American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [71]
• Give your child plenty of love, respect, and attention. He or she will feel secure and will imitate your behavior when interacting with others.
• When your child says or does something hurtful to another person, ask him or her to think about how the other person must be feeling and to apologize.
• Teach your child to use positive problem-solving skills such as talking instead of yelling or hitting.
• Teach your child to treat everyone with respect.
• Don’t use corporal punishment to discipline your children. Violence doesn’t change behavior in the long run and teaches children to resolve problems with violence.
• Don’t let your child watch violent TV shows, movies, DVDs, or videotapes or play violent interactive video or computer games. Frequent exposure to media violence increases aggressive behavior in children.
• Never allow your child to carry a weapon for self-defense. Knives or guns can easily be stolen or cause unintentional injury.
Media Violence
More than half of all current television programming contains some type of violence. Two thirds of programming targeted to children contains violence. Exposure to violence on television can have a long-term negative impact on children. In addition to desensitizing children to violence, viewing violence on television may increase aggression, as children try to imitate the violence they see. They may learn to accept violence as a legitimate way of solving problems. Seeing violent images on TV also can make a child afraid. Movies, music videos, interactive video games, and computer games are additional sources of violent images.
The two most important things you can do to protect your children from media violence are to prohibit them from watching TV programs and playing video games with violent content. Here are some additional tips:
• Never put a TV or video game player in your child’s bedroom.
• Watch what your children are watching so you can monitor their viewing and talk about the programs.
• Teach your children the difference between real life and the fantasy portrayed on TV. Tell them about the real-life consequences of the violent acts they see in the media. Talk about nonviolent ways the characters could have solved their problems.
• Don’t buy violent video games or computer games for your children.
• Don’t take your children to movies or let them watch rented movies that are not recommended for children.
• Write letters to TV station program managers to request better programming for children.
Gang Violence
A street gang is a group of young people who engage in antisocial, destructive, or violent behavior, often involving criminal activity. A street gang typically claims a particular city block or street corner as its turf and vigorously defends it. Gang problems occur primarily in large cities, but gang activity is occurring increasingly in the suburbs and in rural communities. Although the majority of gang members are boys, girls organize and are involved in their own gangs in many areas.
Much violence occurs between gangs and inside the gang itself. For example, gangs often initiate new members through vicious beatings and may expect new members to commit violent crimes such as armed robbery, rape, drive-by shootings, or even murder to gain acceptance by the group. Sometimes innocent bystanders become victims of gang violence.
You can make a difference by volunteering to work with young people, serving as a mentor, or providing opportunities for young people to engage in productive neighborhood projects and activities. Be vigilant about potential gang activity by always removing graffiti on your property and asking the police to discourage young people from loitering. Organize a neighborhood watch program