Bob DeMoss has long been a standard bearer for parents who are seeking ways to counter pop culture’s negative impact on their children. The former Focus on the Family youth culture specialist has a number of invaluable tools available.
In the book Learn to Discern, DeMoss first addresses a “new center of learning,” a conglomerate that includes advertising, television and films and music that are targeted to youth. In the second part of the book, he gives practical and necessary steps to help parents sharpen their own skills of discernment and then pass those skills on to their children.
“We’ve been told by ‘experts,’ by Hollywood’s gurus, as well as the keepers of the media, that a teenager’s involvement in popular music and film is a harmless party of their socialization,” he writes. Not so, says DeMoss.
Six chapters identify and illustrate how music and media are, in effect, battling for the minds of America’s young people. He opens with the stories of several teenage felons who committed rape and murder. A common thread running through their stories is that they just wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone.
“The dispassionate attitudes of the above-mentioned young felons is not atypical,” says DeMoss. “What’s more, many ‘good kids’ from ‘good homes’ are just as much at risk.” He speaks from his own experience interviewing children and youth in Christian schools. One 10-year-old girl told DeMoss in detail about her favorite episodes of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. An 11-year-old boy explained that he followed his favorite bands because the violence and abuse in their songs were “really cool.”
Parents, DeMoss says, have too long been asleep at the wheel, living in denial that there’s any need for them to know what their kids are being entertained by. He thinks Christian parents need to take note that with increasing frequency, even the secular media are addressing the issues of youth and their entertainment. Time and Newsweek magazines have run feature articles and the American Medical Association began voicing similar concerns more than a decade ago, he points out.
Advertisers get their share of attention in DeMoss’ analysis. In a chapter called “Madison Avenue: Selling Teens Short,” he includes photos of numerous print ads aimed at youth in the 1990s. Ironically, he has to black out a number of the soft-porn ads that target kids. Other chapters tackle films and the Internet.
Fortunately, DeMoss doesn’t just paint a bleak picture and throw up his hands in surrender. He’s a fighter, and he has accumulated years of wisdom through communication with youth and parents. He puts all that he has learned into five power-packed chapters of advise, guidance and plans that work for concerned parents.
The section opens with chapter 7, “Setting the Standard.” The author says it is critical for parents to assess their family’s situation, define the changes they’d like to make and strategize to accomplish their goal. He doesn’t promise an easy fix. In fact, he writes, “As you reflect upon the following ideas, you’ll probably notice that they will require an added investment of your time. Quite frankly, that’s where the rubber meets the road.”
DeMoss says parents who establish clear standards of right behavior empower their children “to make the best personal and moral choices throughout their life.” He points out that one value of defining family standards is that this puts our evaluation of music, movies and TV above matters of “taste.” It requires us to really listen and view with our critical antennae intact.
This author has years of experience on the front lines with youth, and he has a gift for translating his accumulated mass of data into useful tools for parents. No one is better qualified to pinpoint the problems and offer solutions for caring parents and discerning teens.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
