Condescending to kids - c/d?

I don't know what cartoons you've seen, but some of the kids cartoons at the moment are on fire. Spongebob, obv, and Fairly Odd Parents are super surreal masterpieces, way better than most of what was made for TV in the past.

i knew about some things in life waaaay before anyone told me.

i learnt through books films etc, i was well above my age reading wise...

I always hated it when I was a kid and they kept coming out with "Muppet Babies" and "Flintstone Kids" and all this stuff that made characters into kids or were centre on children.
I was a kid, I knew what that was like. I got enough of that Sunday through Friday. On Saturday morning, I wanted to learn about grown-ups.

dumb entertainment for kids that more adults than kids watch

I know of plenty of smart TV shows for older kids, but I have no idea what the 5-8 demographic would be watching.

On the state of children's entertainment

Not to say they shouldn't be exposed to more complex ideas also. The broader their experiences, the better.

(1) Kids are easier and more fun to be around when you interact with them as "adults." By which I mean: not dumbing down your language, making obscure cultural references, etc. They LOVE it because kids naturally want to feel like they're "on the team."

(2) Kids are stupid. When things go pear-shaped, you have to remember that they are totally unreasonable.

Basically: everyone OTM.

So do I.

i dont think tv shows or songs need to be dumbed down or smarted up for kids. ive found that kids, whether you teach them or not, will pick up knowledge quickly and independently. i have a four year old niece who constantly suprises all of us (her family) by coming out with new language, social skills, actions etc that none of us have taught her and, most of the time, that none of us can work out where she might have been exposed to them. often theyre silly things like her sitting in the car with my mother and suddenly singing 'what about me' word for word or the time i was standing on a sidewalk in nyc with her, waiting for her parents, when i watched her walk a ways down the street, stand in a doorway with her back to me in a pose that ive only seen adults use - slouched at the hip with one leg out on the sidewalk, one hand on her hip the other holding her littlest mermaid phone (a piece of plastic that makes a ringing noise when you hit a button) to her ear - and hearing her saying 'mm hmm...yeah...uh huh...ok...well, goodbye for now' or how when she was two she suddenly started her responses with 'well, actually....' even though none of us do that regularly. i remember being 4 and playing with our then neighbour's pianola and teaching myself songs by watching when the keys would go up and down. my mom almost had a heartattack when i came came home one day and played 'the entertainer' on our piano for her. these are silly, cute things but they show independent learning.

i guess what im saying is that kids are going to have the concepts of 'smart' and 'dumb' (which are evil, subjective judgements anyway) shoved down their throats at school and on throughout their adult lives. i dont think its going to harm their developing intelliengence to just let them have goofy, silly fun and discover their own interests. i just wish more adults could let go a little and do the same thing.

anyway, kids are learning every minute of the day whether you think they're being taught or not.

MOST OTM THING EVER TYPED

I sometimes wonder if the notion that children will embrace simple, plain things is like some kind of subconscious adult envy of a child's imagination, as if adults' subconsciouses are all like "yeah, well, fuck you for having such a great imagination, I'm not going to try hard to stimulate your mind with my music/film/etc. because I know you don't really need it".

I think this depends on the book and child. A lot of kids really identify with Harry Potter and because of that, this book could truly upset them. hell, it deeply depressed me and I'm an adult! I would be cautious about a v. young child reading it. It's not that there are deaths and violence in it, what's disturbing is who dies and how.

I think all children who find themselves emotionally invested in works of fiction are going to have to face these huge watersheds like in the Harry Potter book. For me it was probably Transformers: The Movie and having to see Optimus Prime die. However, I don't think it's a good idea to shield them from these things, as they are probably integral in helping them better understand REAL death.

Well, it has been studied many times with the conclusion that kids enjoy and learn from simplicity and repetition. Although, the testing may be self-fulfilling prophecy/subconscious....

March of the Penguins
Animal Collective "We Tigers"
Gorillaz Demon Days
everything Waspinator from Transformers: Beast Wars says
the part in LOST when Hurley is trying to get Jin to pee on his foot

Twice (once was quoted)

-- OLD SPICE® CHEMTRAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (BLACKOP...) (webmail), July 22nd, 2005 7:37 PM. (ex machina) (later) (link)

Yeah, when I was little and saw Bambi at the theater, the only people who cried were the moms!

the little kids i've known who have lost grandparents or other relatives usually start talking about them either as if they'll return next week or they'll be hanging around as ghosts.

i dunno, i don't like to romanticize children, which sort of seems like what's happening here.

And I truly believe in my heart of hearts that almost every single child out there seems to handle death better than an adult would because they can't really absorb the full implications of the death at the time they're experiencing it. At a later date, after thought turns into reminisces, the former-child individual will begin experiencing some of the impact of their previous losses, but children don't really get all that's going on. And I am speaking from a position of experience here.

* Though I'm not saying be monosyllabic -- just regular words.

As a kid, I loved the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, especially that "fire on disco mountain" or whatever it was called, the funked up classical number - I used to dance around doing movement based stories to it, like a ballet. My parents had next to no records and I hated the ones they did have (Barbara Streisand, urgh. I particularly hated country music too, and still do, and I dont know why).