Help+me+with+My+Super+Hero

Ian BurkeIan Burke 11/09/09 BTMM 4497 __Probing a Parent__ Sitting down with a friend of mine who is a single parent of a five year old boy, Amy was excited to share her feelings about Nathan and his media habits. Amy still lives with her parents and her two older brothers. I addressed more topics than just media violence and video games, being that the child was only five and my only knowledge of his allowed media consumption was //Blue’s Clues, Imagination Movers, Sesame Street,// and classic cartoons such as //Tom and Jerry, Yogie Bear,// etc. My assumptions of a five year old coming into contact with violent media and adult content were totally misled. Nathan has had many instances with video games, television and movies with violent themes. This is due to his unsupervised play dates with friends due to parents who lack watchful eyes. My first question to Amy after hearing this was “How has this affected his attitude or behavior?” Amy recalls the first instance he came home from a friend’s house where they played //Street Fighter// and watched the fabled //Superman// cartoon movies all day: “He came home and almost instantly (when he jumped out of the car) went to hit Michael (Nathan’s uncle). He tried running into him all day, trying to knock him down and wrestle, imitating his fabled super hero actions. For a little while it was cute and playful but he persisted to keep it up and became more aggressive, after a while he had to be put in time out.” For many children, mimicking a new idea is very common and as Nathan calmed down after the first day of his first interaction; when Nathan went back to his friends, his school antics began. Amy has been called into the office for Nathan’s behavior on several occasions for his lack of discipline and use of violent behavior with other children in class. “He tries to fight, he is a bigger kid than most of his classmates and to him it’s playing but to the kids he’s trying to wrestle with, it doesn’t seem like it.” With Amy’s new found disciplinary tactics of time-out and taking away TV privileges, Nathan seems to have calmed down slightly at home, but his in school behavior is another story. This is due to the fact that at home he is limited to calm and educational media (Blue’s Clues and Diego programs) with only mild slap-stick action/humor with classic cartoons (Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny). But now that Nathan has been exposed to media that he is normally not permitted to see, he carries out mimicking actions to try to blend in at school with kids who normally view this type of content regularly. “The only way I can stop him from seeing anything violent or acting anything out is by punishing him by not allowing him to watch those shows or by disciplining him with time-outs and talking to him sternly.” As Amy tries to research herself on parenting advice and is helped by her family, she understands that broadcasting companies only care about money and feels that they will only change their tactics and ways if doing so will bring in more revenue. Until that time the only defense is to limit viewing of such shows and to provide negative feedback after Nathan uses bad behavior.