What kids watch, they learn. So what they watch matters. Prominent Christian researcher George Barna recently offered tips for parents that will help combat the harmful influence of the media.
"The most significant influence on the development of a worldview in America today is what we absorb from the media," asserted Barna at the Family Research Council Pray, Vote, Stand Summit." And if that's the case, then that says to me as a parent or a grandparent or somebody who cares about the development of the worldview of children that I've got to pay attention to what media is investing in those children's minds and hearts."
Barna went on to offer "four Ms" that can help parents:
1) "[M]onitor what these kids are being exposed to because our research shows that most parents are happy to buy their children every device the kids want, and then they leave the kids up to determine what they're going to take in through all those devices. They don't even know what their kids are being exposed to."
2) "[M]inimize [media consumption] because our research also shows that in America, the biggest addiction in our country is media. We spend more time literally absorbing messages from media than anything else we do except for sleep."
3) "[S]erve as the [M]ediator between what the media is trying to get you to believe and what we, as followers of Jesus, believe based on what the Scriptures teach."
4) "[M]oralize" by "helping [children] to understand the difference between right and wrong."
According to Barna, only 21% of individuals who attend evangelical churches hold to a biblical worldview. Do you? And are you helping your kids do the same? If not, it's time to step up to the task!
