I always make it a point to at least try to watch what my kids are watching on television. You never know what kind of messages and values the world is trying to instill in your children that is contrary to what God's truth is. Mostly our family does not watch much network television, but my kids, thus I by default, watch a few of the shows on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel. We do not watch them all the time, we just pick these if we have nothing else to do. (Most of the time they would rather play outside or play video games.) After watching some of the "newer" cartoons, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the new animated shows are stupid and are very annoying. It makes me miss the classic cartoons I used to watch as a child.
A brief list of some of the shows my kids watch from time to time (I try to steer them away from these shows as much as possible) are: Naruto (This is an excessively violent and annoying Japanese cartoon with a lot of yelling that hurts my ears. It also had some vulgar language and the main character harnesses the power of a demon, that he has inside of him, to try and do good things.), The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (This show features an extremely rude and disrespectful girl whose parents are afraid of her, an extremely gross and stupid boy with very stupid parents, and the Grim Reaper. It teaches kids that parents are dumb and easily manipulated and that stupidity and outright cruelty are acceptable behaviors.), Ed, Edd and Eddy (Yet another show with greedy, stupid and annoying sounds that get on my nerves. It teaches kids that its OK to cheat or injure others in order to achieve what ever goal you want, especially making money.), My Gym Partner is a Monkey (A show about a boy whose is sent to an animal school because of a mix up in his last name. It features a monkey who is obsessed with his butt and anything else gross. It also has annoying sounds that just grates your nerves.), Code Name: Kids Next Door (This show portrays parents as dumb people who are dictators and should be controlled by children who are really the smartest and dominate people on the planet. Grown ups in general are the enemy and should not be respected.) and Yu-Gi-Oh! (This show is another Japanese import that features a kid possessed by an Egyptian Prince? and it teaches kids that demons and false gods are real and their powers can be harnessed through sets of "playing cards".)
There is at least one show that we watch regularly that I am starting to grown concerned about; Pokémon. This show started out as something even I liked, but the more I watch it the more I am growing concerned that the show is teaching nature worship. The more recent episodes and books based on the series also teach that the universe was possibly created by the creatures called Pokemon and that they are responsible for the balance of the nature, time, and humanity as well. I am not sure this is the message I want my kids to be indoctrinated with.
Some current "family" shows I will not allow my kids to watch at all are: The Simpsons (The epitome of a bad TV show. A stupid and abusive father, rude and disrespectful children, not to mention the crude and gross behaviors of everyone else on the show.), Futurama (from the creators of the Simpsons, this show is outright vulgar, sexual and crude. Lucky for us it comes on very late at night.), and South Park (vulgar language, crude behavior, racist attitudes, and violent.)
Not all of the newer shows are bad though (At least as far as I can tell). Some shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Kim Possible, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Code Lyoko and Back at the Barnyard may have annoying things in them, but so far I have not found anything I particularly object to. I am still forming an opinion about the newest show my kids are watching called, Chowder (The show is about a little "kid" who eats almost anything and wants to be a great chef. Funny thing about this show is that all the main characters are named after foods. It is a dumb show but nothing objectionable yet.)
What happened to the good shows that taught some basic good moral values like: Rugrats, Doug, and PB & J Otter? Those were some good shows! Some shows I am glad to see off the air, such as Beavis and Butt-head and Ren and Stimpy.
At least I keep track of what my kids are watching. Some parents don't even know anything about the shows that their kids watch. Let me know what you think?
About ME
- Mr. E
- Grand Prairie, Texas, United States
- Mr. E is a Christian, Husband, Father of 2, former Army Officer and Texas Rangers Baseball fan.
7 comments:
Dad, I liked your blog, at least most of it anyway. I did notice you only talked about the BAD stuff on the shows you DON'T LIKE. There are some good things about them. You talked about Racist Attitudes and Violence...both of these are found in cartoons you used to watch; Looney Toons and also Tom and Jerry. It's OK though. I want to hear your opinion about these things.
Son, you are correct. Many of the shows I watched as a kid were not the best shows to watch either. Both Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes were violent at times (well, often) and the attitudes towards other other groups of people (especially Blacks and Mexicans) would not be tolerated today. Good point! I love you...DAD
After reading the blog...my daughter pointed out that I should give them (my kids) some credit. "We know that some of the things, like bad language and rude behavior, are not right and we would never do things like that. Just sometimes they are really funny and sometimes they do have a good lesson in them."
Once again, you are wise young ones. I trust you guys to know right from wrong. I just worry about the subliminal messages Satan tries to put into even the best of shows that we all watch. I am just trying to be a good Daddy!
I love you guys.
I LOVE watching what my kids are watching, even if it's stupid and annoying.
It gives us stuff to talk about, and we can process the negative things together. "Now, you DO know that you should never talk to you friends the ways those kids did, right?"
When our kids were younger, we tried very hard to keep away the "rude" cartoons, even slightly. I didn't want my girls saying funny but rude things like "talk to the hand." There would be plenty of time for them to learn these things, just not in kindergarten, you know?
Now that they are older, they have more sense and catch watch a broader spectrum.
And I love it when my kids turn off a show because they know it's not appropriate.
I DO have all girls, so their cartoon interests are probably different than boys'. Like not a lot of action adventure superhero type stuff. Too bad for me.
Having no TV is working out good for us. It's always an alternative if it comes to the point of having nothing of good value to watch.
We're pretty strict about what our kids watch. Recently, I pulled the plug on all of the Disney & Nickelodeon live action (i.e. not cartoon) shows. This includes popular favorites like Hannah Montana. I've seen quite a few episodes of all of these shows (and they all sort of blend into one show as far as I'm concerned). While they can be funny and teach a few good lessons, they also imply that it's normal and even important for boys and girls to have relationships with one another at a early age. They also imply that girls should go crazy after boys who are in bands. It just drives me nuts.
Now, I'll go out on a limb here. Hannah Montana is the biggest name in teen entertainment these days. Her TV show is popular and her concerts are all sold out. I predict that she will follow the same path as the young ladies that have gone before her. She will cut a few CDs and make more television shows (maybe even a movie) and then she will "slut it up" when she hits 18 (or a few years later) to let everyone know that she's an adult.
Mr. E, just because it's a cartoon, it doesn't mean that it's a kids show. The Simpsons and Futurama were never intended to be that way by the creator. However, he (i.e. Matt Groening) hasn't done much to prevent all of the marketing that's done towards kids with The Simpsons. Just walk into the toy section of any store and you'll see Simpsons merchandise. This is wrong. As for me, I like both of these shows as they do a great job of making fun of just how stupid we can be sometimes. South Park has the same idea, but they just cross the line way too much. I cannot watch that show. I used to enjoy Family Guy, but the same thing has happened there. Once you go for shock value, you have to keep going to that well again and again and the shock needs to be bigger every time--it sounds like the same way we battle with sin.
We've settled on Spongebob, Fairy Odd Parents, Jimmy Neutron and a few others. We also watch shows like The Deadliest Catch and John & Kate Plus 8 together. There's value in watching the stuff together.
Once again, another honest post from Mr. E. Thanks for not making it sound like you never let your kids watch tv because they're too busy memorizing their bible verses and participating in puppet ministries (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I knew that Futurama was not a show from the start. Actually neither was Beavis and Butthead. My kids also watch Jimmy Neutron.
As far as non-cartoon shows. There are not many we let them watch. Drake and Josh and iCarly are a couple. They never really watched Zoey 101 (featuring the now pregnant younger Spears girl), or Hanna Montana. Thank Goodness.
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