February 2018 - EASTERN OREGON PARENT - 15
Tune in and filter out: Watching the news with kids
By JENNIFER COLTON
In today’s news industry, tips
come from traditional press re-
leases along with Facebook post-
ings. Rumors pass from cell phone
to cell phone through the airwaves
with alarming speed, and keeping
children away from this is next to
impossible. But helping children
and teens make sense of the news
and how they should react is easier
than you think.
To begin, decide how much cur-
rent news you want your children
to engage in. For some, watching
standard television news coverage
can be upsetting. The American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends
acting as a filter for young children
to allow them to understand what
is going on while avoiding graphic
information and images.
Once children reach
age eight or nine, many
can separate fact and fic-
tion well enough to begin
watching news programs
or reading news articles.
When a child asks for
more information about
something he or she heard
about on the news, at
school or from friends, it
can be a good sign the child
is ready to begin dipping
a toe into journalism. For
those early conversations
— and especially about potentially
scary topics — the AAP also recom-
mends you start by asking the child
what he or she has heard as a way
to begin the conversation.
Also consider engaging children
in age-appropriate news. Channel
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One! News has delivered televised
news to elementary and middle
school students for decades, news
websites focus on current events
for children, including Here There
Everywhere – HTEKidsNews – and
DOGOnews, and some newspapers
offer articles appropriate for young
readers, such as The Washington
Post’s “KidsPost” and “Time for
Kids” from Time Magazine. Chil-
dren can also gain an interest in the
world around them through news,
and this interest can be fostered
by sharing articles that align with
the child’s interest, whether it’s
dinosaurs, world cultures or cuddly
baby animals.
If parents want to expose chil-
dren to the adult-focused news in-
dustry but doubt whether a child is
ready for unfiltered news, one op-
tion can be selecting a few articles
to allow the child to read and then
discussing them. Or recording a
news program and pre-watching it
to make sure parents are comfort-
able with the child watching them.
Listening to the news – through
radio broadcasts or podcasts – can
also help ease children into digest-
ing the news as they hear facts
without seeing the graphic images
that may accompany video
news coverage.
In the current age of
technology, however, par-
ents cannot assume they
will be able to filter all
information. Young chil-
dren may not watch news
coverage at home, but the
television at a restaurant
or the doctor’s office can
pull their attention. Teens
will find news shared on
social media and between
their friends and class-
mates at lightning speed.
Last month in the newsroom
where I work two news tips came
from teenagers before we were
aware of them. One involved a
vehicle driven into the Big Lots!
store in Hermiston and the other
involved a suicide. While the teens
didn’t have all the facts right – the
original text suggested the vehi-
cle-ravaged store was a different
location nearby – they heard the
rumors less than an hour after the
event occurred.
In a world where news comes at
us from many sources all the time,
it’s smart to train your kids early on
what to expect and what to believe.
More information can be found
online in greater detail, including:
• www.pbs.org/parents/talking-
withkids/news
• www.commonsensemedia.org/
blog/explaining-the-news-to-
our-kids
• AAP’s website at www.healthy-
children.org
________
Jennifer Colton is news director of
KOHU and KQFM, and mother of
three, based in Pendleton.