Cartoons and NPR

The Girl is watching Tom & Jerry right now. She loves them and asks to watch them often (almost as often as she asks to watch Max & Ruby). I just looked up and the current tomfoolery afoot was Tom holding Jerry’s tail onto a stump of wood while he attempted to put a hatchet into Jerry’s little mouse body. All with a smile on his face. And it dawned on me that perhaps this is not quite on the appropriate side for my 3 year old daughter.

Some of my friends would be aghast at the very thought of allowing either of my children to watch this particular cartoon. Of course most of those same friends would come unglued at the very knowledge of how much TV I allow our children to watch in the first place. I know I should turn on the TV less and bring out the art supplies more. I know I should do some research on Montessori methods that can be done at home with stuff around the house. The Girl is seriously my little Montessori poster child and I should encourage that now so that she doesn’t run into the problems starting school that her brother did.

But at the same time I think about the fact that I grew up watching Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes and a host of others that were perhaps a bit too old for me and I’ve never once had the urge to murder a mouse with a hatchet. Or anything else for that matter. I just always knew that it was a cartoon and therefore not real. Not to be imitated. Not to be attempted. It has a level of common sense to me. And maybe I’m just willing to give my kids the benefit of the doubt that they too will know that it is all just pretend.

And yes there is the whole exposure issue, i.e. not wanting to expose kids to that sort of violence/behavior until they are much older. And I get that, I really do. But I guess if I am really concerned about exposure, I shouldn’t listen to NPR in the car with them either.