Kid culture

Pop-culture idols
Fascination with pop heroes is an aspect of children's culture that baffles parents. It's not unusual for children to develop intense crushes on a particular movie star or music performer, especially as they approach the teen years. While seeing your child mooning over a pop idol may irritate you, it's seldom unhealthy. Some experts think it may even be a positive and necessary part of development.

These fascinations are good practice for handling the intense emotions your child will experience in just a few years in real relationships. Since there's little chance she'll ever get to meet or spend time with her idol, it's a practice relationship at a safe distance. Unless your child's other behaviour changes -- she stops eating or sleeping -- don't worry about her pop star crushes. Whether it hurts their imagination or not, whether it affects their behaviour or not, pop culture has become an integral part of children's play. They relate to each other by discussing the latest episodes of their favourite program, the details about their star of choice, or the capabilities of their newest toy.

Keeping your child aware
So what should a parent do? Probably the best answer is to carefully monitor your child's exposure to manufactured kid culture. Children are resilient and, with direction, can become quite sophisticated in analyzing how marketers attempt to reach them. Help them negotiate the highly commercial world of child culture. Here are a few pointers.

• Take the time to play with your children often. While playing whatever game or activity they involve you in, you pass on your values and attitudes in a subtle and natural way. You also gain insight into your children's world.

• Watch television programs and movies with them, and talk about the incidents you see or the actions and conversations that don't reflect your values or opinions.

• Try to choose toys on the basis that they will have long-lasting value for your child, but don't be too restrictive. If he says he wants a toy that he has seen on television, take him with you to the store to see it before you commit to buying it. He may find the real thing less appealing than the version in the animated commercial. Don't be afraid to let him know what you can afford and what you can't, and which toys, such as a war toy, don't reflect your values.

• Select programs for your child's TV viewing to limit his exposure to commercials and, more importantly, to give him more time for his own imaginative play.