Do You Know Who Your Kids Are "Hanging Out" With?9.6108You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. ~Jim Rohn

So I want to let it be officially known that The Success Principles is my favorite and most re-read book. I actually read chapters of this book to my daughters when I want to make an important point. I find they more readily accept what he is saying in the book and apply the knowledge, than they do me saying the exact same thing to them. Hmmm....

Anyway, I think Jack Canfield did a brilliant job of collecting and writing about 64 "Principles" that are vitally important for people to understand and adapt into their own lives.  Things like:

• Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life
• Believe in Yourself
• Inquire Within
• Be A Class Act (my favorite Chapter--which I wrote a blog post on a few months back)

I really do think that I could write a blog post on every chapter and how it pertains to parenting, but today I want to talk about "Principle 25" -- Drop Out of the Ain't It Awful Club and Surround Yourself with Successful People.

So, this is important because as the book says ".... what every parent intuitively knows - is that we become like the people we hang out with." So, while the book goes on to explain why we adults should start hanging out with the people we see as successful and want to become like. I think the same can be said for our kids.

Now, we may be thinking, this is okay, I like my children's friends, they are good kids, so no need to read any further, but I would like to suggest that the "5 People" kids spend the most time with, are not their friends...

Who Are Your Kids "Closest Friends"?

I read an article that really disturbed me

"The study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that children aged 2-18 spend an average of 5 1/2 hours a day "consuming" media, including two hours and 45 minutes watching TV. Kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube -- nearly 6 3/4 hours a day."

So we have a house rule, only 30 minutes of TV per day, which I think is too much but my girls beg and plead for more, so 30 is the final number my ex and I agreed on. The rest of the evening (after homework and any after school activities) they can play outside or read or use the computer. But here is the real point I am trying to make:

If the average kid is spending almost 3 hours a day with the television then it is safe to say that they are going to turn out just like the people they are watching on TV.  Same speech patterns, same clothes, same drama!

What does that mean for the future of the world if Sponge Bob, Hannah Montana, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers and The Penguins of Madagascar are the 5 People kids spend the most time with?  It's really a little scary when you think about it...

My colleagues say that when I am writing a blog post I should always give the reader something of value, a tip or technique they can take away from the post and use in real life... so here's my tip:

Kids are like sponges (no pun intended!) and really do take on the traits of the people they are around the most, so pay attention to the people your children are spending time with - especially the fictional, animated ones!

As always, thanks for reading!

Melissa

PS - for all you parents with younger kids think about your child turning into a combination of Dora, Barney, the Teletubbies, Ruby (the bossy older sister of Max) and Oobi - Yikes!  Our poor kids!  Whatever happened to Kids Incorporated and Double Dare!