Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Interview with Dr. Kevin Leman

Aired June 11, 2002 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: You know what they say, sometimes no news is good news. Consider what TV news coverage has been focusing on lately: threats of another terrorist attack, innocent people getting blown up in the Middle East, and a teenager taken from her home at gun point. The question for parents is how to protect their kids from the bad news or whether they should be watching this stuff at all.

We are joined now by family psychologist Dr. Kevin Leman. His latest book is called, "Adolescence Isn't Terminal." I have one of those in the house. My 12-year-old turned 13 over the weekend.

DR. KEVIN LEMAN, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST: The hormone (ph) group. They're an interesting group.

ZAHN: Let's come back to television news for a moment, because there are some new statistics out, which I think our audience are going to find very interesting. Check out this graphic. Some recent surveys suggest that a large number of children are watching broadcasts, are very troubled by what they see. 26.9 million Americans who are watching the evening news during one week, nearly one million of them were ages 2 to 11.

And then the total number of murder and homicide stories featured on the national evening news broadcast increased by 633 percent over the last ten years from 80 in 1990 to 587 last year. Now that's according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

Based on these statistics, should parents let their kids watch television news?

LEMAN: No. And on top of that, we've got sweeps week to contend with. You know "Murder on A Street," film at 11:00. Hopefully kids are in bed by then, but my goodness, no, you shouldn't let kids watch stuff. You should keep kids kids and as innocent as much as possible.

ZAHN: But they're going to find out about this stuff. There are going to be newspapers lying around with headlines. They going to read them, aren't they?

LEMAN: Yes. And a lot of them are going to find out about it. And, you know what, when a kid asks a tough question, Why do thing happen like this, mommy, you know a good honest answer is, Honey, I'm not really sure, but there's people in this world that aren't really nice, they're not like mommy and daddy, there are people in life who will hurt you.

So you have to balance this reality that, yes, but you're not going to rub the kid's nose in it, and you're certainly not going to overexpose them to that kind of stuff. The word "parent" comes from the word parentus (ph), which means protector. And as parents we've got to protect our kids. And you protect them as best you can, Paula.

But you want those kids to be street smart, so it's the balance beam. It's a tough place to get to, but need to try to reach for that as a parent.

ZAHN: Given the fact that people are watching television news in a whole new way, post-September 11, I'm wondering at what age you think it's appropriate for parents to sit with children and watch television news?

LEMAN: Well, you know, when a kid is nine or ten years of age, keep in mind they're still young. But those are the ages of understanding. Kids understand a lot at age nine and ten. That's the time when kids might sit around a dinner table, for example, maybe after watching the local news or the national news. And it might be good to point out that you know, what we see on news lots of times, honey, are negative things, are bad things or scary things.

And, you know, I'm the guy that wrote that birth order book many, many year ago. And I'm so mindful of the fact that your little first born is your worrier. Your little first born is the one that tunes into whatever the adults are tuned in to. So don't overload the first born with more need to worry.

ZAHN: That's smart. You also, though, don't want to completely shelter you kids do you? You want them to be aware of potential risks out there, don't you?

LEMAN: I've got five kids from 29 to 9. To tell you the truth, I'd like to put them under glass and keep them there. But the reality is, you can't do that. You're right.

But the point is, again, you work toward that balance. Kids are going to hear things, like you say, in school. They're going to hear some terrible things.

ZAHN: Oh, and much of what they hear at school is grossly exaggerated.

LEMAN: And Elizabeth Smart out in Utah, I mean, what a tragedy. Kids know about that. And kids tonight are going to bed fearing, Hey, is that going to happen to us? As a parent, what do you say to your kid? You say, Honey, no, that's not going to happen to us. We're safe here.

You've got to identify a kid's world, Paula, by the world they live in. That's the home we live in. Our home is safe, the dog is fine, the goldfish hasn't died yet. Grandma and grandpa are doing OK. Your sister is OK, dad and I are OK. You sort of have to retune, if you will, the kids into, you know we're OK. There's tragedies that happen in life, but we're OK right now.

ZAHN: That's the most important thing, though. Because in your assessment, you're acknowledging those tragedies exist. You're not completely evaporating the risk of that happening.

LEMAN: I tell my kids about uh-oh phenomenon. When something is happening and they're out in a peer group or whatever, and you have that little feeling, uh-oh, something is wrong here, I said that's your personal message from almighty God telling you get out of that situation right now, back off. In other words, you want to be sensitive that there are people in life who will do you harm, who will take advantage of you. In this day and age, who will kill you, murder you, mug you. I mean, you name it.

So you want a street-smart kid, and yet you don't want to overdo it.

ZAHN: So nice to see you in person for a change. We're usually waking this guy up in the middle of the night...

LEMAN: I watch you guys. I'm a fan.

ZAHN: ... on the West Coast to drag him on to do the show. Well we're a fan of yours. "Adolescence Is Not Terminal," is the name of his latest best-selling book. I think we have the uh-oh phenomenon here on daily live television.

LEMAN: Do you? I want to have lunch with Jack, by the way. I think Jack and I could do lunch together.

ZAHN: We could arrange that.

LEMAN: We don't have to say, "I love your hair and your shoes, Jack. You're adorable."

ZAHN: I'll introduce the two of you right after this break.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com