Television is an addictive form of entertainment. There’s something for everyone. There are the kid channels, the reality shows, the channels that cater to the young adult/college crowd, the reruns of old shows, the documentaries, etc. If you sit down and scroll through the menu, you’ll find something that interests you. And so will any child who sits down in front of the TV and starts scrolling through the menu. If they are able to scroll through the menu and watch whatever they want to, they will be exposed to a lot of inappropriate and negative things.

Parents should know what their kids are being exposed to. There are a lot of shows on television that are inappropriate for children, but it is the job of the parents, not the networks, to make sure that children are not watching them. Preventing kids from watching certain shows or channels is not really that difficult.

First, a parent should make a list of what shows and channels their child is allowed to watch. They should not allow young children who will be easily influenced by what they see on TV to surf through the channels to see what’s on. Television time should also be limited. The easiest way for kids to get the wrong message from what they see on television is for their parents to have no guidelines for what they watch or just let them sit in front of the television all day so they’ll be out of the way.

Most cable providers will allow parents to block channels they don’t want their kids seeing. Kids will obviously break rules and you can’t watch them all the time. These parental controls will let you prevent them from seeing certain channels whether they’re being supervised or not.

A final solution would be having no television at all. That sounds like a crazy idea these days, but who says that you have to have a television? And even if you do, what’s wrong with having one that the kids do not have access to? Having a television in your bedroom and not in the living room eliminates their access to television, which takes away concerns over the influence television can have over them.

People who make television shows want to make shows they think people will watch. It’s not their job to solely cater to the needs of parents or their views on what kind of shows should be made for their kids. If the parents are responsible, their kids won’t be raised by the television.