International Media Expert Gloria DeGaetanto helps parents understand research on media use, its implications for child development and what they can do about it.
The book, Parenting Well in a Media Age: Keeping Our Kids Human, by Gloria DeGaetano is the winner of the 2007 Best Product Award from iParenting Media. This book is a no nonsense guide for parents concerned about the ubiquitous presence of media in the lives of their children. DeGaetano presents research from the last 20 years showing the impact of media use--primarily television--on children. She likens the television to an obnoxious relative who moves into the house and begins to exert an increasingly powerful and negative influence over the entire family, but particularly the children. She asks, "...how would we parent our kids in such an environment?"
Time with Parents Trumps all else
Citing current research, DeGaetano urges parents to reclaim their power as the most influential force in their children’s lives by regulating media use. DeGaetano assures parents that the time children spent with mom and dad doing ordinary, every day activities like reading aloud, or participating in household chores, is far richer, and vastly more important than any time spent watching DVDs or television programs, no matter how educational or developmentally appropriate they are advertised to be.
Core Needs of Children
DeGaetano, an educator and CEO of the Parent Coaching Institute, explains the essential elements needed to become a healthy, creative, and well-adjusted human being. She calls these “The Vital Five.” These needs are:
- A loving parent-child relationship
- A rich inner life
- The capacity for image-making
- The ability for creative expression
- Participating as a contributor
DeGaetano explains that personal relationships contribute powerfully to our growth as human beings. Seemingly simple interactions with loving caregivers are the basis of the Vital Five, and foster important brain development, enabling even very young children to:
- Read facial expressions and body language
- Develop empathy for others
- Regulate their own strong emotions
- Calm themselves in stressful situations
- Develop complex language skills
- Significantly lengthen their attention spans
- Form strong mental images
All of which are essential for success in school and life, and all of which are thwarted when children spend hours in front of what DeGaetano calls “screen machines.” (televisions, videos, DVDs and video games.)
Focuses on the Positive
Though Parenting Well in a Media Age cites a growing body of research showing strong correlations between heavy screen usage by children and negative effects such as learning difficulties, behavior problems, childhood depression, anti-social behavior and obesity, this is not a doomsday book. The majority of the book focuses on what parents can do to create an environment that fosters healthy, happy children. These are not complex solutions for super-parents with loads of time on their hands, but sensible, down-to-earth ideas, and advice that any parent can incorporate into their daily routines to improve the quality of life for both children and adults.
As DeGaetano says in the introduction to her book, “We must re-invent ourselves to be conscious in how we use screen technologies, or they will use us.”
Source:
DeGaetano, Gloria, Parenting Well in a Media Age: Keeping Our Kids Human, Personhood Press, 2004
