[Taradiddle]

Parents need to stop expecting television to raise their kids for them. While I completely understand needing some time to yourself and, say, plopping your kids in front of the TV for a movie or two to distract them for a while, it's still expected that the parent be involved with their child's learning and upbringing. That includes knowing how much TV your kids can watch, and when they can watch it. If you don't think a particular show is good for your child, make sure they're doing something else during its time slot. Also, rather than sending angry letters to Cartoon Network for every mild fight scene when your kids start arguing, go directly to your children and tell them yourselves why you think fighting is wrong and instill other methods of dealing with tough situations. (Sibling rivalry is something that can never be conquered even in the best of kids, but it can be moderated.)

Once they come into their teen years, they should be learning by then how to separate fictional behavior with real behavior. Shielding them from sex and violence isn't going to teach them how to handle it, it's just going to leave you with an ignorant teenager who'll be guideless when he has to figure these things out for his or herself.

At least, that's what I think, while I have admittedly never raised kids, nor plan to, so I can't claim to be an expert on the subject. I just know from my experience BEING a kid, and how I learned basic things like not to hit, not to judge others, ect.