August 17, 2009
Q: I went into a party store to look for decorations for my son’s upcoming birthday party and everywhere I looked, the choices were either Star Wars or Disney princesses. Are we raising our boys to be violent and our girls to have Cinderella expectations of the world?
August 10, 2009
Q: My son is entering 3rd grade and is an only child. When he has playdates at his friends’ homes, sometimes the moms allow video games above my son’s age level, usually because my son’s friends have older siblings. It makes me uncomfortable, but I’ve noticed that a lot of parents don’t appreciate it when I ask that they not play any video games during the playdate—it’s viewed as trying to control what happens in their home, or as some judgment upon them for allowing the younger child to play age-inappropriate games. I don’t want to tell my son he can never go to their houses, so do you have any advice? I usually try to have kids over to my house so that it’s not an issue, but at some point, the other parents want my son to come to their home.
July 16, 2009
Q: I have 8- and 10-year-old daughters and a 6-year-old step-son. My new husband thinks that PG-13 movies and violent video games are fine for all of our children, even his 6-year-old. But I never let my daughters use violent media because as a school counselor, I am well aware of the dangers of media violence for children. How can I educate my husband on this issue?
May 29, 2009
Q: The television is a constant source of conflict in our house. I am always battling with my 2nd and 5th grade kids about how much TV they watch, but I’m not even sure what a good limit would be. How much TV is too much TV?
May 20, 2009
Q: My 10 year old son loves to play video games. The other day I happened to see a few minutes of one of the games he was playing and it was much more violent than I thought it would be. Should I worry about how these games affect him?
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