Yasin's only started watching TV in the last couple of months. Other than his Dora the Explorer DVD he's never really paid much attention but in the last couple of weeks he's taken to snuggling up beside me to watch TV and I've begun to worry about the content. In particular I'm worried about him watching the news. The day before yesterday they had footage of a little girl in Lebanon who was a tiny bit older than him who's home had been hit by an Isreali bomb. Yasin looked really concerned and confused so I turned the TV off and yesterday we avoided the news. I spoke to DH about it and he didn't really understand why I would worry about the news but not Video Hits. I do see his point, that Video Hits conveys a whole heap of ideas about women and gender roles/relations that I wouldn't want my kids to take on board but I feel that we can discuss this later and that film clips aren't distressing in the same way that some news stories are.
Soooo... do you let your toddler watch the news or not? Do you follow the ratings or not? What age is it appropriate to let children start to watch the news? Do you discuss the news with your children while you watch it? Since Yasin only has a few words this isn't really an option at the moment. What TV rules do you have in your home?
I never had a TV when I was a child so I can't really draw on my own experience and DH's family are really blase about what they let children watch so I don't really want to draw on his experience either.