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<title> Children, Imagination and Reality - Reflections on the article "Locking out Violence" </title>
The new film has just been released. Toy stores are crammed with all sorts of dolls, models and machines, encouraging children to build their own imaginary world of war and fighting. The little boy tugs at his mother's arm, begging:
	 "Oh, Mummy, can't I have one of those? Everyone's got one!
	 Why is it so fascinating for many children to play war and violent games? To what extent is children's violence in games related to what they watch on television, and is it harmful? These are my reflections on the article Locking out Violence, Time Magazine, July 24, 1995.

	 First, I asked myself the question: Where does violence in children's games initially come from? As I see it, it is not exclusively related to if they are exposed to too much shooting and fighting on television, since children of all times have had, say, snowball fights and played with toy weapons. It is more likely that somewhere there is a natural instinct to fight to defend oneself, this reflects in children's games and does not necessarily have to be negative. Have we not all the need to act out sometimes?

	 But are children more likely to play violent games if they watch too much violence on television? Are we facing a problem concerning censorship or not - or is it just a matter of simple parental responsibility for what children look at?
	 I believe that the way a child acts in play with others - and later in life - has much to do with how parents bring up their children, what attitudes and values to violence and television watching they pass on. As it is now, I do not think it is possible to lock out violence from media completely - it is, sadly enough, far too widespread (and commercialised...) and broadcasters also know that censorship will affect their number of viewers. Instead, parents have to be aware of what their children watch in order to make them understand what is imagination and what is reality. Children will then feel confident and secure if Mummy or Daddy explains what is going on. I know from personal experience that my mother always has been very concerned about this, and then you wonder: What about children whose parents do not care about what is on television as long as their kids just sit there, whose parents use the television as a baby sitter? Can it be that children who feel neglected at home develops a higher degree of need to work off their aggressions onto others, and also are more easily affected by impressions from the surrounding world?

	 It is, I suppose, only when a child does not get any help from adults to separate imagination from reality that television violence becomes directly harmful. The hero always survives, no matter how badly he is hurt. Sadly enough, this is not so in real life, and living in a fantasy video game world can no doubt lead to that a person goes out and knocks another one down.
	
	 When making these reflections, I have only had in mind the scenes appearing in films and television series - the fictive side of violence. But there is the other side, too - the much too unpleasant pictures from wars and catastrophe areas that we are exposed to almost daily. Are we supposed to protect children from such footage completely? Surely it cannot be right, since that is the way our world looks like today. But as long as parents care, I do not think that too much television violence of any kind can negatively affect children's play, and the way they will act when they grow older. It seems like a high level of aggressivity depends on more underlying, social factors and that watching violence works as a trigger.

	 The issue of children and violence raises many questions that are very difficult to answer. It is, however, important for parents to have in mind what values and attitudes to violence they pass on to the next generation, to prevent that violence in society does not get even more widespread than it already is.
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