We were talking about infant programming in class this week. At one point, someone commented about how a parent they had talked to allowed their infant to be around the TV and other media because the older children in the family were using them. This made me think about my own life. Harry Potter has and always will be a big part of my life. Most of my Facebook News Feed is actually HP Fandom related pictures. While it is a wonderful part of my life, it was not always.
I distinctly remembering seeing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets movie in theaters. I was 7 years old, and I have a very clear memory of the Aragog scene. I was this little girl curled up on the theater seat with my head tucked into my knees and my ears plugged, waiting for it to be over. While causation cannot be proven, I still greatly dislike spiders and especially do not like being surprised by them in my room.
I have two older brothers. This Harry Potter incident is only one of many instances where I was dragged into doing something inappropriate for my age because my brothers were doing it. While I understand the difficulty of separating children, I definitely think parents need to be more aware of the media exposure of younger siblings. Different age groups have different needs and different understandings of media. Remember, I am not talking about how much media usage, but the content of the media. While my older brothers were not bothered by Aragog (as far as I know), it greatly bothered me. Little kids should not be watching the same things their older siblings are, especially if there is a large age gap. They simply won't understand and respond the same way.
This is really interesting. I also have older siblings and was exposed to the TV shows and movies that they watched that were definitely not age appropriate for me. I remember watching "The Notebook" with my sister when I was about 12 years old and I remember thinking that it was inappropriate. I didn't understand all of the complexities and what all the sex meant. There are rules and guidelines set in place for movies and TV shows because children are very impressionable. It's scary to think what our children will be exposed to especially if they have older siblings.
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