Few people in the modern world share the views of parents a hundred years ago. In those days, writers for children carefully avoided any reference to sex in their books but had no inhibitions about including scenes of violence. These days children are often brought up to think freely about sex but violence is discouraged. Nevertheless, television companies receive a large number of letters every week complain about programmes with adults themes being shown at times when a few young children may be awake. Strangely enough, the parents who complain about these programmes see no harm in cartoon films for children in which the villain, usually either an animal or a monster, but in some cases a human being, suffers one brutal punishment after another.
The fact is that, as every parent knows, different things frighten different children. One child can read a ghost story without having bad dreams while another cannot bear to have the book in his room. In the same way, there is little consistency about the things that terrify adults. Almost every one has an irrational private fear but while some of us cannot stand the sight of spiders, for example, others are frightened of snakes or rats.
The evidence collected suggests, however, that neither the subject nor the action in itself frightens children. The context in which cruelty or violence occurs is much more important.
A good guide to what is psychologically healthy for a small child is therefore provided by a television series in which a boy and a girl are supposed to be exploring distant planets with their parents. In each story, they encounter strange monsters and find themselves in dangerous situations but the parents are reassuring and sensible, as a child's parents should be in real life. There is an adult character who is a coward and a liar, but both the children are brave and of course every story ends happily.
Some people think children should be exposed to the problems of real life as soon as possible. But they cannot help seeing these through new programmes. When they are being entertained, the healthiest atmosphere is one in which the hero and heroine are children like themselves who behave naturally and confidently in any situation.
Psychologists______

A. believe that television causes juvenile delinquency
B. think that television programmes are harmless
C. cannot find much evidence of a direct connection between television and juvenile delinquency
D. believe that television has a harmful effect on children