Janet
Dodd
April
2, 2013
Enc
1102
Miss Representation – Effects of
Media
What are we doing to teach our children,
both girls and boys how to have more confidence, self worth and to be good
upstanding adults? The answer is not enough. Today’s society has gotten away
from the core family values that children need to start down the right path in
life. In order to even attempt to correct the way women are viewed, then we
should start with the children. Children should be taught good morals, manners,
and religion. If we instill these values
in the children from the beginning, they will take it with them throughout
life. This is a huge problem in our
world today. We have bullies in schools,
young people taking guns and killing other children, curse words flying out of
mouths as if it is gospel, and overall no respect for themselves, or
others. You must respect and love
yourself before you can love and respect others.
How many times have you heard the saying,
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” There is much truth in that statement. Parents are not teaching their children to be
respectful of others. Laurence Sterne
said, “Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our
manners.” Morals is
defined by the google dictionary as “a lesson, especially one concerning what is
right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or
an experience. A person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is
and is not
acceptable for them to
do.” It goes on further to define
morality as “Principles concerning the
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distinction between
right and wrong or good and bad behavior.”
It is our jobs as parents to teach good morals and morality to our
children to make them good, functioning, happy and healthy adults. No
one has time to sit down and spend quality time with their children to start
them on the right path in life. We let
our children watch television, play violent video games on whatever electronic
device is handy and basically tend to themselves. I observed my son one day while I was
cleaning house for about an hour. Within
that time, he played on his Nintendo 3DS, my cell phone and my Kindle. When I asked him to put them away and go play
in his room, he acted as if I was taking away an appendage. I do monitor the
television that my child watches and the games that he plays, however none of
my friends do this with their children. They mock me and make fun of my
restrictions on my son. I have been at a friend’s house and heard her son from
his bedroom with the door closed screaming in anger at the television screen
because he could not kill all the people in Halo. What are these violent video games teaching
him about how to treat other people. I don’t have a daughter, and frankly would
be terrified to raise one in this society.
Children are not automatically born with the knowledge or the life
experience necessary to make good choices.
It is our job as parents to teach them, by monitoring their behavior and
how they interact with others, screening what they watch on television and the
games they play, and setting good examples.
By teaching our children about morals and
manners, we are also teaching them about self worth. They must be taught to love and respect
themselves and others. This can be something as simple as saying, “yes mam, no
mam, yes sir and no sir. Manners and
respect are synonamus. “Teach
your child to respect themselves. Self-respect is one of the most important
forms of respect. Once we respect ourselves, it is easier to respect others”(McChesney,
Respect). People
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comment
to me all the time about how polite my son is.
When others notice, you know that you are doing something right.
Children will take these lessons into their adult lives and will respect others
as adults. Boys will be respectful of
girls. Many parents do not realize the
effect of such small things on the children throughout their lives. Small things can make a huge impact well into
adulthood and how others are viewed. My
niece is a very good example of a low self worth brought about by the effects
of childhood. Her parents divorced when she was four. It was an extremely messy divorce and
constant fighting even today, all in front of the children. The mother lost custody and was a horrible
example for her daughter. When she
visited her mother, there were no boundaries or guidelines for the mother or
herself. Her mother did not lead by example. When my neice turned eighteen, she
lied to her father to get to spend the night at a friend’s house for the
weekend and hitched a ride to Gainesville, quit school with only six months
left before graduation and now lives with an older boy who is listed as a
pedofile. She refuses to listen to anyone in our family. She has no job, no
personal belongings other than the clothes on her back and no prospect for the
future. She has no self worth. Who knows what she could have accomplished,
had she been taught morality and self worth by her mother at an early age.
Manners, morality, self worth are lessons
needed early in life as well as a religious foundation. We have gotten away from the very values that
our country was founded on. The Pledge
of Allegiance states, “one nation, under God,” however few households have any
type of religious belief system established. Philip Yancey writes in his paper
on religion, “U.S. courts today take pains to decide the merits of a case apart
from religion or natural law…what possible grounds the Court might rule against
polygamy today or incest, or pederasty, for that matter. All
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of
these moral taboos derive from a religious base; take away that foundation, and
why should the practices be forbidden” (Yancey, Religion)? He is correct. Without the religious
foundation there would be nothing to dispute.
A solid religious background and maintained religious upbringing, sets
children on the right path in life. “Whatever your views on religion this is
something that will dictate a lot of how your child views life. When you
believe in a higher purpose or a certain God or reason for creation this then
gives you a moral compass and a right and wrong way to live life” (Danish,
Parenting/Health Guidance). They learn right from wrong, they learn about
family, how to treat others and most importantly to believe in a higher power
and lead a good way of life.
Our children are our future. It is up to us as parents to teach them and
provide them all the tools that they need to go forward and have a well
structured life. If we teach them to
respect and love themselves they will respect and love others. If we teach them that having good morals and
manners are important, they will have good morality. If we teach them to have a sense of self
worth, they will. It is our most
important job.
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Works Cited
