Protecting your kids from the MSM

How do you fellow ATS'ers go about protecting your small children from the effects of the MSM?

As an experiment, I've disconnected all television in the house & replaced them with PC's. The only commercials we see now are whatever comes up from Hulu - everything else is downloaded & watched commercial free.
The kids room is no different - they've got over 1200 shows to pick from. They're not bombarded constantly by cereal, candy, toy commercials and it's made a difference in the way they act.
The music we listen to isn't mainstream at all - although they're only 7 and 5, they have a few artists they like but then again they can listen to the Barney theme & enjoy that as well.

We discourage their consumption of candy & sodas, while encouraging various fruits & vegetables...since they were old enough to eat solid food.

Do any of you think it makes a difference if children are exposed to commercials on television?

I think it makes a great deal of difference. Their mind will be less clouded than it would be with all the "information" that commercials give you. And teaching them how to research their own topics, or their own toys would be a good idea, too, as it teaches them to rationally think things through.

It might become a problem as they start getting older and into their teenage years, as the rest of the children were born into the msm, so they might feel a bit of peer pressure to do whatever it is their school friends are doing. However, you can't shield them for life, so I think that if you start talking to them little by little and explaining why you do the things you do, it might help them stay on track, if you know what I mean.

Kudos to you, though. If I had children, I'd raise them the same way.

reply to post by sykickvision


The best thing to do is never have kids, like me, your better off in more ways than you can imagine.

But if you do have kids, a little tv will do no harm. Just record the shows, take the ads out and let them watch. I would not advise people to watch any tv that has ads. Even henry admits americans are different from europeans in many ways.

Tv is ok but as long as you take the ads out and give them programs for there age group. Just like you watching discovery you can learn. Kids can learn from tv, but i would not advise too much.

Tv is at its worst when you watch it with all the ads, and you let the people control what you watch. A little tv will not harm your kid, but make sure you know its for there age group, and make sure you do not let them watch from tv, but record it and edit out ads etc... So they watch the programs all in one go and with no disruption, like ads, which are done like that for a reason.

reply to post by sykickvision



Good job. (S&F too)

...I raised my daughter with NO TV in the home, just movies - til she was about 13. ...Her grade school in Santa Fe, New Mexico provided 'media education' and taught students how to 'deconstruct the media.' Still it wasn't really enough (we moved away when she was 10) - and she was fairly overwhelmed when finally exposed.

My thought - better than non-exposure, controlled exposure, with LOTS of talking, teaching and deconstructing (ie., what did that make you feel like / feel like doing? Do you know why? Can you figure out why it made you feel that way?)

Good luck!

It makes a LOAD of difference! When my kids watch tv the only time I hear a peep from them is when they ask for the toy they just saw advertised. Or the candy/ cereal ect. T.V is the devil.

Sure it makes a difference and not juts with children! They call TV the boob tube for a reason. People will come home and turn it on and stare at if for hours.... It is almost like a drug.

We sit there soaking up all these ads and commercials and don't give it a second thought.... One difference that less TV makes, is that it allows you more of an opportunity to get outside and get some exercise.

I think everyone should turn their TV's and computers off and do so for one week. See how they feel.

Good for you, this is an excellent way to raise children. I would recommend if possible that you home school - children are picking up just as much negative from the school as just about anywhere else. They can join the Y or youth groups for socialization. Just a thought!

The schools are really bad as far as exposure to other kids that are immersed in the MSM propaganda on a daily basis.
I can tell whenever my kids start asking/begging for something it's because of something someone said and/or brought to school.

It really doesn't help that the schools indoctrinate children as far as celebration of the holidays goes either. I have no problems with celebrating holidays, and/or birthdays. What I DO have a problem with is the "wind up" to the holidays that promotes spending massive amounts of cash in decorating for the holidays or in the celebration of it altogether. Every year in the stores they have some new contraption made of cheap plastic with fancy lights on it to set out in your yard & fill with air so that passerby's can view it. I've seen massive snowglobes, robotic mummies & witches, reindeer.....and people BUY this stuff.

The holidays aren't about acquiring possessions (yet the MSM will make you think it is) it's about enjoying time together with the people that mean the most to you.

Personally, I believe that the less time spent at the tv or on the computer, the better (kids especially) as there are plenty of reasons to believe it hampers growth and development. Experiential education/fun/play is by far, the better way for kids to develop and the more time they have to do this, the better off they are in the long run.

Originally posted by andy1033
reply to post by sykickvision

 

The best thing to do is never have kids, like me, your better off in more ways than you can imagine.

Only someone without kids would say something like that. Without them Andy, you can never know how good it feels to be a part of their lives, therfore, IMO you have no experience to base your opinion on.

Everything in moderation, TV included.

I hate the Disney programmes with a passion, but the kids watch them now and again. Its almost an education in itself though, and a standing joke now in our house. When they've watched something like Hannah Montanna, Wizard of Waverly Place or whatever else rubbish is on, i ask them with a smile, "Now tell me what you've learnt from that?"

They are starting to realise that they are all the same, gotta be good looking, gotta be popular, you get nowhere unless you are a star!!!

Ads this time of year are a nightmare, non-stop toys coming up to xmas. So yeah, in this house tv is kept to a minimum.

There are other things to do.

If it causes a problem turning the tv off, take the fuse out and tell the kids the tv's broken. They seem to accept it better and find other things to do.

Its up to the parents too, YOU find things for them to do...or god forbid the thought....do something with them!

CX.

reply to post by sykickvision


Definitely , and I commend you for your Logic in Rasing your Children ! ....

reply to post by LadySkadi


I think that controlled exposure would be the preferred method, but it has to be instilled when the child is old enough to know the difference.
They will arrive at a point in their lives where all of our efforts to shield them will be ineffective. Keeping them out of it is not the same as educating them properly to know the difference. I think that if they are shielded from it when they are young, by the time their minds mature enough to grasp the concept of it, maybe hopefully they will be able to discern it for what it really is.

Yes, we all need protection from the msm, children especially so.

I used to allow mine to watch the telly a lot. They were not permitted sets in their bedrooms. One day, during school holidays when they had all been playing up, I decided that the sanction appropriate to differing gender and age, was a week long complete tv ban. They were not happy! I decided to put proactivity aside and disengage, leave them to it, provide responsive parenting only and see what happens.

Day one, I had three bored, stroppy and generally obnoxious children hanging about the house, bumping into things making a noise and a mess and seeking to annoy each other. Doors got slammed and I sniffed a slight beligerence in the air.

Day two, my eldest daughter rediscovered the joys of pen and paper, crayons and glue and immersed herself in such, much to the annoyance of her big brother. My youngest daughter, who would have followed her sister to the moon soon became a nuisance and was banished to mum, effectively curtailing my reprieve. My son ruthlessly maintained his obnoxousness and seemed to be practicing scowls and grimaces.

Day three, they began to conspire. They seemed unsure who should make the initial approach, to apologise for being unruly, tell me they were bored and ask if they could have the telly back.

Day four, the deal was done. They came to me en-mass, they had their story straight, they each contributed honestly and without rancour or blame. I thanked them and stood firm in the face of their heart tugging plea and challenged them to find something else to do. This disappointment did not go down too well. My elder two sulked for a few hours, each their own version of, whilst the irrepressable youngest got on with the business of being irrepressable.

Day five I found my children playing a board game that was age appropriate to the youngest child! They were talking to eachother about normal kid stuff, about mates, about games and places and just stuff, about eachother even, life!

At dinner the night before the telly ban was over, I asked my children what they really thought about the experience. Each told me of the programmes they missed, why they thought they should not be banned again and how nice it was to do their own thing sometimes and not care about television. My suprise at this outcome helped grow my understanding of the insidiously negative influence of the television. At best, I think it numbs the imagination, the critical and reasoning faculties and suppresses activity. This negative imput upsets the body's natural harmonies, energy is not burned and is sometimes sublimated into negative output, hence the growing frustrations my children were experiencing that initially led to the tv ban. After that, I maintained television as a concept as a normal dinner table family discussion and just tried to keep the dialogue open. We still watched television as a family but my children began making other choices for how to spend home based chill-downs.

Fairly recently, there was a television documentary made by people in the industry, about how advertising and marketing works, how we were all susceptible. Participants admitted that even though they knew how ad's, through visual and auditory stimulant, appealed to certain neuro-receptors, causing emotional response and creating mental associations (NLP), they too bought into 'brand awareness' and 'loyalty'.