MY WORRIES.

I have a lot of concern for the future of our world - serious concerns.

Today, I am particularly bothered about the apparent irresponsibility in the entertainment media. The media does a lot in shaping thinking, beliefs and behaviour of people and so it is imperative that media practitioners are alive to their responsibilities.

My rant today is about childrens' entertainment.
Practically every home in Nigeria is connected to DSTV - I recall my husband & I driving past an apartment complex here in Lagos and laughing at the multitude of 'dishes' sticking out of every corner of each building in the complex. Satellite television is a good thing, you need to see how we rush to pay our subscription dues so that we don't get cut off, but with children, I am beginning to have serious concerns, as it exposes our children to a lot of foreign values & beliefs which are at variance with their upbringing.

My 7year old is at a stage in her life where cartoons are not doing it for her anymore, so its out with Disney JR, out with Nickelodeon, definitely out with Ceebeebies and cue Disney! Now through Disney I've inadvertently opened my doors to 'Icarly' in which Sam - one of its lead characters is rude, talks back to adults and talks bad about her mother as well as the mothers of her friends. The portrayal of adults in this program is really quite bad.

Just this morning, as I sat watching the TV with my children - don't ask why we didn't go to church, in one of the programs they were watching, a little girl ( not older than 8), was so desperate to get a boy to take her to their school dance that she 'kidnapped' his teddy bear, held the bear hostage in her rucksack and threatened to cut the teddy's throat if the boy didn't aceed to her demands - hilarious right, yep, that's what I thought too till I begun to think about it.

Terrorism is of great threat to nations the world over, since when did it become ok for anyone to engage in an act of terrorism to get their way, in what culture is terrorism not viewed as a dastardly act?  Why should terrorism be presented our our children in this cutesy manner as something cool?

Who are the producers of these programs? Does anyone censor them?

Am having to sit with my children as they watch TV so as to talk them trough it and explain the importance of what they are watching but 'ijo wo l'a maa se iyen da'? (excuse my yoruba, what  I am saying is 'how long can I keep doing that'?

I am no media practioner but there are any media practitioners out there that are Christians, please help us look into the production of quality childrens' entertainment that are fun and cool too o!

Aunty Mo.