Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Current events, news... how much?

We use the news and differences to emphasize empathy, tolerance, and respect for others. We don't generally watch TV news, except for the Daily Show but do read news stories online. With DS8 reading over my shoulder occasionally, there are often questions regarding stuff he sees and it opens the door for a frank discussion.

I'd rather he discuss it with me than get it 99% wrong from his friends.

To the original point of the thread, I think a sensitive balance is involved in transitioning our children from a sheltered life to exposure to the world at large, be it for moral reasons or to avoid some of the ugliness of violence in the world.

I think media that present points of view that oppose our own provide a good opportunity to start conversations with our children about the basis for our views. However, parents are the best gauge of their children's maturity, and I think it is entirely reasonable for parents to limit their children's exposure to challenging or morally complex topics until they determine their children are ready to hear reasoned arguments. There's a delicate hand-off between building a cognitive and moral foundation for your child, and helping them become independent thinking, self-sufficient adults.

As a Catholic, I'm going to have to become proficient at planting seeds of discussion as DS grows older, as my beliefs diverge from secular views on a handful of issues of conscience. I will almost certainly censor his access to some topics, moral and otherwise, until he reaches the age of reason. Pornography is one topic that comes to mind.

Very well-stated, Aquinas. It's so individual.

Just a reminder to please discuss the original topic in a general sense and leave the specifics out. As clearly stated in the board rules:

Avoid discussions about politics and religion, unless they specifically pertain to gifted education. There are other online resources for these subjects.

I deleted/edited a number of posts and most corresponding ones too that since they no longer make sense in context as responses.

Best,
Mark

I listen to NZ national radio at work and read the paper at work during lunch and watch the delayed news after they are in bed. I do discuss politics and points of interest but ds7 is still frightened by kid's cartoons. Occaionally I will watch the headlines while they are up but not the graphic bits. To be honest our local news is probably less hair raising than yours. I don't feel ready to discuss a woman being stoned to death though.

Agreed 100%.

No television news at all - total dross.

We do get the NY Times at weekends but that is mainly so we can see the upcoming happenings (museum exhibitions, plays and fairs etc) in NYC, for DD to be exposed to blatantly political written bias (part of guiding her to self calibrate her BS filters) and to read the occasional decently written article.

I also get it to have newspaper to line the kitchen sink with when dressing pheasants or gutting fish and to get my chimney starter going - LOL

Whatever happened to just reporting what happened leaving a person to intelligently and independently draw their own conclusions w.r.t the whys, hows and impacts?

Although I think the NYT is informative -- I've probably posted dozens of NYT stories in this forum -- I also think it is biased. The Wall Street Journal has a weekend edition similar to the New York Times in coverage but different in overall viewpoint.

One of the most interesting exercises a teacher had us do in middle school was take a major news story and find articles and headlines with a skewed slant. We were just required to cut them out and bring them in. Then the teacher would take all the headlines and read them out loud, and as a class we decided where on the spectrum of left or right the headline belonged. It was eye-opening to me that one story could have so many different slants to it.

I've done the same for my kids when we talk about news stories. What emotion do you think the editor wanted you to have when you read that headline? How could the headline have been written to still be interesting but not evoke that emotion? What headline could have the opposite emotion?

I think avoiding the news with our kids (I'm not talking exposing little kids to disturbing images, topics, etc.) means we lose out on a great opportunity to teach our kids to be analytical and skeptical about the motives behind what is presented. That is one of the most powerful tools we can teach our kids - whether it's seeing the bias in a news story, a sales tactic or friends trying to convince our kid to do something.

Could not agree more.

I'll add that one of my kids' biggest frustrations with their classmates is how uninterested and/or uninformed they are about current events and the world in general. While some of that can certainly be attributed to typical age-related myopia, it certainly limits any meaningful discussions they might have at school.

(Emphasis added.)

I'm with you on the latter (in which I would include any disturbing images and ideas, including explicit sexuality that she's not ready for); but I have trouble relating to the former. I can't think of anything I believe is wrong, that I would have difficulty explaining to my very intelligent child why it is wrong.