Our kids are, on average, listening to around 2 hours of music every day. Research shows that music is increasingly promoting drug and alcohol use, violence (particularly against women), and sexual activity.
There is also strong evidence that the things our kids watch and listen to impacts their attitudes, moods, and behaviours. Our kids’ music and media choices are empirically related to:
- Increased risky behaviour of all kinds, related to intimacy, alcohol and drugs
- Increased delinquency, depression, and conduct problems.
So what’s the solution?
Banning the kids from music will start a war! Don’t do that. Instead:
- Be familiar with what your kids listen to
- Chat with your kids about what they listen to and when.
- Be more media literate
- Talk about the message in the music or video. Ask whether they agree or not – and if they don’t, ask why they’d support it or listen to it.
- Set boundaries (together) around what music is appropriate.
