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2003 News Releases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PARENTS GIVE THEIR VIEW ON NATIONAL "KIDS TAKE ON MEDIA" SURVEY RESULTS (CHSF Office - Ottawa) Results of a new study indicate that kids today require different parenting strategies given the bombardment of media choices available to them. Parents will find this timely and revealing study a valuable tool to review their children’s media habits. The Canadian Teachers Federation commissioned Erin Research to do this media awareness study to find out what Canadian children like about their favourite television shows, movies, video and computer games. The results from the 5,700 children interviewed indicated that when it comes to choices of what shows to watch there is a low rate of parental participation. There is an even lower rate of guidance on what electronic games to play. Kids report that often their parents are unaware of the amount of time kids are playing video and computer games and even less aware of the content. “Parents may have a somewhat different perspective on the amount of supervision provided, but unfortunately, the survey could not test this. When research shows that 3/4's of children in grades 7-10 have seen R-rated movies at home and that parents’ knowledge of the content of video games is limited, it is time to focus and strengthen parental involvement and control of media access for children," said Silvia Dyck, President of The Canadian Home and School Federation. "This study punctuates the tremendous challenge that parents have today in guiding their children to make the right choices for their leisure time." The Erin Research study also provides an excellent and often surprising snapshot of how kids view the news media as survey results indicated that most young children are frightened by what they see. "It is always helpful for parents to gain insight into how their children are feeling about news events and encourage them to voice their concerns," said Silvia Dyck. "This way parents can help put media events into the right perspective. When schools and parents work together to help children and adolescents make the right media choices, then our youth will have a better chance in distinguishing healthy from unhealthy choices. Parents cannot easily screen out what is available to the youth of today." CHSF represents parents from across Canada and has worked in an advisory capacity with the CTF on this project. The "Bulletin for Parents" created by CTF and the Media Awareness Network will be distributed in all of the schools across Canada and is available on the www.canadianhomeandschool.com website which links to the CTF website, www.ctf-fce. For further information please contact: Silvia Dyck President 604 858-7309/ 702-8444 |
