Children-watching television [Photo/wordpress.com]It’s holiday time. School-going children would be proceeding to the next class come January 2018, meaning they have little or no homework over the two-months-long holiday. The deal? Do what they rarely did during school time; watch TV. The content? Be the judge
It’s that time of the year again.
Children are home for the long December holidays.
To some, it means they can catch up on all those programmes they had missed on television during school time.
The unpredictable weather pattern, where it is raining most of the time only make things worse.
Outdoor games and activities are, therefore, most of the time not ideal.
So there’s more TV than ever.
Parents would want to believe that their children watch educational and fun material.
But that’s too good to be true. With pay TV, children can access a lot of programmes, some, unfortunately, unsuitable for their viewing.
So, there are more warnings than ever, and certainly more confusion than ever before.
Recently, CEO Kenya Film Classification Board, Ezekiel Mutua banned a Disney Channel show that had a gay character from being aired in the country.
Despite the move by the authority to ban particular cartoon programmes, there are still unregulated distributors selling unsuitable children video content.
For instance, many of the video shops visited in Nairobi are still selling some of the banned cartoon series on DVDs.
Most of the time, these children come with their parents to buy particular series.
The parents, usually may not be aware of the content, only heeding to their children demands.
If they don’t find a particular series they want, they go to another place.
It turns out the educational value of television shoots up when parents watch with their children, so keep an eye or an ear on the TV when you can, add some context, describe what you see, and ask for their thoughts.
As in all other matters, moderation makes a pretty good motto.