In article ,
Spiralmoons wrote:

I have read on here a few times that there are parents who don't watch the
news while their kids are in the room. Can I ask why? I have no formed
opinion on it and now that my ds is of the age (5) where he watches things
and can relate them to his life, I wonder if our house should do the same
(not watch news in front of the kids). Then again I don't want him to be
totally ignorant of current events, or is he too young to be exposed to the
awful things that can happen. So, again, can someone explain why they do
this or why they don't? So I can make a good decision before I start staying
up 'till 11:00!
Maybe I should just subscribe to the paper again! LOL!
--

TV news coverage often has some pretty upsetting visuals, which can be
too intense for some children. I wouldn't watch TV news with DD#2 in
the room until she was quite old, as pictures of someone bleeding or
being hurt or bombs going off upset her a great deal. Even with the
others, I would not watch extended coverage of a war or even a natural
disaster where many people had been injured and killed while they were
in the room; I'd talk about it, so they knew what was going on, but I
didn't think the constant barrage of "moving pictures" was good for
them. (Or for me, come to think of it!) On the other hand, I never
hesitated to listen to NPR news when the kids were around; I didn't
listen for hours on end, just because it isn't my style.

Dad talks about watching news coverage of the Viet Nam war with my
brother in the room, thinking my brother wasn't paying much attention.
There was news footage of a blindfolded, handcuffed man being shot and
killed. My brother was clearly extremely upset by this. I'm not sure
it's something I would want the average 5 yo to have to see.

But I can't imagine life without at least one daily newspaper!

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care