What Are Your Children Really Watching?

Written by Lisa Workman


Saturday mornings. Cold cereal and Scooby Doo. How many parents started out our childhood weekends with this simple ritual? The trick was to wake up early enough to see all ofrepparttar Saturday morning cartoons because after about 10 am,repparttar 141243 children’s programming was over until Sunday night’s Wonderful World of Disney show came on.

My kids also like to get up on Saturday morning and watch cartoons. And on Sunday. And Monday… and Tuesday… You knowrepparttar 141244 rest. While I had only a couple of channels to choose from, my kids have access to 24 hour children’s programming on several channels, compliments of cable television. If you have a satellite dish, your children have access to even more programming.

More is better, right? Well, not always. With this abundance of television stations, we need to remember that not all television programming is appropriate for all audiences.

There are many parents and grandparents who hadrepparttar 141245 viewpoint that if it was a cartoon showrepparttar 141246 kids were watching, it was ok. Cartoon violence? Well, who hasn’t seen that coyote catch an anvil with his head forrepparttar 141247 umpteenth time?

The fact ofrepparttar 141248 matter is, when many parents were growing up, with our limited television choices, a little cartoon violence didn’t seem to make too much of a difference. Now our kids can choose to watch cartoon violence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And it isn’t just anvils dropping out ofrepparttar 141249 clear blue sky anymore. What kind of violence exists inrepparttar 141250 cartoons our kids are watching? No, Scooby Doo doesn’t go into a rabid rage and maul Shaggy when there are no more Scooby Snacks. But kid’s shows have battles, fights, explosions and characters making threats to injure or kill each other. And our kids are choosing to watch this programming over and over again.

So how can we help our kids to make better choices? Most families are unwilling to go cold turkey and give up all television programming, although I give KUDOS to those that are brave enough to do it. You’ve heard it before – limit what your kids are watching. But I’d like to add one more piece of advice: teach your children how to choose programs that are acceptable to you and your family’s values. This seems to berepparttar 141251 piece that is missing from most articles I read today onrepparttar 141252 issue of television viewing and children.

How do we do this? As you know, most television shows now carry a rating to give you an idea ofrepparttar 141253 type of content (TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-MA). Content descriptors have also been added to this system to give you additional information. These descriptors indicaterepparttar 141254 presence of suggestive dialogue (D), sexual behavior (S), foul language (L), or violence (V). These ratings can be used as a starting point for determining if a television show is appropriate for your child or family.

How To Make Your Own Gift Baskets

Written by Jennifer Shircel


Haven’t you always wanted to give someone a beautiful gift basket, but didn’t have a clue how to put one together? Gift baskets are such a wonderful gift and can be given for any occasion. Let me tell you how to make such an amazing gift basket even you won’t believe you’ve made it!

First, start with your “basket”. It doesn’t need to be your typical wicker basket, try using a toy dump truck and fill uprepparttar bucket, or use a laundry basket, a plastic container or even a purse, depending onrepparttar 141242 occasion and who it’s for.

Next, find your fillers. Make sure that what you buy will fit inside your basket. You wantrepparttar 141243 basket to look like it’s overflowing. Great fillers are small plants, disposable cameras, a book or a bottle of champagne (again, depending on who it’s for).

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