybe I'm an odd case though.

**dukedogsmom** · 04-05-2008, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by JenBKR

Exactly - and there have been studies done that say that kids don't completely understand the difference between 'real' and 'fantasy' until age 16

When you make a statement like that, you need to post facts to back it up. That's ridiculous! I knew real from fantasy way before then and I know I'm not the only one.

**DJFyrewolf36** · 04-05-2008, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by dukedogsmom

When you make a statement like that, you need to post facts to back it up. That's ridiculous! I knew real from fantasy way before then and I know I'm not the only one.

Thats why I asked for some info, I didn't think I was that unusual lol. I watched horror films from the time I was six. Probibly not "healthy" by todays standards but maybe because of that I can laugh at those kind of films now knowing that they aren't in any way real.
My mom got me into reading true crime books when I was about 8 or so. Those cases I KNEW were real, and real concequences happened. Kind of gave me a good grip on things I think, although my hubby says I shouldn't read such depressing literature lol.

**JenBKR** · 04-07-2008, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by dukedogsmom

When you make a statement like that, you need to post facts to back it up. That's ridiculous! I knew real from fantasy way before then and I know I'm not the only one.

Perhaps I should have been more specific.....for one thing, I apologize but I do not have any way to post a link to what I am talking about. It came from an adolescent psychology class I took in college.

I know that not ALL teenagers are this way...but many think that they are invincible, that they already know everything. Pair that with being so over-sensitized to violence in this society. Think about a child who watches violent tv and plays violent video games. Mom and dad tell them it's ok, the violence they see is not real. So the child kills people in a game, knowing it's not real, but he/she can't translate that to real life. They can't understand real violence.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it's only tv and video games to blame. And yes, I roll my eyes too when someone says, "the video games made me do it." But I do believe that many people, even adults, live in a fantasy world. Not knowing the difference between reality and fantasy isn't as unbelievable as you might think for a teenager. Maybe when you were 16 you didn't think that nothing bad could happen to you. Maybe you believed everything your parents told you and didn't think you were smarter than them. But unfortunately that's not how most 16 year olds are.

**Jessika** · 04-07-2008, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by JenBKR

Perhaps I should have been more specific.....for one thing, I apologize but I do not have any way to post a link to what I am talking about. It came from an adolescent psychology class I took in college.

I know that not ALL teenagers are this way...but many think that they are invincible, that they already know everything. Pair that with being so over-sensitized to violence in this society. Think about a child who watches violent tv and plays violent video games. Mom and dad tell them it's ok, the violence they see is not real. So the child kills people in a game, knowing it's not real, but he/she can't translate that to real life. They can't understand real violence.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it's only tv and video games to blame. And yes, I roll my eyes too when someone says, "the video games made me do it." But I do believe that many people, even adults, live in a fantasy world. Not knowing the difference between reality and fantasy isn't as unbelievable as you might think for a teenager. Maybe when you were 16 you didn't think that nothing bad could happen to you. Maybe you believed everything your parents told you and didn't think you were smarter than them. But unfortunately that's not how most 16 year olds are.

Not sure if this is quite it; I couldn't find anything specifically on children not being able to tell "real" from "fantasy" though I too have heard that theory and perhaps read a study or two myself, but I'll be darned if I can find anything on google right now lol

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/fa...game_faqs.html

**JenBKR** · 04-09-2008, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Jessika

Not sure if this is quite it; I couldn't find anything specifically on children not being able to tell "real" from "fantasy" though I too have heard that theory and perhaps read a study or two myself, but I'll be darned if I can find anything on google right now lol

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/fa...game_faqs.html

Thanks for the article, that's pretty much what I was trying to say as I was blabbering on