Miss Representation - Effects of Media

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

 

     McChesney, Steve, “Respect-How to Teach It and How to Show it”, www.tech-nology.com, 1999-2012, date accessed April 7, 2013; http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/respect/

     Yancey, Philip, “Religion is Essential to a Moral Society”, taomon34.tripod.com, date accessed April 2, 2013; http://taomon34.tripod.com/yancey.htm

     Danish, Elizabeth, “Teaching Your Child About Religion”, www.healthguidance.org, date accessed April 7, 2013; http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15830/1/Teaching-Your-Child-About-Religion.html