Friday, 22 February 2013

  • Parental Bans on Children's Television Programming


    Do you allow your children to watch television? Specifically, kid's TV shows?

    When my sister and I were children, my mum would not allow us to watch He-Man or Masters of the Universe because one time it gave me a nightmare. I wasn't even allowed to decorate my room with that wallpaper when we were redecorating it. We had to steer clear of it entirely.

    In the first season of Babar, part of the storyline involved a hunter. We could not watch it when it originally came out because, again, my parents feared we would have nightmares/bad dreams.

    There was another television series my Dad was not very keen on me watching called Chucklevision [British].

    So, if your children watch kid's television shows, are there any they cannot watch? What is the reason the show is banned?

     

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Comments (14)

  • Erika_Steele@xanga
    My son can watch any children's program he wanted as well as anything he wanted on the Science & History channels. That is still pretty much the rule. If he ever saw something that was on TV that he may have been afraid of, we explained to him that cartoons aren't real. We never shielded him from things that might frightened him, instead we guided him to learn to deal with things that scare him.
  • LadyGwenivere@xanga

    we are pretty selective with what our kids can watch. I like Disney Jr because there are no commericals. Our son is 5, and is very upset that he is not permitted to watch Spiderman/Batman/Transformers or any of that because we feel they are way too violent.

  • sarahsmurfette@xanga

    There are a lot of cartoons on the Cartoon Network that my kids aren't allowed to watch. I can't just leave the TV on that channel, for sure. And I don't mean nightswim cartoons, either. I mean, the kind that comes on during the day: Adventure Time, The Regular Show, and Mad are examples of what my kids know to be "no-no shows." For reference, my kids are 6 and 3. 


    When I was young, Ninja Turtles was banned (violence). You Can't Say That on Television was also banned (improper attitudes, as I recall, was the reason for that one). And mTv was banned altogether. 
  • Lost__In_My_Mind@xanga

    Hmm... I don't really know how to deal with TV when it will come to my kids. My parents limited TV time, of course, but they watched action, comedy and even horror films with us, and I can't say it's had any detrimental effects on me. If anything, it spurred my creativity, because I would write stories galore. However, the movies and television shows have changed nowadays, and I feel uncomfortable watching certain things as an adult, sometimes.

    Maybe I'll just introduce certain things in small doses. One thing is for sure, my kids will be watching pretty much everything I watched as a kid. Especially Rugrats. =P
  • rachmorgan01

    We don't have cable or satellite, so our kids are stuck with PBS ha ha ha. Every show on there is perfectly fine for the kids, even though many of the shows make me want to stick pencils in my ears. We also have a channel called Qubo, and the kids like some of the programming on that channel as well. They know not to touch the remote, so we never have to worry about them changing the channel and landing on something we wouldn't want them to watch. I have a few shows I like to watch that come on before the kids' bedtime, and they are highly inappropriate for the kids, so we send them to their rooms to play on those nights or they can watch a movie in our room.

    TV was fair game for my siblings and I when we were growing up. Sure, my parents didn't like us watching certain things, but getting us to stop watching those shows was more too much of a hassle, so my mom would just shake her head or flash us a look. We'd change the channel, and then switch it back once she left the room. My dad let us watch South Park... Looking back, that was such a bad move on his part, really. South Park is so vile and disgusting. I would never dream of letting my kids watch it. Also, MTV was my thing. Music is my life, so naturally, watching MTV and VH1 and Fuse was a favorite pasttime. Then, MTV ditched the music and switched to reality/smut TV and I didn't like it anymore. I remember being introduced to Jason, Freddy, the Halloween series, zombies, aliens, and ghosts (Poltergeist seriously scarred me for life) at a very young age. If my parents wanted to watch a movie while we were awake, they did. It didn't matter what rating it had, and if there was any nudity, we were told to cover our eyes (yeah, right, we totally peeked!) I guess blood, guts and horror are okay as long as you don't see a woman's naked chest?.....I was always having nightmares and sneaking into my parents' room at night, and they could never figure out why I was so terrified. Couldn't be the fact that I was only 7 when I saw Poltergeist, could it? Geez...

    @sarahsmurfette@xanga - That Adventure Time show confuses me. I watched it for a few minutes with my sister (who is nearly 19) because she said it was the greatest show ever. I was unimpressed and annoyed.

    @Lost__In_My_Mind@xanga - Rugrats is the best! My kids love that show!

  • grizzlybearr@xanga
    Our parents sort of shielded us but then again they let us watch horror movies at a really young age. That did have a detrimental effect on me bc my imagination was so vivid I would lay awake frightened of what I'd seen and thinking I was about to be eaten by some monster.
    My kids are limited but my son has seen transformers and the avengers (plus most the other marvel movies). My littlest one is not allowed to watch those yet. Lately though we stick to Netflix shows like super why and veggie tales.
  • Kuai_le1010@xanga

    I allow them to watch about an hour to an hour and a half per day of certain programs. Luckily, there are so many educational children's programs out there that they have a lot to choose from and I don't have to veto their choice very often.
    My mom was very strict with what we watched but I remember that there wasn't much educational or intelligent kids programs besides Sesame Street. We would try to be sneaky and watch He-Man but most of the time, that was banned.
  • chronic_masticator@xanga

    @sarahsmurfette@xanga - Adventure Time and Regular Show are my boy's favorites.  He's five.  So far, no adverse effects from watching them.
  • raspbxrrryjam@xanga

    Some shows are fine... some are just a waste of space. I actually have more of a problem with shows like Cailou teaching kids to be whiny brats than shows like 'regular show' in which their are consequences for their actions.
    In the end, though... I steer all family, children and adults alike towards books over TV. ;D
  • Pollypinks@xanga

    My grandson only watches The Cat in The Hat when he's here, and cartoon videos at home.  The American Academy of Pediatrics has deemed that The Road Runner and Yosemite Sam are too violent for children.  I find this absolutely hilarious.  My brother and I lived on that cartoon, and laughed till we practically wet ourselves every Saturday morning.  I think they've gone too far.  And I think parents can judge pretty well how their children react to things, but they can't in movie theaters.  We repeatedly see, and hear, small children when we go to the movies, PG, PG 13, and the likes, and a couple of times we've seen little ones at R rated movies.  Loud, action based, cursing kind of things, even moms nursing babies there.  You'd think the noise alone would be a clue, but apparently the parent's I.Q. isn't that high.
  • mamadragonwolf@xanga

    My kids don't get to watch a ton of tv period at home. (We have a mixed household of two families, and kids ranging in age from 16-unborn)

    My two are 1 and 3. The tv they have been exposed to pretty varied but there are certain shows that are completely banned. As in if they come on the tv and it isn't changed the kids can loose their tv privileges for the week. Like spongebob. I absolutely detest it. I prefer my daughter to watch educational shows because at 3 at least she's learning. But she adores the morning HUB line up (my little pony, pound puppies, strawberry shortcake, and littlest petshop) and I don't mind her watching those, however it isn't an everyday occurrence. She loves loves loves Scooby Doo and will beg her "big sister" to let her watch it on her movie player. The other day at the hospital the nurse asked if she could watch cartoons, when I ok'd it she turned on some show on cartoon network. Soon as she was gone I grabbed the remote and we watched Aquabots and Little Einsteins while waiting. At my parents the kids do watch a bit more tv as there isn't as much to do. Mainly shows on netflix since my parents decided they didn't need/want cable anymore. We watch a lot of anime (my dad and sister are huge anime fans) while there as well (and the video games >
    Mostly though we try to steer the kids to books. And to playing with each other/outside etc... After all we live on a goat/chicken ranch!
  • Mangonese@xanga

    Uh, I didn't watch X-Files as a kid because it scared me and gave me nightmares.

    But I watched all sorts of things that most kids wouldn't watch these days, like Quantum Leap, Gilligan's Isle, The Andy Griffith Show, Pretender, Sliders...things with more "adult" themes.

    People could contest it, but I think I turned out alright. My hangups and mental issues were most undoubtedly not caused by adult programming, just have to say.
  • DarkMeru@xanga
    My daughter doesn't watch tv really she is 15 months at the moment and incredibly smart. Every few days I will turn on a disney movie, when we had netflix we let her watch one or two episodes of blues clues while we cleaned the house. We had an appointment the other day and the dr asked how many words she can say, and told us a child her ages says about 2-5 words.... we counted at least 35 she says almost daily and in context. She also knows a few colors and sings songs half giberish half with the actual lyrics and always along with the beat. When we do turn something on she typically ignors it then just dances with the music. I try to have some sort of music on for a couple hours a day since she loves it so much. She absolutely loves books and will turn page by page a babble with her finger going acoss the words. She is learning so quickly its kind of scary how much she already knows and can do. I attribute a huge part of that to not letting her sit her butt in front of a tv all day. Either me my husband or both of us are usually on the floor playing with her teaching her shapes numbers letters colors and anything else that's relevent to what we are doing in that moment.
  • greene_lily@xanga

    We only have Netflix, so we don't watch a lot of tv unless someone is sick (or if I'm big pregnant/postpartum, LOL). But when we do, I try to limit it to educational shows. Leap Frog and Word World are favorites. I do like "Phineas and Ferb" because I have yet to see an episode that had a bad message in it. I used to like "Spongebob" when I was younger but I refuse to let my kids watch it. If I see a show that has a lot of bad name calling, bad character habits, or just a general overall bad message, they are not allowed to watch that show. My children know what shows are acceptable. When it comes to new shows or movies, my husband or I have to watch it first.


    We also be careful of the documentaries they watch, I don't like for them to see anything with sex or even animals hunting each other. I know that it's a part of nature but my son is only two (my daughter is four) and some things need to wait until they are older just because of nightmares.
    I really prefer for them to play computer games or even video games just because they are more interactive and require hand-eye coordination at least, where TV just creates zombie kids staring at the screen. The games have to be mom/dad approved as well. If you are looking for a good preschool computer game, check out Starfall.com. It's $35 a year and teaches everything from math to reading to nursery rhymes. My son is already learning fractions just from playing that game and my daughter will be able to read before she goes into kindergarten. 

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