Finishing Up

As I wrap up my blog, I wanted to mention a few things that I think are important to keep in mind regarding children and cartoons. As I read and studied for this blog I realized that I, as a parent, wasn’t as concerned about pacing, setting or even violence in the cartoons that my children watched. Although these three things do play an important role in what I allow my children to watch, what I feel is the MOST important thing is HOW MUCH and HOW OFTEN they watch. I feel this is by far the most important aspect of television in my household. I know that my child can sit there and watch show after show if I let him. It is even worse if his sister is there to keep him company. This can be a show that he has seen over and over but it doesn’t matter. I know that we have to limit the amount of television that is watched and after a show (recorded on the DVR) we go in and tell him that it’s time to turn it off. I try to get my kids riding bikes, helping in the garden, jumping on the trampoline, and playing basketball. The best way for them to be excited about these activities is for me to do it with them. I can see why many parents let their children watch so much TV. It’s easier. It is a free babysitter and we know this because statistics prove that children are watching more TV at a younger age. I know that many parents are busy; working, housekeeping, raising other kids, cooking, and even going to school and this makes it difficult to have the time to do different activities with their kids.

I have enjoyed reading about children’s cartoons and I am glad I have a better understanding of the issues that surround them. I think it is time for me to be more involved in what my children are viewing and make decisions that are beneficial for them, not convenient for me.

Attached are a couple of articles mentioning important aspects of television watching.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

http://www.livescience.com/8855-preschoolers-watching-tv.html

Something Else To Consider...

For those of you that joined in on our class discussion on Tuesday about cartoons and programming, I decided to attach a couple of links to two articles written about cartoons we discussed. The first one is on Blues Clues and the other one is on Sesame Street.  Although most of us have heard of these two cartoons I found the article particularly interesting. The first one explains Blues Clues in detail. It discusses the evolution of Blues Clues and focuses on different aspects of the show. In the Sesame Street Article it mentioned something that I hadn’t taken into consideration. So far in this blog, I had focused on the pacing of the cartoons and even mentioned some of the violence we sometime see in cartoons. One thing that I had not considered was how the cartoons had changed in terms of the visible scenes and settings. This might be hard to look at because we would have to have a cartoon that has been on the air over a longer period of time. Sesame Street has been on the air for decades and this article discusses how the actual set has changed from a city scene to a more green space. 

I know that as I was doing research I read blogs people wrote about how they used to love SpongeBob in the early years but no longer like it. I haven’t watched enough full episodes to make this judgment, but I think that would be an interesting aspect to look into. 

http://www.avclub.com/articles/blues-clues-occupations,51950/

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/sesame_street/index.html

My Family Watches SpongeBob?

This week I decided to take a small survey of people in my family and extended family to see who is watching SpongeBob and who is allowing their children to. I asked some adults (ages 21-45) how many watch SpongeBob regularly. 9 of 15 asked said that they watch at least once a week. (Wow!) These were adults that I would not have expected to say yes since three of them are not parents. Of the adults that have children (ages 1-13) 7 out of 11 have watched SpongeBob and usually see at least one episode a week. In my small survey, I also asked about slower paced programming like early childhood shows on PBS like Sesame Street and Caillou and asked what parents thought of them.  Three parents said that their children sometimes watch PBS and all of them said that their children prefer shows on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr. (Which airs preschool shows as well.) I think it is important to remember that SpongeBob is not intended or geared towards preschool aged children. I decided to share some of the information I have learned about fast paced programming with these parents. I was a bit surprised that many of them didn’t seem to care about the findings in the study. The parents with the target aged children said that the study wasn’t with the appropriate aged kids. They felt as if the information I was sharing, regarding the executive functions of children watching fast paced programming, did not apply to them. The parents of the younger kids didn’t care either. They shared that their kids loved the cartoon, and that is exactly what is, just a cartoon. They didn’t see the harm in it. This made me think about us as a society. Are we becoming blind to the facts as long as our kids are being entertained? If our children are being babysat by the TV for a while should we not care as long as they are quiet and happy? A couple questions to think about.   

Attached is a small clip of the opening credits of SpongeBob and the opening credits of Caillou. The difference between the two is very clear. The messages are sent at a very different pace although it seems as if the picture in SpongeBob and Caillou both change rapidly. The fast paced cartoon had more drastic changing colors in each scene and a faster song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DFu2jvGzw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXrfoJmsGTg

What's the Attraction?

Why do shows like SpongeBob attract audiences of all ages? There was a study done to try and answer this question but a definite answer didn’t seem to be found. We know that SpongeBob holds so much power in the sense of media. You can find almost anything with SpongeBob on it. This ranges includes clothing, stuffed animals, food, video games, juices, toys and school supplies to name just a few. SpongeBob is a commonly known character and is recognizable in people of all ages. In the attached article, it discusses why SpongeBob is such an attraction. It talks about categories of shows and where SpongeBob would fit in. I find it interesting that anyone would want to watch a show like this because I personally find it quite annoying but the article delves into the content of the show and how it does include situations that effect adults like embarrassment, friendships, money problems and even pride and ambition. The article does say that more research would need to be complete in order to come to a clearer answer but that sometimes-even gender plays a part in the age of the audience. Although SpongeBob is not a cartoon that I would prefer watching, I know that my children will watch (much to my dismay) and that my husband will sometimes sit through an episode with them. I find the entire show irritating, yet there is something in it that people are drawn to. Maybe one day I will have the patience to sit through a few episodes and figure out what it is.

This is the link to the article about the study on SpongeBob and why people watch. It is from the UNM Libraries so if you click on it and it asks for your UNM Net Id and password, use the one you would use to get into MyUNM.  

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.libproxy.unm.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b8bd07bc-acc8-49c6-945b-040f2097a083%40sessionmgr114&vid=4&hid=120