She asks about EVERYTHING!!!

[tatcity]

DD1 4.5 years in the car the other day - I was listening to Radio 5 - drug killing story on news - " Mummy, what's a crack dealer?" What do you say?!!! I said, "he's a bad man"!!! I've since banned all news channels from the house while she's up - and bearing in mind the front page of The Mirror today - am wondering how much you should hide from them?

Young children are complete sponges aren't they?

I'm not neurotic about TV, newspapers etc but I think you are right to raise concerns.

We are the guardians of our children's childhood; nuff said.

the problem with all the violence around now a days is that you cant hide it from them ecause if they dont find out aout it at home they will at school
at the moment i think there are very bad people around will work but as she gets older like going out on here own to play with freinds i do belive up to a certain extent children should be informed about these bad people and what to do if they come across them

You feel like you want to shield them don't you? As you say though, there's so much crap going on its difficult to avoid it. There was a big security scare at the top of our road the other week where they found a load of explosives - it was all sealed off, journalists everywhere etc etc and we have to go past there to go to school...... what can you say ? - its so hard - they are so innocent aren't they?

children are innocent and thats what makes them more vunerable to the horrible outside world its going to scare me when my ds grows up ecause on one hand we want to give them the freedom we had as kids but on the other hand were scared to and it worrys me with all our insecuritys (with damn good reason) how will it affect our children when they got to grow up and face the real world but at what age is it safe to let them face the real world alone

It's a fine line.... freedom in childhood is soooo important though - Don't know the best way forward. Might bring this up again next week on MN.

At 4.5 (the same age as my oldest), I really think you should be careful about not having the news on when they're around. Same with tv that's not appropriate etc. Even if you think they're not taking any notice, they are, and they can't put it in context.

My husband would never watch the news even when she was 1, and I have carried on with that since. Our circumstances are a little different though, in that her dad died in the World Trade Center, so discussions of violence, murder, war and terrorism take on a more personal angle.

KateandtheGirls - I am so sorry to hear that - yes I suppose there is a VERY personal angle with anything like that when discussed with your kids. And there was me worrying...... To be honest I don't ever have the news on the telly during the day, or anything inappropriate to her age group at all. It just took me by surprise that she was picking up stuff from the radio news - my only way of keeping up with current affairs!!! Never thought I'd have to consider turning off the radio in the car though - but I think you are right - you hit the nail on the head when you said that they can't put it into context. Take care....