Do media messages influence our children? Of course they do. Does the quantity of a child's media consumption make a difference in his or her development? Yes again.

Is that bad? Not necessarily. The answer depends on many things, such as:

• the age of your children
• whether you set (and enforce) limits on how much electronic media they can consume
• whether you watch TV with your kids, and sit down with them to play (or watch) their video/computers game
• whether you talk about what they see and hear in media, including your family values and your reactions to what they see and hear
• whether you let them have a TV or computer in their bedroom (clue: not good!)
• whether the adults in your house demonstrate good media consumption habits

It's not just what's on TV that's the problem. It's also how many hours the TV is on, and how many hours kids sit in front of a screen instead of engaging in active play, reading or other non-electronic activities. Wise parents control media usage (TV, videos, computer and video games, consistently monitor what their children see and hear, and engage in ongoing conversation about outside media messages that come into the home.
 
Kids love media! So, how do parents best learn to guide their families toward media literacy?
 
Begin with these steps. You don't have to do them in order, nor all at once. We've provided an estimate of how much time you might spend on each. The most important thing is to start now.

(15-30 minutes) Visit these websites with wonderful resources, articles and downloads on kids and media (a new window will open for each). Print out any that you find useful for your own situation.
•  National Institute on Media and the Family
•  Media-Awareness (a great Canadian site)
•  The Parents, Kids & Media section on the Center for Media Literacy's website
•  Common Sense Media. Sign up for their excellent e-mail newsletter.

(1-2 minutes) See our page on Kids, Parents & Media, where you'll find additional links to helpful information.

(5 minutes) Check out these Core Concepts of Media Literacy in both adult and “kid language” in this PDF download (Adobe Reader required). These represent the main ideas that kids (and their parents!) need to know about media. Don't try to memorize them now, but print the download so you can refer to it frequently and think about its ideas as you and your children use media in your lives.

 (5 minutes) Find a good time to talk to your spouse, partner or other adults living in your home about media use. Share your thoughts and ideas about your family media consumption in a non-judgmental way. If you think one or more adult family members should cut back, be ready -- many people love their media and have a hard time hearing reasons why they should consider changing their behavior. Don't expect to accomplish much of significance in your first conversation. Just talking about media usage -- making it something to pay attention to -- is good enough for your first try. Encourage the adults in your home to start talking about what they see and hear in media, as it happens. This will show children that we don't have to just be passive consumers of media messages. We can think about them, talk about them, and challenge them when appropriate. YOU are their best role model for doing this.

(10 minutes to a few hours) Think about what you can do to get other individuals and organizations in your community interested in media literacy education -- your local schools, after-school clubs and programs, religious education programs, etc. Use the resources we link to on this site to find materials you can use to start a conversation. Identify one other person in the organization who is excited and motivated to deal with media in our kids' lives, and work together as a team to champion the incorporation of media education into their programs. Virtually all adults know that media is a major influence in the life of children -- you should find plenty of interest and support.

(The rest of your life) FEEL GOOD ABOUT TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR FAMILY'S MEDIA “DIET.” Like food, media bring us pleasure. But get too much of it (or even a little of the wrong stuff, such as Internet porn), and the long-term consequences can be unhealthy for your children and for your family as a whole. Start now, and let us know if there's anything we can do for you.