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<title> MY REFLECTION CONCERNING TV-VIOLENCE </title>
My essay is mainly a reflection after I read the article "Locking Out Violence" by Gina Bellafante, of how adults can deal with that their children are watching violent programs, and different ways to handle that.

Violence has been a part of entertainment since the Greek tragedy, but I think one major difference is that today, especially in American movies, violence is taken out of it's context of cause and effect. Violence also appears on the news, only there we are more likely to see the connection I mentioned above. Usually children are not so keen on watching the news, at least not by them selves.

Yong children need assistance in so many activities they take part in, that perhaps parents do not realise that watching TV is one of them, even if the adult is not watching it is good to be available and aware of what is happening. Adults attitudes toward violence is very important, and it is essential that parents try to explain any questions their children might have concerning programs, instead of dismiss these questions by answering " It is only a movie and not for real". Today some parents use their television as a baby sitter, and like always it is the unprivileged children who are mostly exposed to this behaviour. When I read about the V-chip it occurred to me that this is an attempt to let parents gain control at the easiest way possible. Maybe it is a help for children who do not have responsible parents, but for all the rest I think we have to fight this battle in other ways.

First of all I think with the youngest children we ought to be very selective to what they are watching. For many children violence can be greatly scary, and give children anxiety, furthermore it is impossible to predict what is going to be harmful for a small child since it differs from each individual.
Many families are more or less slaves under different programs and I think there would be no harm in trying to introduce other activities as an alternative to always turning on the television.

Families with a bit older children could explain and try to reach an agreement with their children on this topic of watching violent programmes. Some might say this is impossible since the children can rent videos containing violent material. This is true, but I think as parents we could deal with this in different ways. Parents could consider putting pressure on their local video store by a boycott action if they do not discard extremely violent movies from their shelves, or at least persuade them not to let them rent that type of movies to under aged customers. Since children normally get their money for renting films from their parents, it could be restricted by simply reducing the amount of money given, if it is spent on films we strongly disapprove of.
I would like that the broadcasters took on a greater responsibility in making better judgement of what they are showing, and also at what hour. Another help could also be that broadcasters put in a suggested age their programs are suitable for. That would at leas help parents in their struggle.
Personally I believe that it is mostly on the cable channels that violence is very frequent. For people living in Sweden I think that if people did not have the cable channels the problem would decrease because it would not be possible for children to watch TV round the clock day and night.
Parents could also be helped if schools brought up this issue for discussion. Today a lot of children seem to compete with each other about what shows they are allowed to watch, and it is not unusual that episodes from different soap operas are discussed. I think many parents find it hard to set rules under the pressure from their children, even if they do not find the programs suitable for their age.

Finally I believe that this issue is a question where people have very different opinions. The question is not of the kind that anybody has the key too, but even so I think that adults cannot avoid the problem by buying the V-chip. Every individual has to deal with this accordingly to their own consciousness.
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