Talking With TV: A Guide to Starting Dialogue With Youth

Sometimes just watching TV can lead to passive viewing and passive conversations. But with just a bit of imagination you can make TV interactive and start critical thinking discussions.

You may want to talk to your children's teachers about what you're doing at home to see if any of the current events or social studies classes can reinforce discussions at home.

Try a couple of the activities below and watch your children learn to think about watching TV!

Close-Up: We Interrupt This Program…

Try a couple of the activities below and watch your children learn to think about watching TV!

Score Card. Have everyone in the family list values that are important. Look for those values in all kinds of shows. Keep a journal of which shows have the highest scores and those with the lowest. Ask young people to look for similarities between the shows they ranked highly and lowly. Have young people brainstorm storylines for their favorite shows and have them incorporate values from their lists. Discuss which characters they picked and how they selected their scenarios.

Take Two. When a favorite show ends, ask young people to do a quick rewrite of the program from a certain point. Talk about how and why they would have changed the show and focus on the main character's decisions. Discuss other choices the characters could have made. Also discuss how they would have handled a specific situation.

That's My Line. Ask young people to select a moment or a line from a show that reminded them of a situation or feeling they had faced. Ask how their reactions compared to the character and how they handled the experience. Script out a promo for a new show to capture the child's experience.

Flashback. Watch a current show and then watch a rerun of a show from the 1960s or 1970s. Discuss the different roles that men and women have on the two shows. Compare the fashions, decor, types of families, and ways of living on the shows. Explore the differences and notice what has not changed. Share your experiences and let young people know how you learned to make responsible decisions and avoid negative consequences.

A Word From the Sponsor. Watch several commercials with a critical eye, then ask how the advertisement sells the product. Look for ads that use sex to sell and discuss whether it is necessary or related to the product. Ask young people which commercials they and their friends like and those ads that make them want to buy a product. Brainstorm new commercials for your favorite products - make those that are sexy tame and those that are tame sexy!