Do you watch the news with your kids

Celestrina wrote: Considering the frighting things that go on in the world, do you let your kids watch the news? Anything can be shown, from the war to crimes committed in your own neighborhood, including such topics as rape, murder, child abduction. Sometimes rather graphic pictures are shown as well. When they ask questions about these subjects, how do you answer them? What age did you start watching the news with them?

luvmykids replied: I don't, because of what you mentioned. My kids will find out soon enough what a crappy place this world can be

If they happen to hear something from someone/where else, I usually tell them there are bad people out there and sometimes they do bad stuff to others, and leave it at that.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: We do. the only time a problem was ever caused from something on TV was when Katy was watching a St. Jude commercial thing and I woke up to her crying sitting on the foot of my bed because there were all these sick/dying babies. We are extremely open with our kids.

mom21kid2dogs replied: Absolutely not. The closest she gets to new is watching the weather channel. Heck, we change the channel during football games when all the beer and viagra commercials come on. I'm all for open but I certainly don't expose my child to things beyond her ability to understand and comprehend.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: We don't have tv right now, so we don't really have an option, but I don't think I'd make a point to watch it with mine at their ages. When they are a bit older though and can understand what's going on I think I would. My first instinct is to not to, but I grew up so sheltered and had absolutely NO idea what was going on in the world around me. It's embarrassing now as an adult, because I still don't know much about a lot of things that happened during the years i was growing up - even as a teen. And I still struggle with paying attention to what's going on in the world or in our country - or even in my state. I'm always hearing about things like 2 or 3 weeks after they happen.

MommyToAshley replied: Nope... we don't let Ashley watch the news for the very reason you mentioned. Now, when the election was going on, we always had it on a news channel but they rarely talked about anything else than the candidates.

msoulz replied: No we do not. I think the news contributes to many kids' anxiety issues. Too much too soon. It is tough enough for adults to comprehend what awful things can happen much less kids.

Nina J replied: If the news is on and they're in the room then they might watch it.

I don't think you can wrap your kids in cotton wool. But in all honesty, I doubt my children would be able to comprehend things like rape and murder. They do not know what rape is.

Although, I will admit the American news is very different from the news we have. I usually do not watch CNN or American news channels but I happened to have it on CNN the other day. Your news is very depressing. I dont know though, there is an average of 200 murders in my country a year, so we don't really have these things everyday. Like shootings and murders and things, I would say the majority of news stories we have on those are from overseas, so for my children it is more of a thing that is far, far away. Which is not really reality, bad things happen everywhere. It is just not so frequent here.

My3LilMonkeys replied: I don't even watch the news so no, I don't watch it with my kids. They do see it occasionally at their grandparent's house but it is usually the local news, which generally isn't completely terrible.

Calimama replied: No way.

sc_mom2five replied: We don't generally watch the news as a scheduled daily thing. I usually try to watch about twice a week just to see what's happening in the world or I'll watch it at 11pm unless I know there's something I wanted to see coming on. We don't keep the kids from watching the news with us but generally if they are watching tv it's something on the channels they are allowed to watch and it's on their tv's in their rooms. If I am watching anything on tv that I don't find appropriate for my kids I always send them to their rooms until it's over. Our oldest daughter is allowed to watch for the most part because she's at the age that she is learning to form her own opinions and see the world for what it really is. She's got a good head on her shoulders so I don't worry about what she sees as much and if it's something that worries her she will bring it to us to discuss.

So overall the answer is Yes my kids can and do sometimes watch the news with us.

coasterqueen replied:
Same here. Well I don't flip the channel on commercials, but 9 times out of 10 when they are awake we have cartoons on. They do hear Fox News sometimes but it's usually when they are talking about the stock market. Otherwise every time we've tried to have the news on Kylie has asked way too many questions and ones that I don't think she needs to think about at this age. She is very sensitive and worries already about things she doesn't need to.

lisar replied: Lexi doesnt watch the news, but she will watch some things on the war. Mainly cause her favorite person is in the Army and she worries about him. Although he is not in Iraq she still worries because he isnt here. I dont lie to her about it, and she will ask questions. As for the little girl that missing, she has seen that and her response was "they need a dog". She knows that if someone was to break in the house that Cassie would raise cane and probably wake me and dh up. ( I like to believe this to help ease my mind)

moped replied: Interesting post because Jacks FAVORITE person in the world is Obama...he seriously LOVES him! He knows he is on the news most nights so wants to see him, he even asks to watch CNN so he can see Obama. There are some parts I will distract him or soemthing, but yes he likes the news and weather!

Crystalina replied: My kids watch the news with me. I'm a news fanatic and it's on all the time. I say I "watch it with them" but really they don't watch it. They will go in their room and watch what they want to but I am not dumb enough to think they don't hear whats going on. If they are doing something in the living room or on the computer and the news is on I know they hear it. All of it. They hear about the rapes and murders and the question of both have come up. With rape I described it as a boy kissing a girl when she doesn't want to kiss him and sometimes hitting her and being real mean to her. IMO (for my kids) it lets them know that it's NOT right for that to happen and only bad guys touch or kiss a girl when she doesn't want to be touched or kissed. I can use the whole "kissing" thing rather then the "intercourse" thing because right now my kids think that kissing is soooo gross!! Not to mention there is no need to go into the intercourse part of it. They are way too young for all the details but I do want them to know jest of it.
As for the murder part, I tell them that there are bad guys/girls in the world who sometimes kill people when they are mad at them and that that's why we have police officers (we live in Trooperville so they know all about State Troopers) and that the police men always put the bad guys in prison so they can't get anyone else. Then they rattle off our neighbors names and say "they will protect us?" and I say, "Yep, we are surrounded so no bad guys will get to us."


Hopefully.

Crystalina replied:
My kids love him also and they asked me two days ago if they can get Obama posters for their bedroom walls. I told that OF COURSE they can.

You should have seen the look dh gave me. He is not a fan.