5 Tips for Improving Family Relationships with a Media Plan TIP #5
November 27, 2009
Plan family activities that do not involve media.
Have a family story time reading time-tested classics like Charlotte’s Web, My Side of the Mountain, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Swiss Family Robinson, to name a few (no matter what ages your children are). Play together such as catch football, frisbee, card games, board games. Choose a community outreach outing once per month to participate in as a family and take time to share your thoughts and feelings about the experience together. Attend church activities, read scripture and stories about the lives of great servants of God (e.g. Mother Teresa, Maximillian Kolbe, etc.) and pray as a family.
I CHALLENGE YOU TO EXPERIMENT WITH A MEDIA PLAN for one month. I believe you will begin to enjoy your family relationships to a greater degree. The quality of relationships between your children will improve. Adhering to your media plan will require loving firmness and consistency on your part. Expect your children to resist at first and even be more grumpy for a while. This is normal. However, you will begin to see some positive changes as your family spends more enjoyable time together. At the end of the one month, if you have seen any positive changes, no matter how small, commit to it for one more month.
We’d love to hear your success stories and your struggles implementing your media plan with your family. I’m sure you will have ideas that help other families. If you would like to share them, please post them on our Triangle Psychological Services page on facebook under ‘Discussions,” or email them to me at drpattiz@trypsych.com. Let me know if you agree to have your ideas and/or comments shared in a future blog post on this website in order to help others. Be sure to include a sentence giving us your permission to post along with your name (i.e., I, Patti Zordich, give Triangle Psychological Services permission to post this comment on their website and to use the comment in our educational presentations about media planning and families).
I look forward to reading about your experiences! We will determine two most helpful entries and these contributors will win a copy of the book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family, by Rebecca Hagelin, which will be shipped at no cost. The winners will be announced on our facebook page on Dec. 11th.
So get started and let us know how you’re doing!
Dr. Patti Zordich, 919.342.3458, drpattiz@trypsych.com
5 Tips for Improving Family Relationships with a Media Plan TIP #3
November 6, 2009
Tip #3: Make a media plan and schedule.
What are your family values? Do you know? It is vital that you are clear about the values that are important to you. These will guide the rules you will make a part of your media plan which will, in turn, guide media choices for your family. Will you permit your children to view PG 13 rated movies? Will you allow them to play T rated games? Or, will you use one of the many movie/game/music guides available for families and make decisions on a case by case basis? Two helpful media review resources for families are pluggedin.com and familymoviereview.com. Bookmark these so that you can easily review material. This will assist you in making a decision as to whether or not this fits into your media plan (hence your family values).
Adolescents spend 6 1/2 hours per day in front of some sort of screen.
The average 3 year old is watching TV or videos (or is in viewing range of them) 7 hours per day!
It is also vital that you make a conscious decision about how much total media time your child will have per day and what will constitute acceptable content. Will the time limit be one movie, a one hour TV program, 30 minutes on a video game, media for homework only during the week, etc.? Take time to consider the activities your child is missing by spending so much time on media: reading (they won’t ever like it if they can always play video games instead!), playing outside, sports, drawing, chores, helping you, helping a neighbor, taking care of your pet, cooking, playing games with you, talking with you, walking with you, etc.
After you have clarified your family values and you have made conscious decisions about media time and content, involve your children in conversations about these rules and values. This is not to change them, but to insure they understand them! Write down your rules. Write down your values. So, your children might not like these new limits. They might not like going to the doctors but, you make them go anyway because you are the parent. Engage the children in discussions about specific movies, games, videos that you find objectionable as well as media you find acceptable. Ask for their evaluation. Then, have fun exploring programs, games, music, etc. together.
You can do this! Remember, these decisions are vital to the emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of your whole family and each individual, including you.