2. Children from 7 to 10

To parents and teachers

I. THINGS TO REMEMBER

--Your children are moulded by what they see and hear;

--They assimilate uncritically;

--They have great intuition and are more accustomed to absorbing audio-visual language than adults;

--On the other hand, they will have difficulty in understanding the real meaning of the message conveyed, if they have not been taught to go beyond the outward sign, since interpreting the message is a process of synthesis and internalizing;¹

Television programmes, where the image is less eloquent and polished than in cinema films but is also closer to everyday life, more capable of speaking directly to people and involving them through a sense of reality, offer a valuable opportunity for shedding the light of Christian standards on daily life;

In films, the image, sound track, content and message should all be studied and appraised;

Also the words and music and the message of songs should be listened to and interpreted;

Printed matter (comics, children's magazines, etc.) provides the best opportunity for encouraging young people to choose goodness and beauty rather than the negative values of violence, sex, egoism, etc.

II. WHAT CAN WE DO?

--Are we aware of our responsibility with regard to the choice of TV, radio and cinema programmes which our children follow?

--What can we do to get them to read the signs and symbols ever present in TV, motion pictures, radio and the press, and in daily life?

--Do we watch television with them so that we can talk about the programmes together, or do we leave them to watch on their own?

--How do we choose their magazines, and those we buy for ourselves and leave around the house?

--How can we help them to make responsible Christian choices free from the coercion of false values, and to check the message coming from the mass media against the message of Christ?

III. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

To help children to discover and assimilate the above concepts, activities such as the following could be useful:

a) Ask them to write a composition or draw pictures expressing their opinions on the negative and positive aspects of the mass media for their age-group;

b) Make crossword puzzles on the values of the mass media;

c) Carefully analyse a children's programme and make an objective criticism of it (valid? negative? amoral? biased?);

d) Get them to watch a TV programme and then suggest that they make up one like it, but emphasizing the good aspects they noticed;

e) Using pictures and music of their choice, reconstruct a parable from the Gospel;

f) Organize the making of a collage on the theme of Charity (or Truth, etc.) with illustrations cut from comics (e.g. Mickey Mouse Weekly, etc.);

g) Ask them to answer the following questionnaire:

1. What TV programmes do you watch most frequently?

Why?
What positive values do you find in them?
What Christian values do you find in them?
What would you not like to see on TV?
If you were a director, what would you propose?

2. What films have you seen in the last three months?

Who with? When?
Which of the characters in the films would you like to be like? Why?
Was there a film which frightened you? Why?
What films would you not like to see again?

3. What are your favourite songs? Why?

Do you know that every song has a message?
Do you try to find out what it is?
(make a list of ten songs with their messages)
Why do you like music? Do you listen to music alone or in company? Why?

4. Which comics and children's magazines do you read most?

Why?
What do you find good in them?
What do you find bad?
Which ones help you most to live as a Christian and which least?
Are there any you wish you hadn't read?

In completing and going over this questionnaire, it should be borne in mind that it is in this period of their lives that children's moral sense is being formed, and that our guidance must be clear, calm and enlightened, helping them to acquire stability and to respond according to their free and conscious faith.

This is above all a matter of teaching children to read the "signs and symbols" of the liturgy and of creation which they continually encounter in their religious training, and also of teaching them to understand the "signs" of daily life, which always have something to communicate.