海角大神

In today鈥檚 media-saturated world, raising media literate children is an increasingly important goal. Our kids need No. 1, to understand how the media work; No.2, to be able to think critically about media content; and No. 3, learn how to create their own media texts 鈥� empowering them not just to consume, but also create.

In my previous blog explored my family鈥檚 approach to teaching our four-year-old son how the media work 鈥� particularly, how聽commercials聽work. From an early age, he learned my mantra: 鈥淐ommercials try to sell us things we don鈥檛 need.鈥� This simple concept helps him understand that commercials aren鈥檛 neutral or factual. They have an agenda: persuasion. And kids have such an innate sense of justice that the idea of being 鈥渢ricked鈥� really rankles them!

Although my son will often complain about commercials trying to sell him things he doesn鈥檛 need, some days, he has a little fun at my expense. He鈥檒l look at me with a wicked gleam in his eye, a smile playing on his lips, and say, 鈥淢ommy. I LIKE commercials.鈥� The little tease!

This always makes me smile, at least inwardly: If he has figured out that he can tease me about liking commercials, he has also figured out what my values are. And knowing what we value as a family is an important part of thinking critically about media content.

A couple of strategies have worked well in helping my four year old develop the ability to think critically about what he sees on screen, which is a fundamental part of being media literate. First, I make sure that we watch things together, and that while we鈥檙e viewing, we talk about what鈥檚 on screen in ways that draw upon our family鈥檚 values.

Second, I find opportunities to talk with him about his favorite shows at other times 鈥� like when we鈥檙e driving in the car, or having dinner, or chatting before bedtime 鈥� when we can have broader conversations, e.g., comparing different movies he likes.

By viewing media together, parents can help their children become media literate. This means that whenever possible, I watch programs with my son, so that I鈥檓 present to see and hear his reactions.

But viewing together is not enough;聽active聽viewing is key. This means I talk with my son about what we are seeing. I talk back to the screen, share my ideas and concerns with my son, and respond to anything he says, too.

We wind up talking about characters鈥� behaviors a lot. Lots of kids鈥� programs focus on bad behaviors. Academic studies show that even prosocial children鈥檚 media, like the kind found on PBS that are meant to teach lessons about聽good聽behavior, spend聽way聽too much time modeling bad behavior. The result: little kids often don鈥檛 pick up on the resolution or good behavior that such programs mean to encourage. The exciting and interesting bad behaviors get all the attention.

Because I鈥檓 aware of this problem, when my son and I are watching movies or television programs together, I鈥檓 quick to point out on-screen behaviors that I don鈥檛 like 鈥� in a gentle way, of course. I might say, 鈥淭homas should tell Sir Topham Hat the truth!鈥� or 鈥淕ee, I don鈥檛 like the way the Witch is talking to Rapunzel right now 鈥� that鈥檚 cruel,鈥� or 鈥淯h-oh, Spike is being really greedy! That鈥檚 not nice.鈥�

In the interest of positive reinforcement, I鈥檒l point out good behaviors, too. 鈥淭hat was really kind of Kanta to let the girls take his umbrella,鈥� or 鈥淚t was so clever how Word Girl figured that out,鈥� or 鈥淩arity is so generous with her friends.鈥�

Sometimes, I鈥檒l phrase my commentary as questions: 鈥淒o you think that鈥檚 a good idea?鈥� or 鈥淲hat do you think of that?鈥�

What鈥檚 great is that the older he gets, the more often he鈥檒l turn to me and offer the kinds of commentary that I model for him. For example, we recently watched "Beauty and the Beast"听together for the first time; he鈥檇 been asking about it for a while.聽鈥漈he Beast shouldn鈥檛 yell like that,鈥� he told me. 鈥淚t鈥檚 naughty.鈥� Then, later, when Belle appeared in her gold dress for the ballroom scene: 鈥淗ey, where did her blue dress go that I like??鈥� (blue is his favorite color.) Whatever his comments are, I like to hear them 鈥� and I make sure to give him an answer so he knows I鈥檓 listening.

Even though my son is only four, I鈥檝e had some conversations with him about topics or behaviors that are shown across more than one program and movie. Such conversations need to take place while the television is off, so I鈥檝e found it important to pay attention to his interests and his reactions while we鈥檙e viewing things together, to gauge what聽丑别听might like to talk about later.

For example, my son has been interested in the concept of 鈥渢hieves鈥� since he was about two-and-a-half years old. One day, our family were enjoying a picnic on a park bench in Salem, Mass., when a sneaky seagull stole his sandwich! It just crept up behind us and grabbed it through the slats in the bench. To say we were caught off guard is an understatement.

Our little guy was really upset about losing his sandwich this way, so we encouraged him to shoo the nearby seagulls away by shouting, 鈥淕o away, thieves!鈥� He seemed a bit empowered by his ability to fight back.

Now, anytime we are at the beach or another location where seagulls approach, he is vigilant about shooing them away, saying, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have our food, thieves!鈥� He鈥檚 even noticed seagulls creeping up on other families and seems to have made it his personal mission to try to scare encroaching seagulls away.聽He doesn鈥檛 like thieves.

About a year ago, he had an experience with a聽real聽thief when聽my iPhone was stolen while we were running errands in the mall. I wound up spending a couple of hours in the mall鈥檚 Apple store, tracking the phone鈥檚 whereabouts on their computers (鈥淔ind my iPhone鈥� is an amazing application) and giving a police report to an officer who came to meet me. We were actually able to recover it that same night 鈥� but that is a story for another day!

In the midst of all the excitement about mommy鈥檚 phone being stolen, my son was聽amazed to learn that people could be thieves, too 鈥撀�not just seagulls.

Oh.

Yes, we said; some people are thieves!

Then came the inevitable, perplexed question: 鈥淲hy?鈥�

Well, because sometimes, people make bad decisions.

So, between the seagulls and the iPhone theft, thieves have been an occasionally recurring topic of conversation. (Key questions he鈥檚 asked have included: 鈥淒o thieves live in houses?鈥� and 鈥淒o thieves have teeth?鈥�)

And guess what? After becoming enamored of the Disney films "Tangled"听and "Aladdin,"听he realized that Flynn and Aladdin are thieves. Thieves! Uh-oh. He had a hard time making sense of this, since both are really likable characters, and he feels very keenly that stealing is wrong.

So we鈥檝e talked a lot about why Flynn and Aladdin are thieves, and the differences between the two characters. Flynn seems to steal because he鈥檚 greedy and thinks it鈥檚 fun; in his verse of the 鈥淚鈥檝e Got A Dream鈥� song, he sings that his only dream is to be 鈥渟urrounded by enormous piles of money.鈥� In contrast, Aladdin is a boy without parents who steals food because otherwise, he won鈥檛 eat. And he鈥檚 not greedy, either: in an early scene in the film, he gives his stolen bread away to littler kids who are also hungry, showing that he is a kind person.

As a result of these conversations, when we鈥檙e watching "Tangled," he will sometimes offer his own running commentary. He鈥檒l say things to me like, 鈥淔lynn shouldn鈥檛 be a thief! That鈥檚 too naughty,鈥� or聽鈥�Poor Aladdin! He is a thief because he doesn鈥檛 have any mommy or daddy or food. He doesn鈥檛 want to be a thief.鈥�

In my opinion, being able to identify differences between on-screen characters and their motivations is a form of age-appropriate media literacy. It鈥檚 the result of talking and thinking critically about how people are represented, and why characters are shown doing the things they do. I鈥檓 glad that my child has a basic understanding that聽depictions聽of bad behaviors don鈥檛 make those bad behaviors okay, even when the characters engaged in them are fun and exciting.

In other words, media literacy can be developed in simple, age appropriate ways, connected with real world experiences.

My hope is that these conversations are laying important groundwork for the future, making it clear that we discuss and think critically about media content in our family.聽Considering the content he鈥檒l likely see later in childhood and in adolescence, I think it鈥檚 crucial to establish parent-child communication and critical thinking practices as the norm聽now.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs.聽Rebecca Hains blogs at聽