Tag: Kids

How Good Or Bad Are Cartoon Channels For Your Kids?

This is a Question, which keeps haunting parents (mostly mothers) of all kids aged 3 to 10. Should we allow kids to watch cartoons, or should it be totally banned, is it good or is it really bad?

The issue that often pops up when chatting about young children watching cartoon channels is usually about leaving your children alone with cartoons to divert or entertain them, instead of parents giving our precious time to them.

Let’s analyze this million-dollar question!

I am a mother of 5-year-old daughter and have been regularly monitoring her television viewing. And this is what I have analyzed.

Let’s point out the good points first:

Cartoon shows are neither good nor bad. Occasionally cartoons are being used to demonstrate behavior that we would like our young children to adapt or copy, and even many times these cartoon shows are also used to exemplify qualities we would like our kids to avoid. It is up to the parents to help the child learn which is which.

From time to time there have been some good series like Madeline, Oswald, Noddy, Backyard Science, MAD, Mickey Mouse Club House. And some Hindi Indian Cartoons, which I would suggest are Gali Gali Sim Sim, Choota Bheem, Krishna, Ramayan and all Mythological stories.

It helps improve vocabulary; it could be English or Hindi.

It helps kids in analyzing situations. To understand how small little things are analyzed and then how small little decisions are taken by understanding what is right and wrong.

It helps them understand different cultures, societies, people etc.

There are so many shows, which are really educational, for all ages. And some programs show various Art and Craft activities, which can be actually utilized to put them to some creative work.

Now, let’s point out the bad points:

There are some really bad cartoons out there, which are a definite no-no for kids like Hagemaaro, ShinShan etc. The language used is awful.

With the kids watching television all the time, their physical activities which can only be achieved by playing in a playground are not taken care of.

Kids try to imitate what they see on television. Be it language or violence, they just want to behave like their “Super Hero”.

When parents continually leave their children to be entertained by the television it can have negative effects on child’s mind because children are primarily proactive and like to be doing something.

And one of the major concerns is the time kids spent in watching those cartoons. Every mother has a tough time moving her kids away from television. Ideally what I would suggest is to have fixed television-watching timings.

The best way to help your child create connection from television is if you get involved with them and explain what they are seeing, discuss different scenarios or outcomes, ask questions, and compare what you are seeing to what she has experienced.

Slime Designer Shops: The Modern Lemonade Stands for Kids

We all passed by lemonade stands growing up, set up either in front of supermarkets, or malls, or around the corner from our homes. Kids were entrepreneurs-in-training while proud moms and dads were looking over their shoulders to see how they performed trying to make the sale. It was supposed to teach youngsters the valuable lessons for making a sale and earning a profit. Yeah, you are in business!

Although occasionally you’d still see the familiar stands, in our days kids are interested in more exotic lines of business, apps, computer games and… slimes, yes slimes! My 12-year-old has taken over an entire closet which she transformed into a storage vault with add-on shelves to store endless plastic containers of various sizes, all filled with all kinds of regular and other exotic colors of… slime. With these come supplies of “cotton candy” and numerous other artificial jewelry like emblems and stuff to imitate cactus, Boba drink balls, “crystal waters’, “pizza heart”, “cactus cereal”, “fruit salad”, even “Winnie the Pooh” or poopsie slime surprise unicorn, whatever! I am like speechless, I feel like I’ve been thrown inside a super slime simulator. Of course any respectful business would have the appropriate video de slime collection, hence her endless time of videotaping everything on the iPhone. Finished products are in plastic jars so deliciously looking that many times I found myself grabbing one of them from the kitchen counter to eat, only realizing the last minute this thing can really kill you if eaten!

I said “hey lill lady, what’s you doing with all these stuff”? In the beginning the answer was: “I am making them to give away to my friends”. OK, no big deal. But after a while, when I realized I am spending some bucks on the monthly basis for these stuff, I said “what’s up”? To which she replied: “Oh, I started a slime company, I am going into slime business”. I said, “ok, like how”? Well, wouldn’t you know, she had a… website already at this business outfit called Etsy (never heard of it). I said why not Amazon or Google? She said those cost money, Etsy is very-very cheap.

I said, ok lemme see your website. Boom: bit.ly/CosmaSlimes. I said wow, how old are you again? I said, Oceana, I am very impressed! You know, at your age, I didn’t even think they were computers out yet, or they were the size of this closet, but you, out of your lap top doing all this, impressive! I got a “duh” response. Before I even questioned her about her “traffic” and stuff, she says: “I have 3 sales already”. I am thinking – Get out! You mean I don’t have to spend all that money for your college? Yeah, I can finally buy that Ferrari! She says, not so fast dad, it’s only $27 something. Yeah, but pumpkin, if you can make 3 sales, you can make 30, then 3,000, then 3 million, the sky is the limit! Ok, you get the point. I already feel like the time I got reincarnated as a slime!

The important lesson from all this is that she is learning about business, marketing, marketing analytics, profits-loss, etc. On top of this, she is learning about how to optimize her website traffic, about coordinating activities that can direct traffic to her site. She learned that me writing this article will further direct traffic to her website as I am referencing her link here and throwing high traffic key words I picked up from Google Insights all over it.

I am thinking, what is the potential for this person to succeed in business? I emphasize to her it is all up to her, it all depends on the effort she puts in, the energy and enthusiasm, discipline and willingness to listen and learn and apply her learnings to her business. Some of these learnings will spill over to her everyday life and relationships.

In the end, one thing is for sure: you can learn a lot by learning how to make slime: learn about, success and failure, about family and life itself. Good luck little girl. Glad to see you really like lemonade as well.

Signed: Your dad – who loves you baby?

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