Those with toddlers: age appropriate entertainment? (1 Viewer)

[John Alvarez]

Mine is full of Rollie Pollie Ollie.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Are you sure? My mom had a cousin who was a POW in WWII Germany and "fortunate" was never a word I heard her use to describe his experience.

 

[Timon Russo]

Lots of interesting thoughts here! I actually took my sons legos and hid them when I realized all he wanted to do was make guns with them. That was about the time I stopped letting him watch Star Wars. Its been a few months, and frankly it worked. It's only recently that he has brought it up again.

My son doesn't watch commercial TV either, just DVDs and the occasional PBS kids show.

Part of me says boys will be boys and with my level of involvement in his life, it will never end up being a problem. Then again, when all the kids and parents get together and my kid is the only one running around blasting the others with a wooden spoon, I get concerned.

I bought him a squirt gun and he had fun with it and it caused me no concern, but his insistance on building only guns with his legos DID bother me and I took them away.

Double-standards abound! I'm trying to make some sense of it, and you all are helping. Thanks. Keep it coming.

PS, he watches Wizard of Oz too. It's probably his favorite. There is nothing in it that scares him (plenty that scares me!) but he particularly loves the Soldiers (the witches soldiers, that is).

 

[Alf S]

Our Tivo downstairs is full of Hi-5, Brum, Cailou, and Clifford.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

You should be. Which would you rather have, your kid playing with a harmless toy which could lead to conversations about the danger of real weapons and what the difference between real guns and toys are, or being ridiculed by his peers for being the only one going "bang bang" with a spoon? He's gonna be fascinated with guns, as you can see he already is. Withholding them and covering them with a deep dark secret is only going to increase his fascination, not decrease it.

My brother is a cop and his son had a toy arsenal worthy of any SWAT team when he was a kid. His son also knew to never go near his duty weapon or any other, that real guns are not toys. Due to his curiosity being diminished by his collection and the serious discussion my brother had with him, he never had to worry about him going near any weapon in the house. They were locked up, of course, but any kid can scour the house for a key or combination. My brother was never so proud as the time he overheard a bunch of his son's friends asked "Hey, let's see your Dad's gun" and his son's reply was, "No, it's not a toy, it's a tool for adults only."

 

[Jacinto]

On Sunday my daughter will turn 4, and for some reason that's the age I had in my head that I would first show her Star Wars. I was around 3 and half when I saw it the theater, and even though I loved it, I feel like I may have been a bit too young. She watches a few shows on Nick Jr. on mornings when she isn't at preschool, and she loves most of the Disney and Pixar films. I definitely keep her away from material that I don't feel is age appropriate for her, but it is certainly challenging with her older brother around who watches things that she shouldn't watch. For me, the most important thing is whatever it is she's watching, I almost always do it with her. We sit on the couch and shout "Swiper!" together during Dora, and we laugh and repeat our favorite lines during Monster's Inc. We also read a half-dozen stories a day, go for bike rides, make lunch together, and play Barbie and Polly Pocket. I look forward to the day that her little brother (15 months) is older and I can play GI Joe and Transformers with him, too.

Last night, my daughter made some swords and a gun out of Tinker Toys and she asked my wife and I to help her fight off the pretend bad guys. We obliged, and when we were done, we talked about real weapons and real people with her. Whatever they're watching (within reason) or playing, it's your involvent with them that makes all the difference.

 

[John Alvarez]

That was sarcasm.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Oh, sorry I misunderstood. Sarcasm is one the things that does not translate well over the net and I thought it an unusual word to use. My admiration and thanks to your Dad for all he went through.

 

[Chu Gai]

Let him watch Charlotte's Web and things like that. The guns thing doesn't bother me all that much. I'll bet though, that he'd love to play with big boxes.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

LOL, what kid wouldnt.

 

[andrew markworthy]

IMHO, if you're agonising about an issue such as this, you're unlikely to be a bad parent.

I don't think you should shield a child from everything that's bad and nasty. That doeen't mean that sitting a kid in front of Kill Bill would be a smart idea, but kids have got to learn that there aren't just good things in the world. Have a careful look at traditional kids' stories to see how violent and nasty many of them are. Part of childhood is learning about not only good things, but also of potential dangers whilst you are still in a safe environment.

FWIW, I'm a developmental psychologist. I've strenuously resisted applying theories to my kids, and I've never gone out of my way to censor what my kids watch. Okay, I've been careful not to watch anything too violent or with excessive swearing (e.g. anything that in the UK has a 15 or 18 certificate) whilst they're around, but if we have watched anything involving death and violence, we've tried to put things in context. Likewise, the kids know that cuss words are normal when someone is suddenly hurt or shocked or is very angry, but they shouldn't be used in everyday speech. Similarly we've never gone out of our way to censor their toys or video games. However, we've been fortunate that neither of our kids like anything other than fantasy violence.

The only time I've ever barred my kids from watching something was when I stopped my daughter watching Dexter's Laboratory. She picked up the idea that being clever and using your brain was something to laugh about. She'd misinterpreted the message of the programme that being a smartass is wrong and extended it to any form of cognitive activity.

However, what works for one kid will not necessarily work for another. I think you have to tailor parenting to the specific situation you find yourself in.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Two years old seems a little young for that sort of entertainment.

At that age I was mostly exposed to PBS childrens shows like Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, The Polka Dot Door, 3-2-1 Contact, The Electric Company, Mr. Dressup, Romper Room and Today's Special. Also cartoons like The Little Prince, The Wind In The Willows, Schoolhouse Rock, Barbapapa, Teddy Ruxpin, the Dr. Seuss specials, Care Bears and classic animated shorts; mostly Disney at that age.

I was probably about 4 years old when I started watching Saturday morning cartoons and having my first exposure to non-child oriented movies, tv and video games; still with a discerning eye from my mom. For my own children, I'd probably wait until they were about 5 before showing them films like Star Wars and the like. That seems like the right age to me. Than again, when I was growing up we had intelligent creative folks like Jim Henson who offered many an entertaining age-appropriate alternative. That's unfortunately sorely lacking in today's world. Children's shows seem to all be extremely uninspired, saccharine, unimaginative and condescending to a child's mind. Hopefully more of the early educational PBS series as mentioned above will eventually be preserved on DVD so that parents can expose their children to the same sort of entertaining values and fun that they were raised on as infants...

There's still dozens of quality films for both you and your two year old to enjoy in the next 2-3 years that it shouldn't be a concern. As others have said, films like Charlotte's Web, The Point, Pixar films or any of the classic Disney features or even live-action family films like The Absent-Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog, Herby, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, classic Hollywood musicals, vintage animated shorts and features (though at 2 years old, I'd still be weary of exposing my child to the sort of WB-MGM cartoon violence and would pick and chose carefully).

I'd say age 4-5 are the years that would excite me the most as I'd be able to really share all the influences and awes of my youth with my kids, without worrying about the implications. I think I was also about 8 years old when I watched my first horror film, and because of that... I'd probably give it another few before letting my children see that sort of thing. :}

 

[Bob Graz]

My wife and raised 3 sons that we are very proud of. Today they are 22,19 and 18. One is a Biology/Chemistry major, one a Mechanical Engineering major and the youngest a senior in HS.

We followed some general guidelines:

- Educational shows are better than mindless entertainment
for young kids

- Taking kids to museums, aquariums, zoo's is better than watching television. Back then we would have annual memberships to these places so we could go as often as we wanted

- Teaching kids the difference between right and wrong and respecting people is important

- Stressing to kids that education is the most valuable asset they can have is important

- Your kids should always know that you love them and are there for them. Discipline should be a mixture of firmness and compassion

- Preparing your kids to make good decisions in life is critically important. They need to learn that it doesn't take much of a mistake to find yourself in a bad situation. They need to learn to take responsibility and accept responsibilities for their decisions, especially as they approach their teenage years.

These are the basic principles my wife and I used as guidelines in raising our sons. For us, things have gone very well. Good luck and best wishes to all of you who are raising children. It's the most important job you'll ever have and the most rewarding one.

 

[Drew Bethel]

A very timely article indeed, re: companies cashing in bigtime on "edutainment":



http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...tainment_x.htm

 

[Micheal]

She still does all of these things about 90% of the day. Learning to sing songs, improving her counting, and picking up the odd word in spanish doesn't seem all that damaging to me. Yes, I know she can be taught all these things without "the box". I'm just saying that she has picked up some additional learning by watching about 1 hour of TV per day. Even less time during the week.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Absolutely right. But what do you do for the rest of the day?

Exercise is good for you, but you don't spend all day jogging. Everything in moderation.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

It's always nice to get validation on your approach to parenting. Especially when it's coming from a developmental psychologist...

I certainly echo Bob Graz's comments as well.


Well, those shows certainly exist as big market fare, but I'm not sure that's a fair general statement. There's some good solid entertainment out there for children that will engage them. Two examples spring to mind (geared more for the 4-5 year old set):


Backyardigans - This is a pretty fun show whose premise is that each adventure the 5 characters have actually takes place in their backyard as they imagine the surroundings changing into snowy mountains, ancient pyramids, etc. The music and songs in the show are also excellent (composed by Evan Lurie of The Lounge Lizards if my memory serves)

They Might Be Giants - Here Come The ABCs - Again with the music, but these songs are so incredibly catchy and have a good dose of humour. The animated videos on this DVD are pretty basic animation (and some live action), but can be a lot of fun.


Those old shows were great too though...Get your hands on the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs if possible.

 

[Drew Bethel]

The same things we did when there was no television.

 

[Micheal]

Sit around and listen to the radio shows?

 

[MarkHastings]

What ever you do, do NOT get this!

This just SCREAMS 'bad idea'!!!!