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The reason the OP should "listen" to her church friend is that she should be more concerned than she was. Thinking that there can be nothing bad in cartoons is just completely WRONG. There are more graphic things portrayed in cartoon format than what there is in flesh format, because the artist can depict things that would be illegal if filmed in a reality-setting, and post them online. The internet is CHOCK FULL of the nastiest things you can imagine and plenty that you can't.
Now before anyone accuses me of being some kind of a prude, I'm a GWAR fan, bigtime, so go look THEM up. Mmk? I'm no stranger to the offensive, and much of it does not offend me. Fantasy depictions of children being...abused...to death by oh...animals. Or whatever. Yeah, that offends me. Because the depiction being put out there is some sicko who really gets a kick out of it. GWAR is sick, but they're a joke...a lot of the animated filth out there isn't. Some of it is, but is still inappropriate for kids. And as a parent you've got a right to try and guide your kid based on your morals and values. It is your job.
No, a cartoon isn't going to make a teen run out and do something criminal.
But when we tear down the boundaries of what is shockingly unacceptable, and what is just "eh...whatever" I think we do ourselves harm. And only you have the right to decide where you want those boundaries to lie, for you and for your household and children.
Frankly there are cartoons on Cartoon Network that are jaw-droppers for me, if for no other reason than they're on a channel that was supposed to be for kids...and Adult Swim starts a little too early, IMO. We're not a Disney family, but that doesn't mean I want my 11 year old son running around saying "Giggity!"
So yeah, check his history, watch the shows, decide for yourself, and from there...no private internet in the bedroom and use parental control settings and software. Best wishes to you and your family.
This is my first post but I looked at this forum and it looked like a good place to get help for this.
My son is 14 and a freshman in high school and I'm really starting to get worried about the things that he's getting involved in. I've tried as hard as I can to raise him as a good Christian boy, and even paid for him to go to a private school his first few years to make sure he gets a good moral education, but I could only afford to pay for it the first couple of years because of financial problems.
Recently he started watching these cartoons on the computer that I gave him to do school work on. I think they're in Chinese or something but I was ok with it at first because there's really nothing bad about cartoons. But I talked to one of my friends at church about it and she said that a lot of kids have gotten in trouble because of these kinds of cartoons because they have a ton of sex and violence in them. I talked to my son about it and he said that they don't, but my friend said that they can be really bad.
I want to take the computer away from him but he needs it to do homework too, but I'm worried about the things he could get in to, but I don't want to lose his trust or make him angry with me or anything either. I've talked to him but he insists there's nothing wrong with them.
What should I do?
You are a good parent to teach your son right. If he says there is nothing wrong, I say you would be wise to trust him instead of some friend that may never have seen what he is watching. Have him share the games with you. You might enjoy them too.
I worked on Saturdays when my children were school age. One day I was off for a holiday and my children came into the kitchen where I was loading the dishwasher and got hold of my hand and told me they wanted me to see what a Smurf was. I had never seen a smurf but had been told the cartoons were bad because of the content. I sat down to watch with them and was so shocked to see devil worshiping symbols in the decor of the cartoon. I don't think my children ever knew this and neither of them ever became a devil worshiper, but it was an education for me to see what they were seeing and realizing the symbols were having no influence on them. They were just watching a cartoon.
Yes we are parents and not just friends but we don't have to be the enemy and overreact to things. I told the children about the symbols and told them never to have friends that had those symbols about them. Being a parent can be like walking a tightrope, but if we ask for help the Holy Spirit will guide us. That is still true now that my children are both 40 something.
GWAR the band? You're a fan of them but not a Disney family.
Interesting choices. (They also illustrate everyone has their own definition of entertainment.)
Indeed.
Worth mentioning too that I don't share all of my interests fully with my kids. I monitor what content comes their way based on age and based on what I think they can understand and how seriously they will take it, etc.
I only mentioned GWAR to illustrate that although I think the OP needs to take this internet thing seriously, I'm no clueless prude to get alarmed at anything, or spook at shadows. There are things online that will disturb even the most jaded souls, and there's a lot of content and certain online groups of people with particular interests that even I avoid. If you have your safe search settings turned off, even a Google search for a perfectly innocent cartoon can bring up a really offensive parody...
Even those of us with weird interests do our best to protect our kids.
I only mentioned GWAR to illustrate that although I think the OP needs to take this internet thing seriously,
Even those of us with weird interests do our best to protect our kids.
I don't think anyone on this thread has suggested she not take it seriously. Parental monitoring of phones/computers is an ongoing topic here. Your comments are actually very similar to another poster's. (He's not a parent, however.) Most posters here are well aware of the problem and have made some very interesting contributions to the topic.
I don't recall any, "Eh. Just let them do what they want, I could care less what my kid does." responses.
Good lord, the "porn" part of anime community is not that big so the chances of your son watching that is not big. The bigger concern is you not watching what your son is watching before you make a decision.
It just makes me wonder why the Op's friend is so convinced that there is a lot of violence and porn in these kiddie cartoons. I just can't imagine that there would be a *huge* following for cartoon porn to begin with, much less violent cartoon porn. Seems almost silly...
Kids don't get in trouble because there is sex and violence on a cartoon show.
They get in trouble because parents don't put things into proper context and pay attention to them.
I don't think anyone on this thread has suggested she not take it seriously. Parental monitoring of phones/computers is an ongoing topic here. Your comments are actually very similar to another poster's. (He's not a parent, however.) Most posters here are well aware of the problem and have made some very interesting contributions to the topic.
I don't recall any, "Eh. Just let them do what they want, I could care less what my kid does." responses.
I recall a few to the effect of:
"There isn't that much bad stuff compared to the harmless stuff."
"You should trust your son."
"Just because he watches whatever cartoon doesn't mean it will do him harm."
But yeah...we're at least 99% on the same page with all of this, methinks.
The reason the OP should "listen" to her church friend is that she should be more concerned than she was. Thinking that there can be nothing bad in cartoons is just completely WRONG. There are more graphic things portrayed in cartoon format than what there is in flesh format, because the artist can depict things that would be illegal if filmed in a reality-setting, and post them online. The internet is CHOCK FULL of the nastiest things you can imagine and plenty that you can't.
Before we put on our internet blocks I would go to google something innocent like "Minnie Mouse" and some of the most stuff would come up - and it was not animated. Even with our blocks I could still get to some mighty graphic real life stuff if I wanted to (I don't. At all.) It would be hard to believe that some of these drawings are more graphic than the real life sites, but I'll take your word for it.
At any rate, it's enough to know that the stuff is out there and that it is so easily found. All the more reason to have an idea as to what sites your kids are going to and what they are viewing on those sites.
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(The 1% would be the GWAR fandom.)
stuff would come up - and it was not animated. Even with our blocks I could still get to some mighty graphic real life stuff if I wanted to (I don't. At all.) It would be hard to believe that some of these drawings are more graphic than the real life sites, but I'll take your word for it.
