Do the lessons and themes in kid shows make an impact?

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Here's a thought. Do you ever wonder if those lessons and themes found in shows for kids and teenagers really do make an impact? I'm not just talking about shows that talk about how drugs and alcohol are bad for you. I also mean shows for younger kids that talk about simple lessons like sharing, honesty, fairplay, etc Do you think it's a subconscious thing? Do you think certain shows have a bigger influence on kids than others? Do you really think that they take into account how certain shows handle such issues?

Discuss.

No, as most kids shows now are rushed and overrated.

I have to say I haven't really seen anything that really stands out as an important life lesson, let alone something a child would pick up on. On the other hand characters in this shows can provide the basis for a good (or bad) role model that compels them to better themselves in some shape or form.

I don't know about teaching our kids lessons, but to me it seems like all the new cartoons and the old cartoons that are still going are a lot more cynical than the ones I remember as a kid. I mean do we really want our kids learning from Mr. Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants that it's OK to be monsterously greedy and take advantage of people for money? I guess maybe shows today are a lot more cynical to reflect the mentality of everyone suffering from our failing economy, but teaching children that it's OK to give into selfishness and cruelty like the characters in cartoons bothers me a lot.

Not since Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

I hate to be cliche' but kids learn what they live. If they're sitting in front of a tv they're getting filled with consumerism, want, greed and lessons in commercial conformity. They are not learning to be productive. Those lesson shows simply mask incredibly clever, multi-sensory marketing schemes. (Some of them are SO noisy.)

From what I've observed, the most popular kid tv shows are rude, farty and undermine parents.

Woah, what shows were you watching as a kid?

PS: Undermining parents isn't always a bad thing. Kids should learn to think for themselves, not follow orders without question.

Last edited by The_Perfect_Storm on 05 Dec 2011, 1:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Star Trek, Space:1999, Lost in Space, UFO, Ark II...see a theme there?

Morbid fascination with campy sci-fi shows?

More or less, yes.

Kids can distinguish between fiction and reality, but the themes hammered at them over and over and over again do take root.

If a kid sees a depiction that something is acceptable on television enough times, culturally it starts happening in the real world.

Television and movies were the vanguard to promote vulgar language in public. People hardly ever cussed in public when I was a kid. Just using the word "dang" was considered going too far. Then one action/comedy got away with using the word "damn." It went downhill from there.

Or uphill, depending on your perspective.

Hmmm, you must not have kids. Parents are wholly responsible for their children. Undermining them is counter-productive and EVIL. It leaves children feeling lost and alone by the time they're in Jr. High because they've been told they can't trust their parents.

I didn't watch a lot of TV because it was new but I remember Sheriff John, Hobo Kelly, Touchet' Turtle, Andy Griffith and Gilligan's Island. I think I stopped watching TV around 5th grade because I thought the Batman TV show was SOOOO stupid.

MY kids were pounded with He Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Smurfs, and all that CRAP on Nickolodean. No show that puts down parents who just want their kids to behave responsibly should ever be glorified. Too much TV is a bad thing. Undermining parents is a bad thing.

Bart Simpson, Spongebob??? Come on buy the new toy! Gotta have it! More, more more!

Interacting with other children that have these values will also influence your children. Do you keep them away from certain kids too? I don't have kids myself but it seems to me that you should be able to teach appropriate values regardless of what TV shows them. I know I don't have any personal experience raising kids but I know a lot of good people that weren't 'corrupted' by television..

I don't think that undermining parents is necessarily bad. Parent's don't always have the right idea. Especially bad parents. I haven't actually seen any of the shows you are talking about, so to be honest I'm don't have a very good idea what you are talking about. Obviously the outcomes you are talking about such as feeling lost and alone aren't desirable outcomes but I don't think that TV is always going to be the main problem.

No one said TV was the main problem but TV is the topic of this post.

i think tv shows kids watch most definitely have an impact on their moral values and world view. i know the shows i watched did. captain planet, sailor moon, batman the animated series- all of these left massive imprints on my mind. they taught me environmental awareness, what evil is and why it is important to fight it, big co-orporations are bad, bullying is wrong, different people are good, being a superhero is the way to go... basic things like that. it did teach me to think for myself too and that did lead to my thoughts diverging from what my parents thought and that questioning of parental authority is good. in the end though it wasn't tv that made my parents loose all authority with me it was them so if you are a good parent you have nothing to fear.

That was the impression I got.