[Unpad.ac.id, 02/12/2012] Children are the love of the parents and the nation’s future. Strong character and positive attitude need to be taught for them to be able to face their future. This takes a good cooperation among home, school, and mass media, especially for children at the age of 6-12 years with their extreme thirst for information.
“The synergy is necessary in order to get our children to be ready for the future and to live psychologically healthy. They can face all challenges, work hard, make choices, and know what’s right and what’s wrong,” said Prof. Dr. Juke R. Siregar, M.Pd., when speaking at the seminar “The Role of Parents, Teachers, and Mass Media in Building the Character of 6-12 years Old,” held last Saturday in BPIP Jl. Ir H. Juanda No 438 B, Bandung.
Prof. Juke argued that children at this age range have basic needs to fulfill—the need to be appreciated, loved, and needed and to feel secure—to make them have confidence and pride.
The needs can only be fulfilled if the synergy resulted from home, school, and mass media can be created. “Home, environment, and mass media should play their role as a good teacher for them,” said she.
She continued that the three also served as information centers. They have to provide children with the right information to optimize the children potentials and their psychological health.
On the same occasion, Dr. Jenny Ratna Suminar, from the faculty of communication science, highlighted the role of mass media in shaping the children’s character. Television nowadays has become inevitable. It now serves not only as source of entertainment but also as guidance. This generation belongs to heavy viewer generation.
Television contains both positive and negative aspects. Therefore, parents should become the first to guide their children on selecting types of information suitable for children. “We should be technologically literate,” said she.
As for teachers, according to Ardini Suryati, the principal of Salman Al Farisi elementary, they should serve as role model that children can mirror.
