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Entertainment Topics
Media Influence in Your Home
Two Cases
While I was driving in the car with my teen daughter, the radio was tuned to her favorite station. I was jarred by lyrics that seemed to suggest suicide.
I asked her what she thought the artist was saying, and she replied that he felt he was nearing death, but not contemplating suicide. A lively discussion entailed that would not have come up in natural conversation.
On the other hand, I came home later that week to find my 10-year-old playing rock star with her friend, and the boom box blasting, “I’m your candy man.” At first, red flags went up. But I quickly realized she was dancing happily to visions of sugar plums (more likely, Reese’s Pieces) and let it go.
Music’s influence goes far beyond its words. Kids do play rock star with less-than-innocent outcomes. A parent doesn’t need to go any further than the local high school hallways to find the effect that pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara have had on styles—much to the chagrin of principals everywhere. Even the once-conservative Sears sported the bare-midriff look on its 2001 back-to-school sales flyer.
Playing dress-code cop to a daughter is the easy part; how do you safeguard your son from the classroom “visuals”?
— Rhonda Handlon
"Media Influence in Your Home" first appeared in Plugged In magazine.
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