Sep 25, 2009
My inconsistency in what I want my son to experience at the age of four
I’m less comfortable with Orison watching children’s TV shows than with him hearing neighborhood vociferation about beating the blank outta that blippety-blanker.
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Perhaps because cartoons make brawling look funny, whereas in real life, it is clearly not.
?
Perhaps because the man in the neighborhood is more redeemable than the TV show.
It’s been my experience that real-life violence is surprisingly banal compared to cartoons or movies. It happens so fast and without any accompanying music or slow motion. It is horrifying in an altogether different kind of way.
I guess the question is: which one is more psychologically damaging? My vote is: real-life.
I think if you have to choose between him watching 6 hrs a week of cartoons or 6 hrs a week of real violence in the street, choosing the latter will cause him more harm and more emotional adjustment problems than the former.
I disagree. I think kids can be exposed to “real” violence without harm if parents are actively involved in their life, especilly if those parents are trying to do something to make a difference in the situation – foreign missionary’s kids or Christian families in persecuted countries for example.
And in America, where do children see violence in the streets typically? Projects and ghettos. Those children are far more affected by the absence of a father in the home than they are by the street violence. Purely speculation but kids who see violence in the street are probably also watching it on television. Double dose?
A kid who is sat in front of a television babysitter is susceptible to whatever values Hollywood wants to teach them. There is a cartoon show called DinoSquad which is all about evolution and global warming. Even Caillou, a cartoon for toddlers, shows him being disrepectful to his parents.
I could have agreed if you said 6 hours of t.v. versus 6 hours of seeing real violence in the home will cause more harm and emotional adjustment problems.
caillou is a terrible show! he is hateful to his little sister, and is generally a bratty little cartoon character. i remember captain planet from my childhood, and how my dad told me it was an environmentalist tv show (much like the movie fern gully). :D and how about those wiggles?
I so agree, nothing worse than indoctrinating children into the new age religion. Where as the vociferation is simply someone out of control with their mouth!
Your apparent incongruity is on the surface; at a deeper level, which you feel, the depravity of the human heart coming out through your neighbor’s words is a greater teaching tool than a children’s show aimed at depriving the heart of your child from the truth.
Oh snap….Tim just dropped some knowledge.
I second that snap.
Crackle.
Pop.
Kudos on the great response.
i don’t see any inconsistency. maybe that’s because i am very similar. and, i don’t think it’s scarring one bit.
i’d be open to hearing somone’s opinion who does feel like they were scarred psychologically by the neighbors speech.
you grew up in the ‘hood, abraham…do you feel like it scarred you?
or…do you feel scarred by not growing up on t.v. shows?
i think not. i wonder what my brain would have stored if it wasn’t filled up w/ t.v. and movie trivia.
Hmm, some of it comes down to understanding what is “real” and what is “not real”. Four is too young to understand that TV is “not real”.
It greatly depends on what you are talking with your child about. Neighborhood violence can become “normal” behavior too. It was in our neighborhood. And that isn’t what we want for our children either. I assume that your child mostly sees how things are in his family, and that is the normal you desire for him to follow.
(“As for me, and my household, we will serve THE LORD”)
I watched cartoons, TV, and movies as a kid and understood that it wasn’t real. I enjoyed the stories and the action.
Real life violence and swearing was far more offensive and scary to me.
Guess it depends on the kid.
are you talking about all children’s shows in general, or are you referring to specific ones? it’s unclear…
Watching TV is for entertainment. What’s going on in the neighborhood is a reality check.
Isn’t it interesting how most of the comments left (so far) reveal an assumption that you’re talking about violence in children’s programming?
Great point — that’s what I was thinking too. Actually, my first thought was that Abraham was referring to nonsense in children’s television programming, maybe because the TV channels we tend to watch doesn’t have much violence but definitely have some nonsense (Yo Gabba Gabba, anyone?).
I can handle my unsaved relatives swearing, though it makes me sad, but when it’s on TV I’ll turn it off.
Maybe that blippety-blanker has got it coming.