Stakeholders urge parents to monitor cartoon children watch

Parents have been advised to monitor their children’s television and screen time by setting up rules especially for Cartoons.

A cartoon is a type of illustration, possibly animated, typically in a non-realistic or semi-realistic style that portrays stories, ideas and messages to the public.

Even though the act of watching cartoons could be fun, educative, entertaining and to while away time for children, when the interest becomes addictive, it affects their development.

Mrs. Christiana Sham, a retired educationist said cartoons have become an intricate part of the daily lives of children.
She decried the rate at which children are frequently exposed to cartoons by their parents without regulating the time and type of cartoons they watch.

“Some parents leave their children to watch any type of cartoons at whatever time and whenever it suits them without monitoring it to know if it is suitable for them and the effects it will have on them.

“These children become addicted to it to the extents that the parents use it to bribe them before they eat, do their school academic work or assist in house chores.

“ It gradually affect their sense of imagination, as they will be driven away from the real world and life experiences and live in a fantasized world they conjure up images,’’ she said.

According to her, some parents unconsciously encourage their children to become addicted to cartoons, which give them free time to carry on with other house chores, social media or engage in other form of activities.

“Some parents encourage their children to watch television programmes often so that they will have time and space to carry on with other engagement free from the children’s distraction.

“The consequence of this is that what they watch, they consume and it influences their behaviours, whether positively or negatively, which forms their character.’’

Similarly, Mr Mattew Auta, a teacher said even though some cartoons were educative in nature, but it should be limited to encourage children to engage more in outdoor activities, especially with peer group.

“There are lots of cartoons that teach children some educational materials, but there are some, whose theme revolves around violence and the characters become their role models which affects a child’s behaviour.

“Children need to be exposed to more outdoor activities, which aid in their social interaction, behavioural and psychological development.’’

Auta added that addiction to cartoons could also affect the language development of a child, contributes to poor social life, eye problem and less physical activities and interaction with others.

“Some children spend a lot of time watching television, which may affect their sight and some cartoons don’t use proper vocabulary, so these children imbibe that as well.

“ While other children prefer to watch cartoons rather than mingle with their peer group, thereby affecting their social life and reducing physical activities,’’ he said.

He therefore advised parents to educate themselves on the dangers of exposing children to cartoons frequently, as some have adverse effects on the behavioural pattern from an early age to adulthood.

Meanwhile, Mrs Joyce Innocent, a mother of three said she allows her children watch cartoons to enable concentrate more on other chores without distractions.

“ They get so engrossed watching cartoon that it becomes a battle to either change the channel or send them off to bed, when I need them to do so after I have finished my house chores’’ she cried.

Similarly, Mr Lekan Sunday said even though his child learnt a lot from watching cartoons before commencing formal education, it had contributed in making him an introvert.

“ My son is intelligent for his age compared to his peer group because of exposure to cartoons, however, he prefers to keep to himself and play with imaginary friend rather than play with other kids.’’

On her part, Mrs Cynthia Bako said her children have cartoon characters, they see as role models, thus prefer every of their items to be reflective of the character.

“ It has affected the way they talk and even their dressing to the extent that their birthday cake, school bags, wrist watches has to be a reflection of these cartoon characters like Frozen, Ben 10 and Spiderman.’’

NAN

 

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