Why you should plonk your kids in front of the telly

bella starkey says:

09:45am | 03/03/10

Just wait ten years when they are coping off with a dealer at a rave to score free pingers!

Michael says:

10:18am | 03/03/10

Oh nooo not the burger gesture. You know what? I bet what they were trying to tell you was ‘i want to eat this burger beyond moderation and imbue myself with various health problems’. Better not let them watch commercial TV in case they make the gesture of turning a steering wheel, obviously telling you ‘first chance I get I’m going to hop in a souped up car and hoon around on the wet streets’. All well and good to say that no TV suits them now as they no nothing else, and you might think you are doing them a favour as they will be better at engaging with people, but wait until school starts and their peers are talking about TV.

MJC says:

10:28am | 03/03/10

Poor kids.
Seriously, you and your poor kids need a life. Do you go to church too? Afraid to use an e-tag in your car because it is the “mark of the beast”?

You likely think the Wiggles are a spawn of satan as well. Your kids couldn’t possibly just “enjoy” something, or do something without a purpose. Kids need to be kids, not trained animals with no fun, just because their parents are sorry 2 bit lame losers.

Your kids will grow up, rebel, and smoke crack in the backyard whilst you sleep. They harder and more unfairly you treat them, the quicker they will rebel, and boy, when they do, try telling them no, you can’t watch commercial television

James1 says:

11:41am | 03/03/10

My daughter is already so cynical (at seven years old) that she knows the ads are rubbish.  Exposure to them has taught her not to trust things she sees on television, and to confirm it in print before believing it.  I am so proud of her - that attitude has served me well.

Zeta says:

11:55am | 03/03/10

@ Paul - are you sure they weren’t doing the Industry Superfund gesture? Are you sure they weren’t asking you to start investing in a nest egg? They’re very similar.

TV used to be awesome for kids. It’s not now.

I remember when I was a kid commercial television was where all the kick ass shows were. You’d get home from school and watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Saturday mornings had Thundercats, and other action figure related bad assery. My Dad and I used to get up before dawn on Saturdays and watch Ren & Stimpy, and then the ultimate win of pre-top 40 Rage, where they’d play alternative music clips. I would stare in wide eyed wonder at the sheer insane glory of early 90s music television while my Dad would make fun of their names and tell me which ‘70s metal acts they all sounded just like. It was always pretty funny to watch him snort and say that someone was ripping off David Bowie only to discover it was crazy industrial early 90s David Bowie in disguise. Good times.

Now TV is crap. Rage is only good after midnight and only then if you’ve got ABC2. Kid’s cartoons are spineless and without soul. WTF is Dora the Explorer meant to be anyway? She never seems to be in any real danger, and she does very little exploring.  And Ben10 is stupid. I can’t even figure out what’s going on there. Does he have some kind of alien parasite? Is it a metaphor for television advertising? Pokemon made more sense. And why is it when I feel like buying ironic action figures for my desk the only ones for sale at Big W are Ben10 action figures that don’t even come with guns? WTF?

We’re stripping our kids of interest. There is nothing edgy about childhood anymore. Remember how subversive Nickelodeon shows used to be? The homoerotic undertones of Rocko’s Modern Life? The parental dissonance of Rugrats? That was great television. Now we just get preaching about how messed up the environment is and no one ever gets shot with lasers.

I worry about the kids of tomorrow.

ChelseaLee says:

12:41pm | 03/03/10

MJC, I agree with you that it is very important for children to have fun and enjoyment, and be able to engage in activities without a purpose. Some of my best childhood memories involve Playschool and Sesame Street. Not to mention waking up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday to watch in excess of 2 hours of Disney cartoons!

But when arguing this point, is it really necessary to involve church and other religious ideas? Every day of my childhood was balanced, with some light TV entertainment, some educational activities, and something which I enjoyed, such as painting. I don’t believe that E-Tag is the ‘mark of the beast’, or that the Wiggles are the ‘spawn of satan’. But I was taken to church every Sunday for as long as I can remember, and still attend every Sunday. And I will do the same with my children. Does that make me a two-bit lame loser also? Or does being a two-bit lame loser have nothing to do with church, and perhaps a little more to do with the unbalanced lifestyle that you believe these children are experiencing?

Perhaps you need to establish your argument properly before firing uneducated shots at groups of people that you see as an easy target.

Adam Diver says:

01:02pm | 03/03/10

Perhaps turn the Tv off and put in A DVD. No ads!!! TV make me smart…

Gavin says:

05:01pm | 03/03/10

Not EVERYTHING needs to be educational, sometimes they need time to relax and watch nutrtionless cartoons etc. Children have a remarkable tendency to learn so much and so rapidly from everyday things in life, hence they (if they’re lucky enough) are given toys. If you think kids don’t learn from TV (I would strongly argue against that), then don’t use it as an educational tool but a recreational tool…the same way adults use it. Too much work and too much play for that matter makes for dullness, use some discretion.