Have you ever used the TV as a babysitter? Have you seen a recent music video clip? Or flicked through the pages of a "tweenie' magazine?

Media veterans Russell and Robyn Powell are tackling the tough questions all parents face in a seminar called "Children and the Media'.

The husband and wife team who have four children and extensive experience working in the media say children receive many messages from the media in their most formative
years from nought to 12.

"We want to encourage parents to talk to their children about the media,” Mrs Powell says.

“Watch TV and movies with them; monitor their internet usage; know what music they're listening to and what they're reading."

Mrs Powell says the seminar held on Monday night at St George Christian school aims to make parents more media savvy.

With so much of the English curriculum now based on television, the Powells are encouraging parents to abandon ignorance and brush up their media skills.

“If you ban TV, by the time your kids reach high school it will be counterproductive to their education,” Mrs Powell says.

"Parents should aim to help their children engage with and intelligently criticise all forms of media."

According to Mrs Powell, Christian parents need to establish themselves as authorities on body image and sex " two areas where "tweenie' magazines (magazines aimed at young teenage girls) have tried to remove parental guidance.

"These magazines actively encourage teens not to talk to their parents,” she explains.

“As Christian parents we should not want our children's understanding of body image or sex to come from "tweenie' mags that promote themselves as experts.”

Mrs Powell believes Christian parents should follow the principles listed in Deuteronomy and talk to their children about media-dominated topics, "teaching them all the time in conversations'.

"Don't throw your hands up and say I don't know about the media so I won't talk to my kids about it. Instead, engage in those conversations," she says.