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I have two children- two boys ages six and two. They watch TV. My wife and I try to keep it to Nick and other at least child friendly shows. One of the things that I am noticing in childrens' and "family freindly" TV is the total lack of respect given to parents. Parents are often depicted as idiots who exist only to be tricked and manipulated by children. Examples that spring to mind are Rugrats- parents are stupid, inept and neurotic-The Fairly Odd Parents- the name says it all. Jimmy Neutron- Parents are less intelligent than Jimmy the boy genius- the list goes on.
Think about that tool time show too (The one with Tim Allen)- mostly the father acts like an idiot and yet once every twenty or so shows, we get a "special" tool time show where despite the fact that the dad acts like a buffoon all of the time, the child is supposed to now accept his advice and respect his opinion on some important social issue the family is confronting.
I compare this to the depiction of parents in "older" television, like the Bradys, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, the Courtship of Eddies Father- I am not saying that any of these shows fairly depict reality- but at least they don't degrade parents either subtly or obviously. Is Cosby the only show where the father is willing to tell his children that he brought them into the world and he can take them out????
This sort of issue really bothers me, perhaps because it occurs to me that our children are being taught not only a disrespect for parents, but also for authority - and this is becoming pandemic in our society.
For example- If a teacher came to my father and indicated that I had misbehaved- I got hammered!- that was it- dad was judge, jury and executioner. If he found out later I hadn't misbeahved on that occasion- his attitude appeared to be that he figured I needed the lesson anyway for something I got away with that he didn't know about. This is not the way things are handled in schools these days- ask someone who teaches about this sort of thing. Parents do not want to hear that Jonny has a problem because it forces them to confront the fact that perhaps they need help in the parenting department.
Anyway, I wanted to toss my perhaps totally mistaken perceptions out there. Cheers.
Think about that tool time show too (The one with Tim Allen)- mostly the father acts like an idiot and yet once every twenty or so shows, we get a "special" tool time show where despite the fact that the dad acts like a buffoon all of the time, the child is supposed to now accept his advice and respect his opinion on some important social issue the family is confronting.
I compare this to the depiction of parents in "older" television, like the Bradys, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, the Courtship of Eddies Father- I am not saying that any of these shows fairly depict reality- but at least they don't degrade parents either subtly or obviously. Is Cosby the only show where the father is willing to tell his children that he brought them into the world and he can take them out????
This sort of issue really bothers me, perhaps because it occurs to me that our children are being taught not only a disrespect for parents, but also for authority - and this is becoming pandemic in our society.
For example- If a teacher came to my father and indicated that I had misbehaved- I got hammered!- that was it- dad was judge, jury and executioner. If he found out later I hadn't misbeahved on that occasion- his attitude appeared to be that he figured I needed the lesson anyway for something I got away with that he didn't know about. This is not the way things are handled in schools these days- ask someone who teaches about this sort of thing. Parents do not want to hear that Jonny has a problem because it forces them to confront the fact that perhaps they need help in the parenting department.
Anyway, I wanted to toss my perhaps totally mistaken perceptions out there. Cheers.