cartoons/violence/kids

[cowboyup]

I got some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons - the 1987 version - for my nephew. He's been watching them only in my room while I shower for about 30 min to an hour a day, not on weekends. Rest of the time, if he watches tv it's PBS, Leap Frog, or Preschool Prep phonics learning dvds. Other than that, no TV.

Well, I didn't realize it had 'such an effect' on him but my brother told me today that he is to NOT watch anymore tv like the TMNT or anything other than learning dvds because while he was in his Karate class, my brother observed him gritting his teeth and being more aggressive.

My brother and sister have both watched these shows, among the Transformers, etc. and they turned out ok...well I do have to say on a side note regarding my brother: he is very aggressive and is always yelling at my nephew - the other day it was: stay in the bed, take a nap, don't move a muscle. And when my nephew is a bit slow to pick up his toys, for example, my brother will yell at the top of his lungs at him or if he is lagging behind (like any 4 year old does) he yells at him to walk faster, do this faster, focus, pay attention, listen to me, .... and I am being kind with my words.

Obviously Sponge Bob is NOT allowed in the house, nor is any Nickelodeon Jr. shows because SIL thinks they are stupid. Disney Jr. is even taken a beating these days with SIL and my brother. They are more focused on making sure he learns everything from astronomy to physics to engineering (not really at 4 years old but you get the point).

They've even threatened to throw away all his toys if he doesn't pick them up and put them away in the order in which they are organized in his toy containers. Now it's "keep the legos away from the baby (understandable) or else they will be taken away and you may never see them again" ....

OK, I understand their point, I really do, but is there some kind of balance I could suggest or just leave myself out of it and let them do their parenting? It hurts me to hear my brother yell at my nephew like he does...reminds me of our alcoholic dad yelling when we were kids.

So, question is, what's your opinion on TV shows? Should kids nowadays just not watch tv altogether and read educational books (like they would like him to do)or what?

 

[jaim38]

TMNT? Seriously?! Ninja Turtles are some of the nicest turtles I've seen!
I think the real problem is probably the parents. Your brother's aggressiveness probably has more impact on your nephew's behavior than the Ninja Turtles.
I think it doesn't hurt for kids to watch a little bit of TV a day. Reading books is good too. But watching TV + reading books are sedentary activities that can lead to weight gains and near-sightedness. I think parents should also take their kids outside and let them play and socialize with other kids. Kids should cultivate their social skills early on, otherwise they may end up developing SA later.

 

[cowboyup]

Yes, seriously. I thought, well, the neighbor bought my nephew a TMNT t shirt and obviously he was curious so I went to amazon and got a few old episodes thinking, hey, this is what we grew up on and we're not sociopaths. I asked the parents too and they said ok. I also got a few episodes of the Thundercats, Superheroes, etc. (they were super cheap on amazon and I had gift card) I thought superheros were the 'good guys' !!??

I even purchased a few 1.99 episodes of The Flintstones and The Rugrats and SIL said "better not let him watch those because Wilma always hits Fred over the head with a frying pan and in the Rugrats cartoon, they always say poo and stuff things in their diapers and Angelica says brat.

I just don't know these days, kids can't go outside to play in fear of getting germs or dirty, have to monitor everything so carefully it's getting on MY nerves. I feel bad for the kids now a days.

I did take my nephew to the park when I can and one day I said, "He had lots of fun, he met a little boy and they played." The parents were like, ooohh boy. ...the way they said it was like I did something wrong.

Yes, I too think my brother's increasing aggressiveness has more to do with it than some silly cartoon.

 

[Hellhound]

TV/Games/Internet don't make kids "evil". Poor parenting does.

 

[Starry]

Watching TMNT isn't going to make the child aggressive, though it may add to any aggression which is already there if it's not balanced out and he latches on to it... (Though having said that, at least if he latched onto it it would probably be aggression towards good and doing the right thing...) It doesn't sound like he has a balanced life however and he's far more likely to end up aggressive if his father behaves that way.

I note that there are very few heroic things at all nowadays... Which is a pity, as if more children had a good, heroic person/character to look up to, maybe they'd emulate better things...

Children need fun, they need to be silly and not worry about anything and yes it needs to be balanced out with discipline and a stable routine, but not at the cost of letting them revel in fun! I know that if I had a child I would definitely focus on them learning, but a lot of that learning would be through play and they would have a lot of non-educational play and cartoons in between. Though not too much - watching TV too much isn't good for anyone if only for health reasons.