"My kids," Shriver explains, "get home at 4 p.m., have a 20-minute break,
then go right into homework or after-school sports. Then, I'm an enormous believer in
having family supper time . a number Clarion Today of my fondest memories are of sitting at the
dinner table and taking note of my parents, four brothers, and my grandmother,
Rose. We didn't watch the news.

"After dinner nowadays, we play a game, then my kids are in bed, reading
their books. there is no time therein day for any TV, except on weekends, when
they're allowed to observe a Disney video, Sesame Street, Barney, The Brady
Bunch, or Pokemon."

Beyond safe entertainment, Shriver has eliminated entirely the choice of her
children watching news events unfolding survive TV: "My kids," she notes, "do
not watch any TV news, aside from Nick News," instead providing her children
with Time for teenagers , [Teen Newsweek is additionally available], Highlights, and
newspaper clippings discussed over dinner.

"No subject should be off-limits," Shriver Clarion Today concludes, "but you want to filter
the news to your kids."

ABC's Peter Jennings, who reigns over "World News Tonight," the nation's
most-watched evening newscast, emphatically disagrees with a censored
approach to news-watching: "I have two kids--Elizabeth is now 24 and
Christopher is 21-- and that they were allowed to observe the maximum amount TV news and
information anytime they wanted," says the anchor. A firm believer in
kids understanding the planet around them, he adapted his bestselling book,
The Century, for youngsters ages 10 and older within the Century for children .

No downside to kids watching news? "I do not know of any downside and i have
thought about it repeatedly . I wont to worry about my kids' exposure to
violence and overt sex within the movies. Like most parents, I found that although
they were exposed to violence before i might have liked, i do not feel
they've been suffering from it. The jury's still out on the sex.

"I have exposed my kids to the violence of the world--to the bestiality of
man--from the very beginning, at age 6 or 7. I didn't attempt to hide it. I never
worried about putting a curtain between them and reality, because I never felt
my children would be damaged by being exposed to violence IF they
understood the context during which it occurred. i might ask my kids about the
vulnerability of youngsters in wartime--the incontrovertible fact that they're innocent pawns--
and about what we could do as a family to form the planet a more peaceful
place.

Jennings firmly believes that coddling children may be a mistake: "I've never
talked right down to my children, or to children period. I always talk UP to them and
my newscast is acceptable for youngsters of any age."

Yet the 65-year-old anchor often gets letters from irate parents: "They'll
say: 'How dare you set that on at 6:30 when my children are watching?' My
answer is: 'Madam, that's not my problem. That's YOUR problem. It's
absolutely up to the parent to watch the flow of stories into the house ."