Description:
It's midnight, and your sobbing 8-year-old has crawled into bed with you, shaking from a nightmare generated by seeing a werewolf in a music video. A college sophomore lies awake in her apartment, obsessing about stalkers after watching Beverly Hills 90210. Violence, and the threat of it, is pervasive in television and movies, and Joanne Cantor believes that as a result kids are scared, sleepless, and at risk of becoming violent themselves. Cantor has worked with the national PTA on projects related to children and television, and with the National Television Violence Study. Her original research and findings about TV and movie violence--and the strong impact it has on children--is presented in this stirring book in a convincing, thorough manner. Cantor is realistic--she knows parents cannot shield children from every influence, and never suggests that parents should avoid TV and movies all together. Instead, she offers tools for limiting children's exposure to scary elements, provides age-related information to help parents predict what will alarm their children, suggests ways to reassure frightened children, and discusses the successes and failings of the movie and TV rating systems. Mommy, I'm Scared is a hard-hitting book that will serve as a wake-up call for many parents--especially those who have come to rely on TV as an inexpensive, electronic baby sitter. --Ericka Lutz
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