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Virtues
ABC's Desperate Housewives is the most popular
broadcast-network television show with children aged 9-12
according to Nielsen stats. It airs after 9pm. – Parents
Television Council
The morality and lack of virtues found on network and cable TV is usually a far cry different from the morality
and virtues you would hope your children would be exposed to in their formative years. For example, the average American child will have watched 100,000 acts of televised violence, including 8000 depictions of murder, by the time he or she finishes the sixth grade. In a typical American home, the TV set is on for over 7 hours each day, and the average child spends more time watching that TV than they do in school, or doing any other activity besides sleeping. And while your children are glued to the tube, they will see between 1000 and 2000 television ads promoting alcohol every year.
So in the midst of that
information onslaught, how do you teach your child simple
concepts and virtues that they need to go through life? How do you define loyalty to a five-year-old? How to you teach a four-year-old what bravery is? Or respect? And how do you translate love? Most adults would be hard pressed to explain the concept of love, even to a fellow adult, and yet we stumble through parenthood, somehow hoping that our kids will grasp the concept from TV, movies and us.
These aren’t simple words that can be taught to your children by rote. They’re concepts
and virtues that your children need to know, understand, and adopt at an early age if they’re to succeed in life, even as they make their way through junior schooling, and thankfully, providing them with these lessons is not impossible – in fact, if you have a library card and a little time, it’s easy.
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The key to teaching children
sophisticated virtues such as courage, loyalty, friendship,
compassion, honesty and responsibility, is character-based education, and at the heart of that is guiding your children to watching, reading and enjoying the right kind of TV, movies and books. While you may not be able to give a child the words that explain what diversity is, any Winnie the Pooh book demonstrates that theme in ways that a child can easily understand. Pooh Bear also shows children what family is, and the value of friendship.
Therefore, if you are looking for reviews of
children's books and movies based on virtues, you
should feel comfortable with Discovery Journey's review system
that is based on character values. We
developed our list of character traits from Dr. William
Bennett's The Book of Virtues for Young People.
• Self-discipline
• Compassion
• Responsibility
• Friendship
• Work
• Courage
• Perseverance
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Faith
These are the
same virtues that we as parents want our children to
exhibit. It is
natural, then, that we would want to reinforce these
character messages that our children are learning through
the books that they read and the movies
they watch. That is exactly the reason for and the value
of Discovery Journey's character based reviews.
See further how the character value reviews relate to
Virtues
See examples of Discovery
Journey's reviews for
Great
Books
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Example
Reviews & Review List:
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"Thanks
for all you do! In
addition to saving us time (and
money!), your reviews have
helped me have good discussions
with my son about how important
it is to make choices that
reflect our values." - Laura,
Austin, Texas
"This is
by far the best website I have
found for Christian schools to
see the content of books without
having to read them all.
Keep up the good work!" -
Gloria, Savannah Christian
Preparatory School
"I was
able to use the service to
determine if what my daughter is
reading is appropriate. It
turns out that there are a few
touchy subjects that I need to
discuss with her about the book
she's reading now. The
site is a huge blessing for
today's busy parents." -
Michelle, San Antonio,
Texas
"Discovery
Journey helps me be a better
parent. Knowing what my
children are reading and viewing
affords me an opportunity to
have more open communication
with them." - Peggy -
Atlanta, Georgia
"Your
commitment to good character is
demonstrated first hand in your
prompt and thorough response." -
Natasha - Naperville,
Illinois
"Your
service is outstanding." -
Amy - Lizella, Georgia
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