5 Ways to Use the Media to Your Advantage
Nothing is all bad and the media although often blamed for society’s ills isn’t all bad either. There’s a way to make the media work for you and your teen. Here are some examples:
1. Conversation
If you have family nights, which are highly recommended, playing a game, watching a movie or T.V. show is a great way to hang out and chat about life. Instead of “what’d you think about the movie?” it can be “So if you were going to write a review of this movie for your friends, what would you say about this one?” Wait for pauses and ask follow up questions, “Did you think the main character used her boyfriend?” “Did you think the sex scenes added something to the movie?” This is a great way to engage your teen and really get insight into how they think about things.
2. Normalize
Bad things and embarrassing things happen to good people. It can be incredibly difficult to get through this especially when you have limited life experience. Watching a movie with your teen or having them watch a movie that normalizes their negative experience (e.g. being bullied or dumped before prom, etc.) can do a lot to help them begin to talk about their feelings and get out in the world again.
3. Social Awareness
The luxury of living in a diverse community is the exposures to people that are different, but even without living in this type of environment your teen can have empathy for how others live by reading, watching or researching the lives of great agitators throughout history. From Ghandi, Frida Khalo, Desmund Bishop Tutu to Che Guevara, your teen may see themselves in their lives and see how being a teen doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice.
4. Empathy for your relationship
The relationship between parents and their teens has made for some of the best exchanges on television and the movies. The opportunity to laugh, learn and validate how others handle similar situations can be very rewarding.
5. Education
If you want to learn about a particular issue, documentaries, news and credible realty shows to name a few modes of media are a great source of information. You can experience what it’s like to be a pregnant teen in one moment and then be completely blown away by how skateboarding and other extreme sports became monetized.
Every method will not work for all parents or their teens, but hopefully this will get your creative juices flowing with new ways to strike up a conversation the next time you are in a car listening to talk radio or your teen comes from a movie they didn’t like. Now, you will use the opportunity to connect with your teen in one or more of the ways above rather than let them go into cell phone zone.
Related posts:
