So here's a topic.

Children's TV. These days, most parent's are becoming worse and worse as parents. They stick a device in front of their kids, while they go out boozing with their friends (a bit of an exaggeration, but unfortunately true in many cases). And they wonder why their kids end up being less than average at everything.

Of course, kids being kids, they are enraptured by this magical box that plays sounds and has pretty colours. Do they absorb the moral messages? I doubt it. Maybe past a certain age, where they possess a more refined concept of language recognition.

But for the most part, when kids watch TV, this is EXACTLY what they look like.









These picture are literally of kids watching TV, nothing else.



Now, onto an example of a children's TV show, one which has got me thinking about what they are portraying.



EVERY KID'S FAVOURITE SHOW! ARTHUR! WHOOOOO!

I remember watching this many, many years ago. I thought nothing of it, there were pretty good moral messages in every episode.

However. All the people are animals. Literally animals. Rabbits, monkeys, bulldogs, aardvarks, rats, mice, deer, chihuahua's etc. And every adult "animal" sticks to, and marries it's own kind. How messed up is that? Is it indoctrinating the fact that people should stick to their own groups and ethnicities? That one should look at appearance first, personality second? Does it embed the idea of racial segregation?



Here's what i think parenting should be like. I have no kids of my own, but witnessed many. And was one, at some point. The spectator sees more of the game.

First, maternity and paternity leave should be equal. Mum raises the foetus for 9 months, and then has to take care of the child. Fair enough. So, what? The father didn't take any part? Is the child not also the father's? Shouldn't the father do everything they can to help their spouse raise a child properly? This doesn't mean they go to work to continue to make money. They should have equal paid time off. Max 2 kids. If you're irresponsible, and have way too many human parasites, then you don't get time off. Going off on a tangent, sorry.

Staying true to the topic, i think that children should only watch television when they can formulate thoughts into simple sentences. Age 3+. And, very limited television. The child must report back to a parent, and discuss what they saw. What did it mean? Why is it important? Can i play with a stick and some mud now? (hah, who am i kidding. Kids these days don't go out. They're stuck in bubbles)


What do you guys think? I'd appreciate comments from Nexians who are parents.

Like all technology it's a double edged sword, it really depends on how you use it.

Sesame Street taught me basic counting and my ABC's well before I got to preschool. Fred Rogers embedded me with a strong imagination and sense of morality that has lasted a lifetime. Bob Ross cultivated an interest in art. The Simpsons introduced me to countless cultural references and helped me develop and appreciate a witty sense of humor.

One could make many of the same arguments for adult entertainment. Feeding your intellect on something like Carl Sagan's or NDT's Cosmos is a world away from binging on vapid sitcoms and soap operas. Not that there isn't a place for comedy or enjoying pure entertainment, just as there is a place for the occasional dessert of cake and ice cream in a healthy diet. It's when you begin to feed yourself solely on junk food (or junk media) that detrimental effects begin to arise.

Thanks for bringing this up, it is a good reminder to be discerning in what types of media we choose to consume and how we nourish our own intellect and that of our children/families/loved ones.

The moment you become a parent, you can no longer be a kid yourself. Parenthood simply means saying goodbye to your own youth. If you can't handle that, you can't handle parenthood. Parenthood means adulthood, and that means that even when you're not realy an adult yet, emotionally or psychologically, you still have to act like an one.

Leaving the upbringing of your childeren to the TV is not realy what i would call adult behaviour.

Childeren need attention. They need your attention even more than they need food. And the most they'll learn, they'll learn from YOU. From basic human interaction.

I don't know if TV generally is good or bad. Too much TV is definately bad. But when it comes to pulp...childeren do not realy have their own preferences yet. They have yet to devellop it. That means that they're very open to everything. So if they get to see different things, they will eventually devellop their own taste in visual art and literature, and they will at some point be able to distinguish quality from mass produced pulp.
If they'd only get to see the same shit, over and over again, then i think that would probably have a negative impact.

How do you know that those kids don't already look like that when they are not watching the telly?

I don't agree about indoctrination. It's a fact of life that species of animals usually breed with their own kind. Maybe if kids Tv programmes had people marrying dogs and other animals there would be a spike in the bestiality statistics.

I think that TV programmes were much better in my day. I really loved some of them and they had a lasting effect on me. I had a phase of listening to some of the theme tunes from them while i vaped DMT and the experiences were very pleasant (apart from the banana splits tune, which was a bit to hectic for my state of mind at the time).

There was a guy called Oliver Postgate that designed puppets, animated them and narrated the stories. Listening to his voice was so comforting. It was like having your favourite uncle swaddle your brain in warm cotton wool. But my partner, who is from a younger generation, thinks his stuff is creepy. And i think that the Tv stuff that she watched is rubbish. It's just a case of nostalgia with the "things were far better in my day" thing playing out.

It is very easy to be a spectator and decide where someone is going wrong in bringing up their kids. Everyone does it, including myself. But unless one is in the shoes of the particular parent with that particular child then one doesn't really know the mechanics of the child/parent relationship. And although kids do need a lot of attention they also need to learn how to be bored aswell. Too much attention and they will end up growing up into a little prince/princess.

I'm quite looking forward to watching Tv with my daughter aswell as reading all the books that i liked when i was a kid. I've already downloaded some old series of the clangers.


No one is ever going to be a perfect parent. All you can do is feed them, keep them safe, make sure they know that you love them and wing it with all the rest of the shenanigans that go along with parenting. But who knows? I'm just starting out and my kid'll probably grow up to be the female version of Ed Gein.

Very wise words.

I have kids.

Without TV to put them in front of once in a while I'd have bludgeoned the little fuckers to death years ago.

A resourceful parent will almost always be able to rustle up some kind of fun activity, but in reality having kids doesn't make me any more happy to be awake at 6am on a rainy Sunday morning than anybody else, and sometimes kids are cranky or sick or can just smell your weakness and TV can be a panacaea that saves the day.

That said, there is good and bad children's TV. Some of it is shockingly bad, but I'm of the Bananaman & Danger Mouse generation, so my standards were set pretty high.

The suggestion that portraying mouse families and dog families and bird families living separately on kid's TV is racist indoctrination is utterly ridiculous. There is of course indoctrination on kid's TV, but that ain't it.

Off course you can. Do you have kids? I'm acting like a kid all the time when I play with my son. We're best buddies!
You make make being parent sound so...boring.

Philospher, I also think putting your kids in front of a TV all day long is detrimental to their health. I think the danger is even higher if the kid is emotionally imbalanced to start with. I know one boy (4 years old) who has had a rough childhood so far -mother cannot take care of him due to substance abuse and psychological issues- and it is shocking to see how he reacts when the TV is turned on, it's like a junkie getting his fix.
Personally my son does watch TV from time to time (it can be a blessing to have him just sit still for 15 or 30 minutes), but he is also very active and creative so I don't think it is harmful. Sometimes I do have a bad feeling if he watches more than I feel is good for him. It does happen unfortunately but no parent is perfect as someone mentioned already.
Everything with moderation.

Didn't mean to make it sound boring. And ofcourse i think playing with your kids is just good, healthy, fun, etc.
It's just that putting your kids in front of the TV so you can go drinking with your buddies, or lie in bed with a terrible headache, the day after, like philosopher described, sounds very much like something a teenager would do.

I can see where you're coming from Psilosopher, but having spawn of my own... well. I have my own thoughts about it.


This has to do with an entitled generation creating even weaker and more entitled kids. TV abuse is symptomatic, not causal.



For me there's a clear contradiction between these two suggestions. That kids are too young to get a deliberate moral plot but pick up on the fact that only the bunnies marry the bunnies and then apply this to themselves? C'mon man. Many parts of modern society are far too sensitive to anything-ism. Fragile and triggered wimps. Protectionist policies have invariably lead to naivety not moral soundness. Our minds are like our immune systems. They require exposure to develop resilience, and in the right quantities too. Morally bleaching all TV programs does nothing but hide reality.


The parent who is most able to provide the required care should be the one providing it. Great if there is a clear balance there, but people are people and even the most balanced of us aren't balanced all the time. What the hell happened to gender roles? There's no wonder young adults don't know how the hell to define themselves and end up sexually identifying as teapots. FFS!
Oh, and by the way... my second child turned out to be twins, so I have 3. My good friend fostered her nephew to save him from abuse so now she has 3. There are so many exceptions when you start making rules like this. Also, attributing blame for hardship caused by child raising, man that's just so naive and self centered. If society had only max kids 2 policy in place you know where we would end up? With an aging population. This is a real issue that is already happening. People raising more kids should be celebrated and supported by everyone because they are raising the lifeblood of the future of our society.


Yeah man. TV is generally crap. I don't allow it in my house. We have a television but it is not connected to broadcast media. I have a media center and we download and allow our kids to watch appropriate things at appropriate times. This also prevents exposure to advertising which imho is far more damaging than the highly sanitized shows which are children's programming these days.

In my experience internet media poses far more of a social threat to children than television. It's harder to police and as we all know the internet is full of lies, propaganda and half truths. This is where parents need to be most vigilant. The internet is a clear moral and identity threat for children, as well as being a being a learning resource.

I don't actually think Arthur is implying racial segregation. Just something i noticed, as a result of having characters being anthromorphic animals. I was on changa when i first thought about this, and you guys know DMT, once you think something, it creates an avalanche.


Again, i'm no parent. I've only had parents, and watched my sister grow up, and i'm considerably older. So i noticed things. And i noticed how other parents would "parent" their kids. The ones who engaged their kids in dialogue more turn out to be more receptive and willing to question everything. The parents that had a hardline approach to "discipline" (*cough cough* Asian parents), would create kids who idealise the boring and stale desires in life, aka boring job, boring house, boring spouse etc. I know a lot of Asian people, being Asian myself. Hardly any of them smoke ganja, let alone know about psychedelics. I noticed something different from my upbringing to theirs. As a kid, i would devour books. When i was ten, i consumed a book on ancient world mythologies and culture that had about 800 pages. I read this book about 5 times. I can remember facts from that book to this day. Reading that book questioned my religion assigned to me at birth, at led me to a line of inquiry that focuses on dismantling ideas and concepts, scrutinising every aspect, then putting it back together and observing it's integrity. My assigned religion did not hold up to my scrutiny. So i discarded it. This way of thinking did take it's toll. I would get existential crises. Very, very often. As a result, i never cared about proving my marks in exams. I just wanted to learn for the sake of learning.

On the contrary, my peers would be playing video games constantly, or watching TV. This is not something i think, this is something i've asked about to a lot of people. My parent's didn't have a super hardline approach, but they did burn me out academically pretty early. I started going to extra tuition at Year 2 (2nd Grade for you 'Muricans). Several subjects a week. One of my best friends at the time was a top-class student. High 90's in everything, which continued all the way to high school and uni. Started tuition at the same time, is the same ethnicity as me, so his parent's raised him similar to mine. And yet now, he's settled down, got married, and has no desire for further education. And then there's me. A student who wasn't failing miserably, but not excelling in class. My marks were just below average, to the point of infuriating my parents. Not the fact that i had crap marks, but what my teachers would say about me. "He has potential, he is extremely capable, he knows the entire curriculum, but doesn't show it in the exam". That sorta thing. The existentialism played a massive role here. This exact existentialism and way of thinking about the world is what made me question Year 10 PE, aka drug "education". I understood everything they said about hard drugs, but ganja? It's a plant, and i knew it was sacrament to many people. Not many people consider heroin to be a divine gift from Shiva. So as soon as i left high school, i was pumpin' billies. Permabaked for my entire uni degree. Took me 5 years to complete a 3 year degree (did it kinda part-time and failed quite a bit). Ganja made me write and control my thoughts a lot. It ingrained mindfulness in me, which is contrary to the effects where thoughts move a million miles a second. That other friend of mine? Was the epitome of the ideal Bengali son. But when i talk to him, it's like talking to a wall sometimes. It's like he refuses to question even simple things. Just accepts the way it is, and moves on. Does not even see psychs as medicines, just "drugs". Truly depressing.




One of my dad's uni friends had kids really late. His oldest son is about 11-12. He speaks like a philosopher. He is actually studying classes several years in advance. He see's TV and video games as boring and unfulfilling. The only games he likes are the ones that challenge the mind. This kid is the only kid i actually enjoy talking to.

On the flip side, you have the troublesome kids. Sure, a lot of traits come from nature, but those traits are dulled or sharpened by nurture.


I don't want to have kids. I'd like to have kids, in theory. Which means planning how they are raised, but not actually wiping their arse everyday and dealing with their tantrums and needs on a minute-by-minute basis. In which case, i might adopt an older kid. Just so i can prove to all my family (they are South Asian, and do many things right and wrong with raising kids), that the black mirror is toxic. It is a godsend to pacify kids. It is a plague that also pacifies the adult masses.


Sorry for the unstructured post, my brain went on multiple tangents at the same time.

I think that if you want kids just to prove something to your parents and not have to deal with wiping their arses and
tantrums then it is best that you don't have them at all. Even if you adopted an older kid they will already have their own character that has started to develop and it may not fit in with your theoretical views on how you want a child to be.

Like Swayambhu and his desire to theoretically bludgeon his kids to death i have, once or twice, fantasised about ejecting my offspring out of the bedroom window. These kind of feelings and how we deal with them can be immensely character building.
I am a stronger and more patient person for having dealt with them but once they get older and become more articulate i have a feeling that things still won't get any easier.

Maybe if you actually did have a child you would change your mind because the love that one has for them and the happiness that they give far outweigh any aspects that are considered negative.

My main gripe with having children is the loss of freedom. If i weren't working, i'd go AWOL for weeks, if not, years on end. Having children will mean that i need to look after them, and can no longer explore the world the way that i want to be. I can't do just applying for annual leave and going total tourist for only a week.

I have heard the whole "having a kid will change your life". Now that quote doesn't necessarily mean it will change it for the better. Having both legs amputated will also change one's life. I do not doubt the growth a person undergoes when they become a parent, but i don't think it's for me. I just wish people would give it more thought, instead of just getting knocked up at age 18.

Plus, there's already so many people on earth. I have no desire to add to those numbers.

As far kids go, I'm not a breeder, and while there have been times when a tinge of regret enters my consciousness, it is mostly due to social conditioning.

That religious conditioning to "be fruitful and multiply" was put in place long before human technology raised human life out of the reach of many threatening vagaries of living- antibiotics, surgeries and the like.

Since that conditioning still exists, and unfortunately is even more in place among populations living within poverty, who,while suffering more casualties due to their poverty being a barrier to medical care than more financially secure populations still nonetheless enjoy many of the benefits of modern medicine, the world's population is growing exponentially and has been for some time.

A glance at a graph representing this growth is alarming.

Arguments about intelligence or financial capabilities are moot here, that is not the point. Eugenics is not the point, nor an answer. I fear there is none as long as these monotheistic morality based belief systems still rule over the world, with a false God lording over with even emptier threats and promises to encourage the populace to breed.

Now, the only regret that I do own over not being a father is not knowing that kind of love. I cannot understand the connection that is made in that way, and that is perhaps the deepest love a human can experience. Ah, but that is biological necessity...

The possibility of adoption is one I keep open should the situations and circumstances ever develop that would have to precede such a decision occur.

All of that (and doubtlessly more,lol) said, I have one way of describing children that effectively nullifies any sentimentality I have over not breeding: they are nothing more than screaming sacks of selfishness.

Oh yeah, I forgot,this is about kids tv. Of course I loved sesame street on pbs and grew up with it, Mr Rogers, Capt Kangaroo, the Electric Company and shows like that. They all were entertaining but all focused on teaching something. Sadly,PBS shows often are not any better. It seems as if children's television has steadily declining until now it is a reflection of the mindless shit adults enjoy.

Maybe ten years ago or so, sometimes I'd get stoned and watch this inexplicable show on PBS. What the hell does this teach? What? I'm dying to know, except perhaps instil an early interest in drug induced delusions?

I would not let my childeren watch channels like the Disney-channel. Because it's just advertisement for overexpensive toys, and most importantly...5 minutes of just listening to it would give me ADHD.

My sons used to get up early, and go outside even on frosty mornings, and find the chickens free ranging out the back, then when they wanted to turn the television on, they'd bring the chickens inside too. I could hear the chickens clucking indoors, while waking up, and I'd call out "take those chickens outside", but the answer came back, "she wants to watch teletubbies".

My parents raised me with strictly no more than one hour of television every twenty four hours. I tried being as strict with my own children, and all that enabled them see more is that their father wanted them to have more freedom of choice for themselves, (although he wound up imposing too much of his choices, and inhibiting too many of my choices, from my point of view, I think my children have had a lot more freedom than many children, and are positively experiencing their freedom to choose). Now in their twenties, they don't watch television, and can vary how much they use computers.

The people I know who most appreciate television, are the homeless. They love sitting watching TV and find it really restful, yet also engaging, in a way that the rest of us can't approach understanding.

Each child is different. Just let it be that their parents know better than we know, why each child's outcomes are what they are.

Ever notice that children's movies and tv shows contain more truth and hidden messages than any other media? I had a theory that if truth is presented in cartoons and what not and since the average adult is programmed to categorize children's shows as nonsense and imaginary fairy tales then it causes a reverse subconscious effect so when truth does present itself in life it is automatically connected to those children's cartoons and disregarded instantly.

Programming

When I was a kid I'd watch TV almost all my free time.

I haven't had a TV in 19 years.

Life gets so much more interesting when you become an adult and gain freedom.

I don't think that babies (or toddlers) are any more selfish than adults. It's just that adults learn to wrap their selfishness up in a more presentable and possibly more deceitful way. The good thing about a baby is that you always know where you stand with them. They let you know in no uncertain terms that they are hungry, tired, that they have soiled themselves or any other baby related phenomenae. Sometimes that kind of honesty is quite refreshing.

As for the Op i don't think that Tv is any more guilty of mass programming than any other form of media. To expand on a comment that i made earlier i can bet that the director or whoever organised the pictures of those kids to go with the article on tv and mass programming specifically chose the most inane looking kids in order to make their point. Which begs the question who is actually being programmed? The kids in the photos ,who by the looks of them arn't even concentrating on the tv programme that they are supposed to be being brainwashed by, or the kinds of persons that look at internet articles like this without any kind of critical thinking on the nuts and bolts of how these kinds of things are made.
No insult intended cos i fall for this kind of crap at least once a week.

I constantly have to deprogram my daughter who is six years old. To be quite honest I am likely shockingly up front about most things with her. She will be exposed to many things I completely disagree with and there is not much I can do about it other than to, like mentioned, deprogram her. I let her know what daddy thinks about it in a very up front manor. If I think it's stupid and I think it will make her stupid for watching it I say so.

She usually agrees with me when I say it's stupid and is glad to watch something else. I influence her decisions daily. She is learning to make better choices for herself. Sometimes a goofy program is great for her just to laugh her ass off, but when it is outright moronic I step in and put a stop to it.

I agree, many parents I see let the computer or tv act as the babysitter. That is a shame. I enjoy reading with her, as I am an avid reader. I enjoy playing games with her. We laugh all the time and she has a great sense of humor.

It is hard to be a parent but I never loose focus on the all the ways she is influenced in this world we live in. Conscientious parenting is very important to me and I have made it a priority. Hell.. she even calls me on my crap... go figure!!

I can go further into this topic but I have a tendency to rant so I will leave it at that. She is a great little person and worth all the time and effort to make sure she grows up to be a mentally, emotionally and physically healthy person. She will always have my support 100% throughout her life. She is my priority through and through.

So, i come home from work a half hour after my kid get's home from school and she is having her post school biscuit and Tv session. And the slack jawed expression she has on her face always reminds me of this thread. I can't get through to her unless i physically get in front of the TV. But the way i see it, she needs it. It's a bit of post school de-stressing escapism. Hell i bug out enough into my own world, why shouldn't she be able too?



I can understand this sentiment. Or i could. Kids usually scream for a reason or part of a developmental stage. There is a stage they call the terrible twos which is where a kid has screaming crises because they are still grappling with things like logic and cause and effect. I remember when my kid was 2 she would always shit a bolt when her ice cream melted and fell on the floor. Once, the day before her third birthday we took her to the bakery in the next village to get her a birthday cake. Everything was cool, the lady that worked in the bakery was cooing over her and it was a lovely summers day.

We went across to the bar across the road to drink a coffee and took an ice cream for the little one. Obviously the ice cream ended up on the floor and a wobbler of epic proportions ensued. We embarrassingly made our exit, screaming child in tow, clutching what reamined of the ice. We had already had quite a stressful week, so patience was wearing thin and the tears were not subsiding in any way, shape or form. By the time we got to the car my wife snatched the ice cream off of the kid and threw it on the ground. This resulted in said child going to defcon minus infinity in the hissy fit department. Both parents lost their rags , stuffed the child in the car seat and it ended with me and the wife shouting "SHUT THE FUCK UP" and our daughter howling. The butcher came out to have a gawp, the baker came out and if there was a candle stick maker they would have been on the case aswell. Five miles down the road the kid is comletely back to normal while me and the wife are sheepishly locked into a cloud of guilt and regret. After that little episode we did a bit of info digging and learnt (mostly) how to deal with episodes like this in order to educate both ourselves and our child. But to this day the woman in the bakery gives me a scornful look and always serves me the most burnt baguette on the shelf unless i instruct otherwise.

As far as good tv for kids go i have tried influencing her but, to be honest she can watch whatever she wants, as long as it isn't donkey porn or any kind of adult content. I think that some of the stuff she watches is crap and some ok. Probably like what my parents thought of what i watched. We do what watch pink panther together sometimes, which is kind of a generational bridge. My sisters partner recomended the link below , so we will give that a try. It seems quite educational. A bit like sesame street on DMT...

The social media, including youtube and tiktok, are far worse than TV is. However they are part of this world, so at some point in time, childeren will have to learn how to deal with them.

Problem is that most parents aren't as comfortable with the social media as childeren are. Most adults aren't on tiktok, so then it's difficult to teach your childeren how to use it wisely.

It is probably wise to limit time spent on social media. And to expose them to what you think is high quality content every now and then.

If it is up to the algorhythms, your childeren will only get to watch crap. Read them some good bedtime stories, or watch a good movie with them sometimes, to compensate that.