Children at Risk

CHILDREN AT RISK
By David Porter
Kingsway. 317 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0 86065 931 3

In this new edition of his 1989 book David Porter seeks to describe and to critique the media culture which today's children inevitably inhabit.

Providing up-to-date information and insight born of experience, Porter covers the areas of toys, television, film, role models, computers, the Internet and fantasy games. For anyone responsible for the young, Children at risk is a great resource.

This book is extremely readable and extremely sensible, mercifully free of any hysterical 'Tellytubbies-are-a-limb-of-Satan' theories. Instead, Porter seems aware of the great vulnerability of children to the subtly value-loaded media; he equips the reader to analyse advertising, toy marketing and soap heroines through well-chosen examples ('the amoral glamour world of Barbie . . .') so that biblical, rather than merely reactionary, guidance can be given. The benefits of the computer scene are weighed alongside their more antisocial aspects, and the controversial world of 'Dungeons & Dragons' is documented.

Children at risk is a book to refer to again and again as new stages of development bring new concerns. Of course, there are omissions, such as the burgeoning educational market of CD-ROMS and books eager to push SAT success, computer programmes developed for toddlers and the whole music scene so aimed at pre-adolescents, however, the text does provide ground-rules to apply across the board; discussion, previewing films, and keeping TV/computers in the family room. Children are influenced by media culture, even if we've thrown out the TV and only read Narnia to them.

Sarah Allen

© Evangelicals Now - March 2000
Please consider supporting this ministry by subscribing.

• Request Free Sample

Main Articles

• Women hold up half the sky
  On Sunday March 5 2000, Tearfund is inviting churches to help tackle the disproportionate burden of poverty borne by women throughout the world
• Healthy friendships
  The Bible's pattern and teachings on healthy friendship?
• Turning the tables on the multi-faith agenda
  A response to the move to treat all religions as essentially the same and all faiths as equally valid
• Michelangelo and the Reformation
  The links between the great artist and the Reformation
• Acting up
  An interview with performers Rob and Sandra Lacey
• Are Christians required to tithe?
  There is no simple Yes or No to this question (reprinted from Christianity Today)
• Tolkien - the movie
  A look at the forthcoming film of Lord of the Rings (reprinted from World Magazine)
• Monthly column on the arts: Gormenghast reaches TV
  Has the BBC triumphed or failed with Mervyn Peake's masterpiece?
• Monthly column for youth leaders: virtual reality youth leading
  An interactive guide to the perils and pains of youth work
• Monthly column on hymns and songs
  Advice on choosing your church's hymns
• Where is the ecumenical movement?
  An assessment of the Anglican / Roman Catholic discussion known as ARCIC

Other articles

• Hungry - CD review
• Wisdom to Live By - Living Biblically in a Complex World
• Objections Sustained - Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law and Culture
• Three Huguenot Pastors
• It's OK (CD)
• New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE)
• Discovering Christ in Ruth
• Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World
• The Visitor
• Travelling Homeward - Exodus Simply Explained
• Spiritual Mentoring - A Guide for Seeking and Giving Direction
• Time Well Spent - A Practical Guide to Daily Devotions
• Mad for Jesus - The Vision of the World Wide Message Tribe
• Children at Risk