At what would you let your child watch the news?

[ponyprincess]

My 7 year old sometimes watches the news with DH- because
she wants to spend time with him and that is what he wants to do, or because it is on in the 'background' while they are doing something. I often ask him to turn it off/switch to something else as I am bit worried about what she might see that might be inapproriate or scary, like images of war or stories about murder, paedophiles, etc. DH thinks I am being a bit ridiculous and it is not a big deal, but I guess I just want to protect her from some of these things a while longer. Am I being over-protective?

I think if she's interested, and not showing any sign that it's distressing her, then there's no problem in her seeing the news. By her age, she'll be hearing about these things to some extent anyway - at least if she's watched them with DH, she can ask about anything she finds worrying and he'll understand the context. Children are usually quite adept at filtering out things which are beyond their ability to deal with and just think of them as so distant they don't affect their own lives in any way.

They get plenty of info from Newsround, and the Cbbc website, so I think if a 7 yr old wants to watch, she'll already know some of the background. Having said that, I do 'censor' some news items by just switching over if my dc are watching and it's something I don't want to explain. Not the war/ natural disasters, but the stalker/ rapist/ murder types

My ds is 8 and he watched the news. Mailny kids news but he also shows an interest in real news if I am watching. I am an avid news watcher and interested in politics and I am proud that my ds knows certain things about our country and what is in the headlines. Taking an interest in current affairs stands them in good sted in years to come imo.

Watches not watched.....

At the moment we don't have a tv, so it is not something I have thought about in great details.
I don't think I'd have a problem in letting them watch the BBC news, but we are not in England anymore and the Italian news seem to focus especially on horrendous murders etc, which is something I am not keen about.

I do think that at 8 yrs old they should be acquainted with major public affairs news.

We do talk at home of what's happening around us.

Mine are 4 and 6 and watch the news, or bits of it. But generally only when DH or I are there to supervise and explain things appropriately. I think its healthy.

I've always let mine watch the news. It leads to all sorts of interesting discussions. They take an interest in the world and what goes on it. Also more importantly why those things happen.

My children are certainly not traumatised by it but I do think they would be if I had 'protected' them from it all. I think the trauma of suddenly finding out that the world isn't made from sugar and spice and all things nice would be more traumatic than having found out that sometimes bad things happen and being able to discuss them.

Well that is all very helpful and getting perspective,so I think I will tone
my news-censoring down a bit, maybe just tell her to let DH know if she is
finding something scary and wants to switch it.

The trouble is, once they have seen something scary, even if it is then turned over, they know about it and think about it a lot. I remember seeing some IRA bombing in London on the news when i was a child, and as we lived just outside London I was terrified. Don't think I would have asked my parents to turn it over though, and even if they had I would still have been thinking about it. I'm all for protecting children from the horrors of the world for as long as possible. I think it is better for parents to explain certain world events to their children in a less terrifying way, as personally I still find the news on TV quite terrifying and prefer to read about it in the papers instead.

DH likes the news so we've always had the news on in our house. The boys are 3 and 5 now and ds1 does sometimes ask what a story is about and we just try and explain it in the most age appropriate way we can.

I feel it is important for them to have an interest and knowledge in the world. TBH I aren't overly knowledgable about the world and am making a real effort to learn more about stuff, I try to watch the news in the morning and listen to radio 4 now. I don't have a natural interest in current affairs (I realise how ignorant that sounds) so am trying to become more interested.

Sims2fan, this is just what I am worried about. I have no problem with DC being aware of current events, etc. but the images can sometimes be scary
and stick with you as you say. I don't want her to think of the world as a scary place. So far I have toned down my channel-switching and it has been okay, but I just can't help thinking there are better ways to get young children to have an interest and knowledge in the world then to watch news programmes targeted at adults!

As long as you keep an eye on what is being shown/discussed.

Some of the stories are horrific or upsetting (murders, sex offiences, the tsumani...) for kids to see and they don't really understand why bad things happen.

Our little 'un gets First News (he's six) - its a weekly kids newspaper which covers the main stories in a chield friendly way (not the rapes and murders thought) and explains them - so there was a story on Japan, explaining why it happened, how it has affected those living there and what happens next. It also have pieces about things like the Olympics, Fair Trade Week... so it teahces them about what else is going on in the world.

I generally let my 10 and 9yo watch the 7pm news, 6yo isn't interested.

We did have a Bad News day last week, first they showed how people overplay fear of nuclear meltdown with some chilling clips from 70s warning films, then they went into lots of detail about a paedophile ring that had just been cracked. So we switched over to Friends and that was all about circumcision.

I do switch off things about domestic violence, paedophiles, and serial killings of women.

I teach 10 year olds and I always tell the parents to encourage their children to watch the News with them. If they sit down together and discuss what's going on it can really help them get a sense of what's going on in the world. It's also a good way of talking to your children. Children are naturally very inquisitive and like to know what's going on around them. Some News stories can be quite disturbing, that's one reason the parents should be with them so they can explain what's happening and if needs be, they can be a bit selective about what they watch and what they don't watch.