Have You Heard of This? Thoughts?

I had not heard of TRUCE so I just googled it. Sometimes I forget that not all parents behave similarly. For example, who doesn't turn a large box into a car or a house or a spaceship?

I have no problem allowing children to play video games or watch TV or movies and don't think those things need to be completely eliminated. Everything in moderation (and I don't think it needs to be as little as 1 hour per week, either).

Part of me thinks that this is kind of ridiculous. It is common sense (or should be). You play with your children, allow them to be creative, have toys, have fun. As the parent, you monitor their activities and control what they have and see, etc. I agree with most of what they are saying but I find it sad that, apparently, many parents need to be told how to parent by a grassroots organization.

I love TRUCE! and if you like that, check out "Empowered By Play". Teacher Geralyn Bywater McCloughlin's blog posts are right on and pertintent to what's going on with kids and media today. That kids are being targeted by advertisers EVERYWHERE (even at school) and they keep up on what's happening in early childhood ed, policy-wise.

If you have seen "Consuming Children", that's also another eye-opener.

For me, these sites are challenging the assumptions that media-saturation is benign. Everyone has their own preferences about how much tv/media their kids are allowed. We are pretty conservative in our home. I am not judging other parents here--everyone has their own comfort level regarding media (tv, games, etc.) Those that market to kids will tell us that "it's up to the parents to limit our access to their kids", and so I'm taking them up on this invitation. If they feel they have carte-blanche to exploit a gullible, innocent 'market' of youngsters because it is their 'right' in a capitalistic society, it's also my right to fight to maintain that family culture be the primary influence while I still can; while he's still too young to think critically on his own.

I know it's not for everyone, but TRUCE and Empowered by Play challenge the ideas that kids need to play with and see/have everything to be happy. I love their suggestions for toy lists and Geralyn's retelling of fun activities she does with her family and with her students or groups. It's inspiring and encouraging to me.

Thanks for a great question/post!

I had not seen it before. I liked the site. It is nice to find some support for parents who choose not to provide their kids with video games, tvs and corporate branded toys. Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood is another good site to look at.

Perhaps it can help educate those who don't see anything wrong with video games, tv and movies for young kids. Who are not aware that the time limit recommendations are supported by real research done with real kids watching real tv and video games. In fact the recommendations are probably more lenient in favor of media than would be optimal because of large scale lobbying by media producers whenever recommendations are formulated.

No I didn't know about it but will definitely look into it. I was looking for something like these organizations, I would like to push back on the media since they are always throwing things at us.