The last Saturday in January, we launched our new program for parents, called Media Safe Homes. About 120 parents showed up with a strong desire to create a media safe environment in their homes. For our first meeting we planned to have a general overview of this major and complex issue that the contemporary parent is hurtfully facing and set up the scene for the future meetings.
Using a selection of latest news, we looked at the media today and its fast growing in the last 20 years. This technological yet informational progress has its obvious benefits, but also some dark sides that our kids are exposed to. Technology is neutral, but media is not. Its effects are measurable and long lasting. As parents, we can take different attitudes regarding today’s culture, including media. We can isolate ourselves from it or saturate with it, but the wisest approach is to interpret it, to transform it, to use its positives and protect our kids from its negatives.
Then, we illustrated every type of media that we’ll detail in our future meetings. Music and MTV, movies, commercials, TV shows, Internet and mobile devices, video games, Facebook and social media are some of the topics we will address in a very practical way.
In the end, we encouraged all parents to sign a pledge that we prepared for them. It’s more like a visual milestone that will remind them of the responsibility they have raising their children for God.
Our purpose is to come with practical solutions for parents, to help them deal with the media blitz, but also to encourage and motivate them to continue a healthy education according to God’s standards.
The feedback we’ve received from parents and pastors and educators was enough to keep us push forward with confidence.
If you want to have a taste of that launching meeting, please visit our dedicated website ( www.mediasafe.ro ) or our Facebook page… and, if by any chance, you speak Romanian, you’ll also understand what we are talking about… 🙂
You can also see there photos and videos from the events.
Photo: Rebeka Gyorfi
