Thursday, July 15, 2010

Am I the only one who thinks there aren't enough good cartoons to watch on TV?

Keeping Sonny Boy entertained is no easy task. There's only that much time he will colour and doodle, or play with his toys or watch rhymes when left to himself. He otherwise winds his way to the kitchen and winds himself around my legs.

When I try to get him to watch cartoons, which I thought all children like universally, I'm so disappointed. None of it really holds his attention.

I always thought, "Wow, kids today have so much to watch. In my days there was only National TV- DD". (Remember Sunday mornings with He-Man, Spiderman, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, a robot-based serial whose name I can't remember - he used to keep flying up and fighting evil forces.)

From what I recall offhand, now there's Nick, Pogo, Animax, Disney, CeeBeeBeeies, Cartoon Network, Hungama, ...have i missed any, people? Phew! That's still a whole lot of choice.
And yet, there's hardly any stuff for toddlers. It's mostly teen oriented or tween driven content. And S is light years away from that...at least I would like to believe so.

There's anime and manga kind of Japanese samurai cartoons, Power Rangers, (which put me and Dear S off).
Then there's SpongeBob, Tom and Jerry, Richie Rich, Tele Tubbies, Scoobie Doo, Dora which for some reason doesn't interest this fellow at all. There's now the India-specific content with Chota Bhim, Hanuman, Bal Ganesh, and Krishna and I can't remember what else. But beyond a few minutes, S just turns his face away.

I shouldn't be complaining. Most parents complain their kids watch too many cartoons all the time.

In fact I was surprised when I asked S if he'll watch Tom and Jerry with me one day and he said "NO. Run run run...thap thap thap" with a hitting action!!!! All that cartoon critics say of inherent violence in children's cartoons is so true, I figured. My little one already associated the two together! And he didn't like it. Muah Muah... two big kisses to him.

The only one that remotely excites him is Shaun the Sheep. Cute. It's one thing I also love watching.

I'm beginning to wonder if I just put the TV on at the wrongest of times? Or if at this age, they aren't really interested in TV? Or is the content very similar, standardised -- for whom?

Or is just that there's too much choice and we are so much more spoilt for it?

3 comments:

shree said...

how true! i actually feel sorry for my poor gal...she too hardly watches TV now and the omnipresent ABC writing books and coloring books...
i try not to think too much of it and hope she will improvise ..

Garima said...

Haha... this one is a new.. talking of my kid does not watch TV>>.. hehe.. wait for a couple of months I guess.
The robot name serial was Zigma... what to say.. I was a sucker for it.
For cartoons, we are actually not showing her many..though we look up some short stories on You Tube like Monkey and caps, or Alligator and Monkey... she loves those..
TV for us is off limits in her waking hours

Forever mother said...

Hey Shree,
Glad to know my Sonny Boy has company :-) He needs rhymes on, on the TV, his crayons in hand, and me sitting beside him -- all in combination!

Garima,
Wow u're giving up TV for your kid. That's so...honourable! No, i'm not being mean. Just that I can't give up TV and will con Sonny in any way possible..I know I'm mean.
Oh God! Zigma, was it? Even i LOVED it. And fought to watch it during exams!