Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Cartoons: Harmelss Entertainment Or .... ?
| Whenever I am busy with something and my son gets unruly or don't have anything to do, I switch on the TV and let him watch cartoons. Cartoon channel is probably the only channel which I feel is fine for him to watch even without supervision. And the same view is shared by most of the moms around the world. Harmless entertainment as we may put it, right from our childhood to all the next generations, cartoons have been essential part of our growing up. But if recent studies are to be believed, these have been the triggers of violence in kids. In my niece's school, a classmate bullied her and when questioned, he said, he saw it happening in his favorite cartoon series. And such incidents are happening all over. With an attempt to make cartoon stripes simulate real life, the creators have forgot that they have kids as their audience and their impressionable minds take everything without understanding the good and the bad of it. It does not mean that the children should not watch cartoons. Everybody loves cartoons. I am a die hard fan of Tom and Jerry so why completely forbid them from watching. The key lies in being selective in what you should expose them to. For e.g. Exposing them to action figures too early in childhood is dangerous. There are certain cartoons like 'Mickey mouse clubhouse' that teach children in fun way and are very interesting to watch. So let's just keep Turbo Man and Spider man in closet for a while and pull out Mickey and Friends for a generous dose of laughter. Once they are big enough to understand and you are ready to explain, even Spider Man adventures of taking to task the Evil can be super fun. What do you say? Labels: adverse effect of cartoons, cartoons, entertainment |
posted by Jaanvi at 12:29 PM
Oh !! really your post is very cute and interesting. I would like to watch cartoon..tom and jerry.. I always prefer.. watch this cartoon with children...and i enjoyed... great post..
True..Somewhere I had read even the Tom & Jerry was more violent than other Walt Disney cartoons !!...But there is so much violence everywhere & isolating children & babies from watching cartoon , is it going to help..I dont think so
Interesting topic
Tc
CU
Hi Jaanvi, first of all, thanks for visiting my blog. I love reading your posts too.
Yes, I totally agree with you that we must be very carefull when comes to selecting movies or even cartoons nowadays for our kids. For me, I only allow my boy to watch either Barney and/or other educational show.
I think cartoons is kids' greatest entertainment! But I don't think Mr. Bean is suitable to be included in the cartoons channel 'coz kids shouldn't follow those selfishness in him. BWT, myself like watching Power Puff Girl :-)
Hi Jaanvi, I have never believed all those studies, research, whatever re children see TV gets influence.
Or movies.....I think its just people who want to sell books...or no other topics to talk, as well love to hear their own voice.
I have more than a hundred friends old days, and we watched from TV to whatever...none of us in jail, killed anyone, robbed a bank, or take drugs, except for Aspirin.
And everyone of us have grown up children, many grandchildren....all have more than one TV at home....
so far I've not heard anyone killing anyone or in a jail, or died of drug overdose.
Jaanvi....you just bring up your children the way your mother brought ypu up....you cannot go wrong.
One good mother is better than a hundred teachers or 10 books on 'Child violence'. Lee.
Ya Tom & Jerry is quite violet and I don't really like Cartoon Network channel. Nickjr is my choose.
I let my kid watch only DVDs. That way I can always monitor it content.
And also the amount he watches...
I let my kids watch cartoons and some selected movies, including Spiderman, Transformers and Power Rangers. Yes, there's fighting, but we make sure they understand that it's all make believe and they are not to imitate those violent moves. They understand me pretty well. It fuels their imagination and they do learn applications of new words... so it's not all bad :-).
@Compassion Unlimited
Sure there is violence outside but as long as the kids do not understand what it is, it makes sense to shield them and raise them that way.
@Uncle Lee
Ofcourse Uncle Lee, no one takes to murders or goes to jail after watching violent cartoons but immeditate after effects like imitating the violence and bullying are quite common. I have heard a case where a young kid jumped off his terrace aping to be spider man..the poor thing didn't know that there is no sticky stuff coming out of his hands that will save him.
@ Little Kit Boy
Thanks so much for dropping by. Hope to see some more nice posts from you.
@Dora
Ya you are right Dora but it all depends on the age of the child. If the child is old enough to understand what is happening and can differentiate between good and bad, then nothing is bad....
@Vickylow and Ann
Nice moves to monitor the exposure.
@Boey Joey
Thanks for dropping by... yes, there is no harm in watching all these cartoons as long as the kids understand the reality of the situation.
Agree with u, we must be selective. Not all cartoons r suitable for young children. No matter how much we explain, sometimes it's hard to stop them from imitating their fav cartoon figure (= bad influence). My kids grew up with PHDC. I love these educational series, they do learn a lot from them.
Hi Jaanvi,
Good day to you.
Frankly speaking, at this moment I still do not limit Sarah with TV time. Her fav tv programmes are mostly education show and also BARNEY:-)
Do you know Barney? I used to dislike this purple dinasour but now I noticed that he is able to teach Sarah a lot of things...ABC, 123 and etc...