Cyberbullying? Sexting?
What Kids Are Exposed to Offline/Offline
Affects Their Bahavior
Respectful behavior both online, and offline begins at home. Say NO to “reality” shows that depict mean, crude, aggressive, high drama, and bullying behavior. Kids that are exposed to these shows believe they reflect the real world. What they see, and learn from these shows they often carry into their every-day-world, and the offline world.
Reality Shows Have Negative Affects
A recent Girl Scout study of 1100 girls corroborates the negative effects these shows are having on girls. All the girls in the study said that reality shows encourage bad behavior by often pitting girls against one another and promoting the idea that it’s o.k. to treat others badly.
The majority of girls who regularly watch reality shows believe that gossiping is a normal part of daily life, that girls are naturally “catty” and competitive with one another, and that it’s difficult to trust girls. With regard to relationships with boys, they believe that fighting is a normal part of a romantic relationship and that they have to compete to get attention from boys. Physical appearance becomes all consuming because they believe that a girl’s value is based on her looks. (How sad is that!)
The meanness and lying that they see in these shows is carried with them as well into the real world with the majority of girls thinking that you have to lie to get what you want, being mean earns more respect than being nice, and that you have to be mean to others to get what you want. (This is even sadder!)
Is it any wonder that cyberbullying has become an epidemic, and that girls are sexting their boyfriends?
Let’s bring our kids back to the real world of respectful, kind behavior where it’s expected that you are nice to others and that being nice is not the exception. How do we do that? This is a no-brainer starter solution:
Say No To Reality Shows
Get Your Parenting On and Say NO to (not real) “Reality” Shows! You will be happy you did and your child may be a little nicer!
