No.1 reason of quarrels in many homes between mothers and kids is for television. Mothers want to see serials while children are interested in Chota Bheem, Tom & Jerry and Super man. In these clashes mothers often blame kids for viewing cartoons continuously without studying their lessons. Such small clashes may often reach battles too.
As soon as a kid reaches home, before even changing his uniform he sits in front of cartoons. Mother needs to feed him in front of television. He is interested in seeing cartoons than listening to mother’s voice. When he forgets himself in Mr.Bean’s mischiefs, he never hears his mother’s instruction, ‘Drink! Eat! Change your clothes!’ etc. when he imitates Chota Bheem’s actions and show it at his mother she losses her control.
Mother switches off television and unplugs the cable. Kid outburst in anger and never opens his books – a sweet revenge. When parents take such kids to counselors or psychologists, they identify the problem easily. Cartoon characters are the real villains.
Two questions to such parents
When parents take such mischievous kids to psychologists or counselors they ask two simple questions.
1. Do you play with your kids?
2. Do you tell him stories?
If your answer is ‘No’ or ‘Not frequently’, you doesn’t deserve to complain about your kid.
Kids spend hours of day time in school under teacher’s strict control without any freedom. So they need to release those tensions as soon as they reach home. That’s the reason why they spend those hours before the television.
Why cartoon characters?
Kid’s mind, body and concentration are deeply related with time. Kids love fast moving objects, characters and scenes. They are not patient to watch slow serials or movie characters. Kids having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder) can’t concentrate or show patience for such slow things.
Kids love to fly in a world of imagination (magical thinking). They love animal stories and in their stories, animals laugh, talk, sing and act as if they are human beings. If a pencil falls down, his child mind thinks that pencil will feel pain.
Both physically and mentally
Spending too much time before television can adversely affect kids, both physically and mentally. Canadian toy testing council did a study on kids of age group 4-12. It was revealed that kids in the age group 4-6 are deeply influenced by ads and cartoon characters. Kids below 8 can’t distinguish between cartoons and advertisements. Though captions are shown, like “Never imitate. Such actions are shown by experts. Such actions are imaginary” etc, kids never notice such instructions.
Cartoons give messages like victory of good over evil, good can kill evil and super man comes to save us if we are in danger etc. “A picture is worth thousand words” and a cartoon gives a much quicker impact on kids than pictures. Cartoons can be implanted in kids’ minds and memory easily taking them to a magic world.
A kid may watch cartoons for one hour. But its moments stay in his mind for more time. So, even after the television is switched off, kids stay in the imaginary world playing with cartoon characters and they never concentrate on their books. Recent studies reveal that kids who spend more hours before cartoon show less concentration in class room classes and learning. First thing is their mind still in playing mood with cartoons and second thing is that they are now not interested in dragging classes. They love only quick actions and movements.
Studies of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on kids revealed that girl kids who are interested in cartoons express anger and impatience than those who views cartoons less. They are interested in gossips and may break up with their friends easily.
Since too much time before cartoons give less hours for exercise they become fat easily and often invite many health related problems too. According to the reports of Canada Heart And Stroke Foundation, 25% kids belonging to the age group 7-12 shows early symptoms of obesity.
Imitations of super heroes invite dangers
Day by day, accidents and deaths caused by the imitation of super heroes is showing steep rise, particularly during summer vacation. Kids have a feeling that their super hero will come to their rescue if they are in danger. Also they try to imitate actions shown by them. Such blind beliefs can invite dangers for sure. When insurance was given to kids of aided schools, such shocking reports came out.
What parents can do
Give fixed time for viewing television everyday. Even if they shout at you or show anger in tears, never melt before their false dramas. Though kids can’t adjust such timetables at first, gradually they will accept it. When you say, “daily one hour only for cartoons”, make it a strict instruction. If you are lazy in implementing it, kids will exploit the situation and never hear your words. If given time is 5 pm to 6 pm, switch off the television at sharp 6 pm. Even if he request 5-10 minutes to see the beginning of next program, never promote such requests. Those 10 minutes can be extended to another half hour very soon or later. Even if he promises that he will study for 15 minutes more, never promote it. Kid can choose his favourite program and when he it can be allotted. But total time per day should be fixed by parents and they should be strict in this matter.
Never use these shortcuts while feeding
Many mothers follow a simple strategy to feed their children. Switch on the television for a cartoon program and when he forgets himself in it, puts food inside his mouth. Such methods may help mothers in short term, but never in long terms. Mothers may have thousand reasons to say, “I am fed up running behind him with food. When he sits before television he is silent and I can feed him easily. Also, I need to clean the whole house if I run after him.”
But physiologists say, “Kids should enjoy what they eat. They should know the taste, smell its odour and see its colours. Then only they get the true benefits of eating food”. When kid swallows food when he is enjoyed in a television program, nothing stimulates his senses. Even if it’s difficult to feed him take a little time and face a little difficulty”.
Those great days of grand mother stories
Earlier grand parents used to tell kids stories and take them to the magical world of angels, ghosts and mythological figures. They used to teach kids morals through fantasy and mythological stories. Now those figures have been replaced with cartoon channels. Though they tell stories and jokes, they miss the emotional feelings, love and affection of grand parents.
What can replace cartoons?
When parents insist on banning cartoon channels they should provide some alternative measures too. Kids’ age is for enjoyments and plays without worries. Allow him to mingle with kids of neighbourhood. If so, as soon as he reaches home he may take his cricket ball and bat instead of switching on television. Such physical exercises and mingling with society can improve his physical and mental development a lot and helps them to grow as better kids and good citizens in future. Such outdoor games provide a lot of enjoyment too.
Parents can find time to play with kids and tell them stories too. Introduce them to the world of books. Kids’ brain will grow fast and he will surely enjoy being in company of books and fairy tales. Cartoons tell about victories only, they cleverly hide failures. But when they mingle with real world, they understand that success and failure are the two sides of the same coin and anyone can meet with both. Slowly their admiration towards such cartoon characters will reduce and parents can bring them back to real life without much effort for sure.