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 |
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Virtue of happiness
| My son loves to watch cartoons. His favorite are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck especially when they are dancing and not to forget Richie rich. To my surprise, he likes the dog and not the boy in Richie rich. Nevertheless he enjoys cartoons so much that sometimes he laughs out loudly just by seeing them jumping around (not doing any funny act). And I wonder, what is so funny? It is not only the cartoons, you give a weird expression, cover your face with your hands and start playing hide and seek, these kids giggle so wholeheartedly that the entire day brightens up. In this fast paced life, how often we take the time out and laugh out loud or do the things that we love to do the most. It can be going on a picnic or just watching the sun rising or playing with the kitten or dog in your porch, the small things that used to give so much of happiness to us as a kid, as a matter of fact even now. With the whole day governed by the the hands of clock, getting up at 6, preparing kids for school, packing hubby's lunch, struggling to make and get them eat breakfast, putting them on bus, picking them up as the clock strikes one, lunch hour, resting for a while, playtime, dinner time, life is so mechanical. We often forget to relax and smile. I don't want to wake up one day with wrinkles on my face and regret that I could have enjoyed life a little more, I may have done the things other way around. I want to do it now, and live my life to the fullest, i want to start enjoying those small moments again that used to give me so much pleasure. I want to laugh out loud. Do you too want to make the most while the sun shines. I bet you do. Labels: be happy, cartoons, virtue of happiness |