Too much TV is bad for children, active parenting helps

Children’s minds are constantly growing. They want to be stimulated, and they want it so badly that they seek out media deemed “inappropriate” for their age group.

Dumbing down cartoons for fear that children won’t understand stifles the potential for stimulation, insults the target audience, and truly turns the TV into “the idiot box”. It’s ageism against children, who demand quality programming as much as adults.

So what are we going to do? Petition the networks? Write our own shows? Throw out our TVs? Actually, the networks only broadcast the shows that are supported.

Active parenting could be the fastest solution here. I’m not telling you to let your 6-year-old watch Family Guy, but I am asking you to keep an open mind and not change the channel at the first sign of bad form. Children are smarter than you think. They know the difference between right and wrong, fantasy and reality.

I’m not going to deny that children are impressionable and that the wrong cartoon could give them the wrong impression. However, if you’re truly worried about what cartoons are teaching them, talk to them.

Make sure they know that it’s just a cartoon, not real life.

Dixie M. Sampson

Cheney