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Children and violence on TV

By Risidra Mendis One need not be surprised about the gun culture and the increasing occurrences in crime around the country when almost every programme aired on television seems to encourage violence in many forms. Bullet riddled men screaming in agony, women and young girls being tortured, sword fights and blood baths are just a few of the scenes that can be witnessed.

However what doesn't seem to penetrate the minds of those airing these programmes is that most often children together with their parents who watch these tend to get carried away not realising the impact it could have on them in their future life.

But despite the close eye some parents have on their children there is no way to stop them from watching violent programmes on television as one is followed by another.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader graphic designer Farhad Hameed said as far as he knows it is mostly the Tamil TV programmes that have a lot of  violence. "I have seen a couple of Hindi films and these have no violent scenes. However there are some Western TV programmes  that are very bad," says Hameed.

Reality

Commenting on the influence these violent TV programmes have on children Hameed said, "why should you stop children from watching such programmes. This is reality in life. Children have been exposed to war situations and violence in their day to day lives. So what harm is there if they watch some violent TV programmes from time to time?"

According to Hameed you should not give a one sided view to life. Even on some news programmes they report on violent incidents. So if children are to be prevented from watching news programmes what will they learn in life," Hameed questioned.

Hameed went on to say that even if parents protect their children from watching violent programmes there will come a day when a child may be exposed to a violent TV programme. "At such a time there is always the danger that these children may end up having nightmares especially since they haven't seen such programmes before," Hameed explained.

Hameed was of the view that apart from sex scenes children should be exposed to a certain amount of violence in life.

Meanwhile, Sisira Kannangara,  a university student says many television stations cater to the needs of the adults and not the children. "This is why even on Sundays between 2.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. some television stations air programmes that suit adults. They don't realise that children are at home on a Sunday and may watch a violent TV programme. These programmes are mostly Hindi and Tamil films," says Kannangara.

"In my opinion, most of the programmes on TV actually encourage violence, portraying killing someone or committing a violent act as a courageous thing. Obviously children are influenced by what they see.  I dread to think what must be going through a child's mind when watching these programmes," says Sonali Wijeratne.

Parents should be watchful

Fazeena Ghouse is a mother of a nine year old daughter and a seven year old son. Ghouse says the electronic media should reduce the number of Hindi and Tamil television programmes especially during the weekends. "At least one parent should be with the child when they are watching TV. A child cannot be blamed if he or she watches a Hindi movie that has a lot of violence. I'm not saying children should not have their freedom, but there should be a certain amount of monitoring where children are concerned, says Ghouse.

According to Ghouse she has never bought her son a toy gun as she believes there are other options where toys are concerned. As a result of coaching my children from a young age I have noticed that they don't like playing with violent computer or TV games. I know it isn't easy for working parents to always be behind their children. But in such cases parents should realise the future impact violent television programmes can have on their children," Ghouse said.

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