Telly Tubby Nation

Apparently the Australian government is about to recommend that kids under two years of age shouldn’t watch any television. The new “guide-lines” are part of the “Get Up and Grow” report on healthy childhood eating and exercise which is about to be released by the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon.

The latest government report will apparently tell us a whole lot of what we already know. Kids should get out more. They shouldn’t sit in front of the TV too much. They need to climb trees, stop eating junk and stop watching it, too. OMG that is brilliant stuff! I wonder how much Roxon paid the consultants for those brain waves? Well I don’t care what it cost – that kind of information is priceless.

NOT.

Jesus I’m angry. WHAT are these people thinking??? Have they taken permanent leave of their senses? Every few years the same anxieties about technology and the general lardiness of our general population get recycled for popular consumption. Ooh ooh too much television is bad for you. Oooh oooh too much food and no exercise makes you a fatty. I’m fairly convinced by now that they do it simply to give the tabloid press something to write about. I can see the headlines now! “Aussie Kids: TV Crazed Buffalo Butts!!!” “Play school or FAT CAMP??”

Actually this “recent study” is about two things that concern most of us parents most of the time. Eating and entertaining. That about sums it up for me, anyway. I’m generally worrying about what to feed my children and how to keep them entertained. And I’m constantly being made aware of how I’m doing it WRONG. As a parent I am a favourite subject of all the moralisers and experts out there who are just itching to condemn me for my lack of proper care and due diligence when it comes to the up-bringing of my children. The future of this great country.

S’OK. Apparently the “Get Up and Grow” report, due to be released next week, will claim that television, all television, is bad for kids up until the age of two. And even after that, it’s dangerous and should be limited. Apparently, “studies have shown” that it’s bad for eyesight and extended focus. (GOD images of my little girl almost kissing the television leap immediately to mind). The same studies also “show” that watching TV can stunt language development and reduce attention span. And because kids are watching television way too much they’re also not exercising enough or interacting with other kids enough and so they’re getting fat, too. Basically our children are becoming food and television junkies. Television (and other electronic media) is destroying our children’s lives.

Now just hold up one minute. I think it’s time for a reality check. Let me be perfectly clear. I’m going to say right from the git go what the REAL problem is here! It’s not television or food that’s for sure. It’s the way both these things are exploited by big business to maxmise their profits!

That’s right, people. There’s an elephant in your lounge room here and it’s not (just) your children. The REAL elephant is contemporary corporate practice. Why can’t anyone see this? It doesn’t take a genius to work it out.

Both the food and the entertainment industries are driven by profit. And, I’m sorry to say, our kids are simply a means – a means to that profit. Every and I mean EVERY other consideration has to take second place. That’s just the way it is in the big bad world of predatory business. Oh sure they’ll TALK about “educational” tv but that is simply another marketing tool.

Let’s take TV first. Clearly television is not in and of itself an evil thing. No technology ever is. To steal a much used phrase from the National Rifle Association of America, TV doesn’t make people fat, people do. And particularly the Fat Cats who own the commercial networks and commission the programmes. I refuse to believe that television is a bad thing per se.

In fact, it has given me and my family a lot of enjoyment. For example, at the moment we’re all watching the recent Dr Who series on DVD. It’s been great fun. And it’s been the source of a lot of excitement and interesting discussion. We’ve all entered into the imaginary universe of the lonely and slightly mad Doctor. My six-year-old son wants a sonic screwdriver for his birthday and I’m scared witless of the Daleks.

Other television programmes have also become part of our family history – the experiences we all share and the jokes and stories we tell each other. I see this as a good thing. I don’t have time to go into the current fashion for ‘focus’ and ‘attention’ – except to say that this science is more often than not a prejudice in favour of the very “objective world” that scientists favour so much. Actual perception though, works quite a bit differently!

Nevertheless, there is, of course, bad children’s television. Don’t get me started! Lazytown drives me bonkers. Have you seen it? An appallingly moralistic little tale about how kids watch too much TV and they should all do more sport. (Maybe Roxon’s dept. funds it?) This programme HAS to get the award for most hectoring and lecturing show on the contemporary kids TV landscape.

I’ve never been a big fan of Bob the Builder, either. Its protestant work ethic leaves me cold – building the badly paid blue collar workers of the future!

But you see my point? Rather than blame television we should look at the source of BAD television and the advertising and merchandising that drives it. And the source is of course the corporate media groups who are making the big profits.

Take the “obesity epidemic”. Obesity, too, is a problem that can be cured. Instead of blaming parents and their stupid ways – “oh look at that mum cramming Macca’s into that poor little fat kid’s fat little mouth, she should be shot” – instead of blaming the individual, we should look at the social context of obesity.

By turning everything back on to the dumb-ass “bad parents” we are missing the real cause of our difficulties! Instead we should look more carefully at the industries that are promoting bad eating habits. We should look at the increasingly long hours at work for both parents that make proper meal preparation difficult. We should also recognise, finally, that poor eating IS often a result of actually being poor. Energy dense foods are the best bargain in the daily high wire balance between cost and calories that all families have to make. Obesity occurs most among low socio-economic groups.

You want kids to run around? Well then stop selling good park land to the property developers for more medium-density housing bonanzas! Yep, I’m talking about YOU and your mates, Graham Richardson.

But no. Instead of real solutions and serious action, we get the false virtue and “compassion” of another ludicrous government report with its impotent little “guidelines”. Guide? That’s right. It’s only a ever going to be a guide isn’t it? No one would ever DREAM of actually restricting corporate activity and putting limits on possible profits. And our kids be damned!

Put out all the reports you like Ms Roxon, we know that your government has no will whatsoever to actually deal with the REAL causes of our increasingly bad health.

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