I’ve been very slack of late with regards to my blog and haven’t posted since the beginning of Feb. Since my last post we’ve put our flat on the market and sold it (fingers x’d everything goes smoothly) and now in the middle of estate agents, solicitors et al.
I was hoping to write a piece this week but then this morning I received an email from a talented writer called Celina Jones very kindly asking if she could contribute an article to dadwithtwokids. After reading some of her work I was so happy to have received her email, it was just what I needed to give me a bit of inspiration as well as her lovely words. Her piece brings up some really interesting points. Here it is……
How Are Cartoons Helping Parents in Raising Their Kids?
“He watches far too much television”, “I can never pry her away from The Powerpuff Girls”, “I think he is obsessed with that show Ben 10” – these are phrases often heard from worried parents. However, as we get our teeth stuck into 2013, a lot of people are taking a new perspective. More and more parents are seeing the extensive positive factors associated with cartoons. They are using cartoons in order to help them bring up their kids properly. And, you can do this too if you read on.
Life lessons
Most of these cartoon shows contain valuable life lessons. They are not merely pointless shows without any aim or moral. Everything from Ben 10 to Tom and Jerry to Scooby Doo to Batman has positive messages ingrained in the show. Children learn about the importance of sharing, they learn about how the nice person always proves victorious, and they discover that it is not always the biggest or the strongest that proves to be successful. These are life lessons that will help your children to decipher what is right or wrong. They will be learning without even realising they are doing so. Moreover, this actually helps to breed confidence within your child as well.
Reference point
If your child is misbehaving then you can actually use their favourite television show as a reference point in order to show them what they are doing wrong and provoke the reaction you are looking for. For example, if your daughter is refusing to share her toys with her friend or sister, then you can say: “What would happen if The Powerpuff Girls didn’t share? They wouldn’t be able to save the day would they? Sharing is important.” Your child is more likely to respond because you have given them a clear example including a cartoon they know and love.
Educational benefits
Cartoons actually entail a whole host of great educational benefits. After all, the majority of cartoons follow characters as they solve a puzzle. For example; Scooby Doo follows the dog and the gang as they solve mysteries. As each minute of the show goes on, more clues are revealed and it shows how the gang eventually find out who is the bad person. This gets your child’s imagination and quick thinking working. It gets their brain accustomed to problem solving as well. This can only be a benefit.
They can signify a reward or a punishment
Cartoons can help you when it comes to dishing out rewards and punishments. If your child has been well behaved or has done good e.g. gotten good grades at school then you can give them some extra time to watch cartoons. However, if your child has misbehaved and been naughty then you can take away their television time. This helps you to establish boundaries and your child will know what will happen if they do wrong. Moreover, as cartoons are so well loved by children this is a method that is likely to be very effective.
As you can see; children’s cartoons can actually be highly beneficial and when it comes to raising your children they are a welcomed aid. You can establish boundaries through a reward and punishment system, you can get your child’s brain working, you can teach them some great life lessons, and use cartoons to explain them.
Celina Jones
Author bio –
Celina is a qualified multimedia journalist. She watched different children’s shows on Cartoon Network, such as Ben 10 in order to prepare for this article. Currently she is associated with Cartoon Network as their PRO.
As well as all the above points tv also helped to develop my childrens imagination. All 3 are autistic and really struggle to play imaginitively, creating scenes etc. After watching certain tv shows they would copy scenes from the show (word for word) and they we could encourage them to develop the copied scene and expand it. A lot of people will say that the same could be done from reading books but we tried this, as most autistic people learn better visually tv was one of our best friends! I can now happily say all 3 can now play and use their imagination brilliantly- thanks tv!!!