When do you let your children watch the local news?

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I have a son who has autism. He functions on the level of a 7 year old. I like to watch the local news, but lately my son has been coming into the room while I’m watching it.

He gets upset when he hears things like someone is going to trial for allegedly killing their 18 month old baby. His lower lip pops out and he says “Ahhhhhhh… what happened?” “What happened to the baby?”

I’ve stopped watching local news, because I’m not sure how to explain or if I should explain these types of things to him. When do you explain to a child that people sometimes do terrible things to each other?

What are your thoughts about letting younger children watch the local news?
 
My young kids (4 & 6) watch local news with us. They’re well aware there are bad people in the world. We’ve had to talk through a lot of stories - most notably the Kaylee Anthony saga (going on in our backyard here in Orlando). 😦

I guess it’s just a matter of how you want to parent and how you want them to learn about the world. 🤷 We don’t live in a perfect world and there are many, many very bad people in the world… we just answer the questions as they come along. It’s not like they won’t learn about this stuff eventually… unfortunately.

So, we’ve never restricted local news… it’s certainly not a pretty subject, but it’s just a matter of how you want your children to learn about the world. There ARE bad things that happen - very sad, horrible things. 😦 Just answer the questions truthfully and lovingly… you don’t have to go into gory details.
 
My daughter is 13 and its only been in the last couple years we allowed her to watch the news on any regular basis. Too much scary stuff and sensationalism for younger kids -and it can be just plain depressing. My dad got her hooked on all the conservative talk shows on Fox which I think is pretty funny for a 13 year old. She loves watching the news now -which I think is great for her age.
 
I remember watching the local news (well, adults watching it with me in the room) from the time I was very small. I was the type of kid who took things very seriously. I ended up with crippling fears of the house catching on fire, being murdered in my sleep, and going anywhere near large cities. Obviously, this got better when I got older … but I spent many a night before 10 years old thinking someone was going to break in my house and kill me for the television set.

So the answer your question, I think it depends on the kid. My sister never seemed fearful or bothered by any of it, and she’s 16 months younger than me.
 
We’ve had some pretty scary local things going on here in the past few years so I choose to refrain from having my kids watch. It’s one thing when the act is over and done, another when a murderer is randomly shooting people in the shopping center near you and is not caught for over a month! 😦

My kids are 13 and 15 now and watch the news regularly–local, national, and international. But at 7 they did not for exactly the reasons the OP gives.
 
*Hi Gal 👋

Gosh, sometimes I think we’re all not old enough to stomach the local news:( I would say your son, if he seems to be deeply troubled by the news, then maybe it might be best to not watch it when you know he might walk into the room. My kids are 13 and 16…they watch it with dh and me sometimes…I’m not a big news watcher, in general, so it’s not on much when I’m home alone. But, to think of an age…around 12, was when I allowed my son to start viewing it, I should say, when I wouldn’t change channels when he walked into the room. I would say if he is having nightmares or is visibly shaken by these stories, probably best to not have the local news on when he might enter the room. I hope this helps…God bless!*
 
Thank you to everyone for your replies.

Whatever Girl, as usual, you make a lot of sense. My little guy still believes in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. He tears up when he asks what happen. I don’t want to over shelter him, but on the other hand, I don’t want him to end up with irrational fears. It’s a terrible thing to know that parents kill their infants and toddlers. I don’t think it’s something he should deal with right now. Twelve would probably be a better age.
 
Galnextdoor said:
I have a son who has autism. He functions on the level of a 7 year old. I like to watch the local news, but lately my son has been coming into the room while I’m watching it.

He gets upset when he hears things like someone is going to trial for allegedly killing their 18 month old baby. His lower lip pops out and he says “Ahhhhhhh… what happened?” “What happened to the baby?”

I’ve stopped watching local news, because I’m not sure how to explain or if I should explain these types of things to him. When do you explain to a child that people sometimes do terrible things to each other?

What are your thoughts about letting younger children watch the local news?
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Nope, not ever. We haven’t watched network TV (except for sports) for more than 20 years.
 
Gal I have a son with autism and a daughter with aspergers so I can relate to this. As we both know, kids with autism take things very literally and these things can be hard to explain to them. I know my son cannot watch anything even remotely violent , because when he does it comes out in unexpected ways with dreams, tantrums, crying for no apparent reason…it actually took me awhile to catch on to this and we barely ever have the TV on. But, the little glimpses he was getting affected him and are hard to explain because the comprehension just isn’t there. For us, skipping the news is necessary. I have a TV in my room I can go and close the door if I absolutely had to for some kind of local emergency or important news info, but other than that I’m not missing much really.

It sounds like what your son is seeing is really affecting him. I don’t know how he is with identifying/ dealing with emotions, but it might be a good thing to limit his exposure to these things since the ‘why’ for him may be hard to grasp. Heck isn’t it hard for most of us to understand why people do these horrible things?
 
Galnextdoor said:
Thank you to everyone for your replies.

Whatever Girl, as usual, you make a lot of sense. My little guy still believes in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. He tears up when he asks what happen. I don’t want to over shelter him, but on the other hand, I don’t want him to end up with irrational fears. It’s a terrible thing to know that parents kill their infants and toddlers. I don’t think it’s something he should deal with right now. Twelve would probably be a better age.
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*Aw…I wish more people were like your son! I think the 24/7 news coverage that we as a society have grown accustomed to, has caused us to get numb to it, to a degree. Us, meaning in the general sense/society. I truly have had nightmarish type dreams when reading about certain abuse stories, etc. A fellow CAF poster told me about an Idaho boy who was 8 or something, and his mom’s bf (the mom should be in prison also, I think she is) tortured this kid for a loooong time, and then eventually, his little body couldn’t take anymore. :mad: In some ways, I want to know, so I can pray for abused children, and it causes us to become aware…but in some ways, I wish I didn’t know that story! 😦

You sound like you are a good mama, I’m sure you’ll do what’s best. :hug1:*
 
I wake up to the local news (mostly weather and traffic reports), and my kids are not out of bed at that time. All of the other news I get from the internet. I have a few sites I visit daily, and that is it.
 
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