As a journalist, my job is to expose. As a mother, my instinct is to protect. My two roles often crash into conflict when it comes to my children and the day's news.
As a rule, I don't let my two- and five-year olds watch the news. In fact, I don't let them watch much TV at all beyond a few shows on Noggin and PBS. My attitude about that has completely changed. BEFORE having kids, I always vowed to have them reading a daily newspaper by first grade. I wanted them to be well-informed.
All that changed when I saw those little innocent faces.
My heart yearns to protect them from the very images I broadcast to the world each day. I cringe when my daughter occasionally catches a glimpse of the news and says: "Mommy, somebody got hurt" or "Mommy, that's a gun." During the Michael Jackson trial (she must've heard about it at school) she asked: "Why do people think he's bad?' I was SO not prepared to explain those issues to her!
But how long can we really protect our little ones from reality? How long should we?
My middle child is headed to kindergarten in a month, and I'm bracing for all the ideas, language and behaviors she'll be exposed to -- things I can't control. I guess we'll both do some growing up. Clearly I don't want to shield her from reality forever -- nor do I want to. But as a mom, I'm starting to think about how we'll address these issues as they occur.
Back to news. There are some current events that I think children could benefit from understanding. Immigration reform, for example (a topic we covered today). What a great lesson to teach kids about cultures, differences, laws and responsibility.
Unfortunately, at 6 tonight that story will be buried beneath the day's worst shootings, car accidents and sex crimes -- and I'm just not ready to make all that a part of my children's world.
News Mom "T"
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