Oh, Peppa, we have some terribly unfortunate news for you. According to researchers in the UK and Canada, you are not a good role model for our impressionable children, you sassy little swine.
Very well then, off you trot. Kindly take that annoying little turd from Fireman Sam with you.
It’s not just Peppa who researchers deem a bit of a bully. Plenty of our kids’ characters from their favourite movies and TV shows are considered to be too violent, Peppa Pig included. The list also includes:
Paw Patrol – Millions of children’s hearts are breaking right now.
Toy Story 3 – Buzz and Woody would be horrified!
Octonauts – The problem-solving ocean critters are on the chopping block.
Frozen – Time to let it go, kids.
Finding Dory – Yep, even that forgetful fish is no good for our kids.
What’s exactly wrong?
The issue involves incidents of pain and violence. In the six shows/movies above, there is an average of 8.7 instances of pain or brutality an hour.
These programs are designed for kids 4-6 years of age.
Less violence, more sympathy
The psychologists who led the joint study between Britain and Canada deemed their findings to be “shocking”, especially in terms of the lack of sympathy involved when a character gets hurt.
Instead of feeling empathetic, viewers are meant to find these instances funny. In many cases, the characters receiving the pain were boy characters.
Bath University researcher, Dr Abbie Jordan states, “These programs could do much more to help by modelling it in different ways and crucially by showing more empathy when characters experience pain.”
Will you stop letting your kids watch these popular shows after reading these findings? Nearly 9 incidents of violence an hour is a pretty sobering statistic.
But banning Paw Patrol may result in insane tantrums and possible incidents of me-locking-myself-in-the-pantry-to-avoid-it, so, I’m thinking it won’t be happening in my house.
Kids’ characters under hot water
This isn’t the first time kids’ television programs have been in hot water, especially Peppa. She’s been in trouble before when an episode aired suggested spiders are not dangerous.
Peter Rabbit also got into a lot of trouble for making a joke out of severe allergies when Peter purposely attempted to kill the younger Mr. McGregor with something he was allergic to – blackberries.
And let’s not forget the time Kmart released this Frozen-themed diary that contained some sort of X-rated Cluedo game, definitely NSFK! But, you gotta admit, pretty damned funny!
1 Comment
I don’t believe that the shows in question are harming our children at all. I feel that they are helping to allow our children to learn that the new world is a different place and we all need to be responsible for what we view and what we believe. It’s not to far to believe that the real news is more harmful to our children and tv stations and social media are worse for them as well. There is too much ability to get free speech in a negative way today which is often the cause of children committing suicide or have suicidal thoughts. Pepa pig and paw patrol are fantasy and help kids see that even kids can be affected by life.