The
other day, I ran on very nice blog called: Imperfect Parent. I thought that
they will mostly talk about the recent sickness and the best product for
babies. But then I found this post by Kimberly Younkin about TV Cartoons.
Indeed, it was very interesting to see her point.
Kimberley is a mother of two boys that is sick of the fact
that children’s programming is full of violence, guns, sex language, etc. In
her post called: ‘A Rant on Violence in Cartoons’ she mentioned that she is ‘doing
her homework’and looking at ratings of shows for children. Once when her boys
were watching Jetix and their Batman, Superman, Spiderman shows, she went to
search for the appropriate rating for these shows. By her surprise these shows
are directed to older children, aged 7 and above. However,
according to TV
Guidelines.org: ''It may be appropriate for
children who have acquired the developmental skills needed to distinguish
between make-believe and reality. Themes and elements in this program may
include mild fantasy violence or comedic violence, or may frighten children
under the age of 7. Therefore, parents may wish to consider the suitability of
this program for their very young children''.
Well, it is nice that they spend some
time to actually write such ratings, but is it really fine for 7 years old
child to see cartoons with containing automatic-weapon-toting villains,
she asks?
From my point of view, this is not
fine; even though, I was exposed to violent cartoons too ( Tom&Jerry for example),
and I did not have any major problems. But the time is different now, children
are killing themselves and other because of fictional characters, they live in
the fiction, they are not able to recognize the reality.
So,
the question is – what can we do now?
Reference: Younkin, Kimberley. "A Rant on Violence in Cartoons." Web log post. Imperfect Parent. 5 May 2008. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://blog.imperfectparent.com/2008/05/05/a-rant-on-violence-in-cartoons/>.
We are well aware that children are sponges, yet we allow them to view adult related content. I feel that cartoons are nit taken as seriously just because they are not "real." As a result they do not follow the same guidelines that other television shows follow. I was watching an old childhood cartoon, "Courage the Cowardly Dog Show," and was shocked at the amount of violence. One problem is that we give t.v. stations such as Disney the benefit of the doubt, that they will not show anything that is not kid friendly. As your blog mentions so much trust should not be invested in these "kid friendly" cartoons and t.v. stations.
OdpovědětVymazatI do realize that cartoons have a certain impact on children, but then if you think about it , I also watched a lot of "violent" cartoons such as Tom and Jerry or The power puff girls, but that did not necessarily mean that I am was becoming more violent. I dont even remember what type of cartoons I watched under a certain age. In my opinion children do not have the same perspective of cartoons as adults have. Interestingly, I do believe that it is important to teach our future children the difference between reality and fiction.
OdpovědětVymazatThank you for your comment, I would just like to add that if you will read my article called: ' Are Wolves Really in Sheeps' Clothes', you will see that the main concern is not about the fact that there is a violent in cartoons.. But mostly because of the fact that nowadays cartoons are very well done ( in terms of graphic and interaction with audience), so for younger audience it is extremely hard to differentiate between reality and fiction. From my own experience, it is very hard to explain 4 years old boy that Spiderman is fictional figure, and he will never be able to fly or climb on the buildings.
VymazatMichaela I think that you chose a very interesting topic…I have a 5 year old niece and she is crazy about television…she watch a lots of cartoons and with it commercials….my niece is preparing this list for Santa with and about 99% of the toys are stuff from commercials…that is the problem with today parents…when they want to take a break from kid they put it in front of TV…they see their superheroes and try to imitate them….and that is the dangerous part…you should not take justice into your own hands….and kid younger than 7 cannot distinguish between reality and TV.
OdpovědětVymazat