Cartoons, kids and violence: Deadly mix on TV

When eight-year-old Kailvalya’s mother Rashmi was summoned to school little did she expect to hear that her son has attacked a classmate so badly. He had hit the other boy with the bat right under his ear leading to a serious injury that needed stitches.
After reprimanding him when she began taking him home on the car she asked him why he had been so violent. “But I only hit him like Jerry hits Tom to teach him a lesson,” he said innocuously.
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When five-year-old Maya’s mother caught her hammering her Barbie doll into the sand pit with a stone she tried to find out why. “But don’t all the cartoons on TV also do this?” she wanted to know.
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When Partho Ghosh took his six-year-old daughter Isha to a brunch she was worried about the Great Dane his friend owned. While the dog was friendly and docile his daughter punched it twice right on its snout frightening the animal away. “I was so embarrassed and  kept apologising but Isha kept laughing and shouting about having punched Scooby Doo,” he remember still distressed at the memory.
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Cartoons are every child’s delight and most parents are not only indulgent of this. But is what they are picking up from watching them really wholesome and desirable?

Readers may recall that the English Shin Chan was given the rating of TV-14 for its strong dialogue and bad language. In fact some episodes were also rated as TV-MA for offensive language, coarse phrases, sexual content and objectionable humour. In July 2006, when Shin Chan first appeared on Indian television screens, there were concerns regarding language, the behaviour and the mannerisms of the character Shin Chan. Due to this, the government banned Shin Chan in India till all such objectionable content was edited out.

But are the other cartoon shows free of such content? No, say experts. Psychiatrist Pavan Sonar told DNA, “unfortunately, so much of the content purportedly for children, actually has so much violence in it. Many-a-times it is explicit but dangerously so often it is subtly nuanced into the script. For children who watch it for long periods of time this becomes something they look up to and identify with as a part of role modelling.” 

Heeding the advice of experts like him, that though kids might love these shows, it is the parents’ duty to censor what they watch and homemaker Mamta Parekh does just that. “My children are allowed to watch television for just an hour a day. I encourage them to read instead of watching TV. My son doesn’t like this, but I intend to keep a check on them till they come of a certain age and become mentally more mature,” says she.

However, not all parents have time to monitor their children all the time. They can only lay down rules and hope that the children will follow them. “I have told my daughters to watch shows that are informative. They follow my instruction but sometimes I have seen them use offensive language. I suspect they watch other shows when not supervised,” adds Sushma Sinha, a concerned HR manager and mother of two.

For every such aware parent there are many who are simply unaware of the danger they are exposing their kids to. Jayshri Mehta, an engineer, has two daughters. She believes cartoons and video games won’t do too much harm. “I think cartoons on TV are the best thing for children. It hasn’t occurred to me that they are violent as I have always felt this is is suitable for their age,” says Mehta.

It is not only the imbibing of a wrong value system that is worrisome. What is more alarming is the fact that they get addicted and sit glued to TV screens for hours on end. “Watching too much television, research has shown can cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). An hour of TV is more than enough.

Children need to be encouraged to go out play with peers as this provides both exercise and a chance to develop interpersonal skills,”  psychiatrist Sonar recommends.

He cites the case of a 12-year-old, who would compulsively either watch television or play video games all day. Soon, complaints started coming from the school about him daydreaming and not paying attention in class. His marks suffered too and he was diagnosed with ADHD. “Parents should be alive to the inherent danger of something as benign as cartoons,” he advises.

Psychologist Seema Hingorrany agrees. According to her violent programmes and abusive language can influence children’s impressionable minds in a big way.  “Earlier we would get only 20-30% such cases. Now the numbers have increased up to 70%. This happens because parents fail to monitor children, “says Hingorrany.

She suggests parents watch television with the children and say no to programmes that are offensive. “If they don’t listen, parents should remember not to shout. Explain to them and tell them why the programme is bad for them. Tempt them with other fun activities like sports, swimming, music or art & craft. In this way children will be more active and physically fit. Along with this playing with other children will help them become better team players,”explains Hingorrany.