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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Good man? Bad man?

This was one of the first questions we had to clarify to D once she started watching movies with us.. though I'm a bit particular at keeping her/them protected from too gory or scary stuff, I found that even for the family drama kind of movies, she would quickly picking up on who was the "bad" man! I guess children do take in more than we give them credit for, but I was amazed the first couple of times this happened. Probably this was the guy everyone disliked, or the guy who got beaten up by the hero, but I was very surprized she understood that much of what was happening on screen (It would be hindi or malayalam, a language she did not always know well) It was always important in any movie for her to establish - Is this the bad man, is this the good man :).

It used to go to the extent of discussing why bad things were happening to one particular person, though he was a good man! I am definitely not at my best for philosophical questions, so I was stumped at that one :). Made me realize that there is very little that escapes them, even at a young age, so we need to be extra careful of what they are exposed to. Don't even get me started on Chota Bheem which is the current favourite!

This of course happened a couple of years ago, why it came to my mind again is that now S has started asking the same kind of questions :). So I was wondering if it was a common thread among children or just in our household.

12 comments:

  1. you are right about children picking up on good and bad vibes from what they see.
    My niece who is around 3.5 is constantly asking questions and if there is something on the TV then God save the adult from the barrage of questions that would ensue!

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    1. Yes Uma, 3.5-5 is a deadly age for questions, I remember the amount of questions I used to "try" to answer intelligently :).. So beware ;)

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  2. it is a common thread i feel. well, at least with my daughter it was the case

    and yes Chota Bheem is getting on my nerves now!!! :DD

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    1. Thanks for dropping in Sujatha, it's good to know that fellow-moms feel the same about Chota Bheem ;). There was a Tom & Jerry phase too when D was younger, but even that was bearable I now feel.

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  3. Yes it is a common thread...and please more about chota bheem...:)

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    1. Ooh are you really getting me on this topic.. From the violence (I thought I was being over-critical but I really feel like S got more violent in his actions!), to the language (I sat through one episode where words like "stupid" and "fool" which are usually a no-no in our house were used quite often) :(. The only reason I let it be, is the amazing scenarios from 20-20 matches to the Wild West to Dinosaurs that they manage to come up with in some episodes !!

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  4. Children are very good at picking up anything and everything they see, which can be a double-edged sword. Of course, we do limit TV watching to an hour or so a day, to encourage more play/ creative activity.

    We actually haven't had cartoons at home since October last year, since my husband switched channel packages. We waited to see if she would ask for her Ben 10 and Chota Bheem cartoons, but surprisingly, she is happy watching Animal planet and Discovery Science. The flip side is she asks me more questions (most of which I can't answer;).

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    1. Hmm.. this definitely sounds like a good idea Shailaja :). Must remember to try the next time we renew our package.
      Damita too likes watching Discovery and Animal Planet, but if the cartoons are available, they will always take over of course.
      I noticed multiple similar comments from you - was blogger giving you some kind of error?

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  5. Hi,

    The good vs. bad is in everything, right from cartoons to serials to movies. While its very difficult to filter the messages when kids are watching, may be we can just make them understand that there's good and bad in all of us and that they'll be able to better understand it when they grow up. That way they don't make judgments about people whom they know based on what they see on TV.

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    1. That's a really good suggestion Swetha, I will definitely try it out! Thanks so much for dropping in and commenting :) !

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  6. Children start learning right from the womb! Remember Abhimanyu, could not learn how to come out from Chakravyu in Mahabharatha as his mother Subhadhra went to sleep, when Arjun was explaining the art to her:)

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    1. Hahaha Rahul that's absolutely right :). We should not be surprized by the youngest child picking up and learning things from their surroundings, will remember that !
      Thanks so much for dropping in and commenting :) !

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