The children of today are a lot different from when I was a child. I have a 5 year old son and some of the things he picks up I have no idea where he got it from. He will say things that no 5 year old should say, or act violently out of nowhere. Now, I know he is not acting violently with the intention of hurting someone, he is just imitating things he has seen and does not realise that they can in fact cause harm.

When my son was younger he watched a TV channel called Tree House. Tree House was perfect for children his age with a variety of learning shows daily and shows that would have talking teddy bears and animals. But once he hit about the age of 4, Tree House was for babies in his mind. He will still watch it now and again but everything with him has to be superheroes. All little boys I know are strictly in to superheroes.

There are plenty of programs on TV that have some sort of a superhero theme and they are not at all appropriate for the children that are watching them. These shows are violent and involve an awful lot of fighting for a 5 year old to be watching.

Now, even though these programs are not age appropriate for the children watching them, the advertisers of these shows are aiming towards younger boys. The commercials and the abundance of toys that come out that have to do with Spiderman or Batman are all for younger kids. I mean the violence in these shows may be ok for a 10 year old to watch, but what 10 year old these days sits around and plays with action figures?

The superhero movies that come out these days are also not appropriate for children. Any age child can get into the theatre to watch these movies with a parent, but many parents have no idea before entering, just how violent these movies end up to be. But the children see the commercials for these movies coming out and get all excited and worked up to see it. For example, a couple of years ago right after my son started to like superheroes a new Superman move was released in the theatre and he really wanted to see it. My fiancé and I went to watch this movie on our own, and I could not believe some of the stuff that it showed. There were very violent acts, one being Superman getting his butt kicked, and there was also way too much sexual innuendo for children to be hearing. It was a great movie for us adults, don't get me wrong, but I don't think my son will be allowed to watch it for a couple more years.

So is the reason our children are becoming more violent and fighting amongst youngsters is becoming more popular the television shows they are watching? When I was young we didn't have many shows with violence involved. We watched things like The Flinstones and Care Bears all throughout our childhood. Now almost any show aimed at children aged 4-10 has extreme violence. Our children don't completely understand the violence at such a young age. They don't realise that if you kick someone in the face they don't really just get back up and fight some more. Some of these shows even show people being killed but in the next episode they are back alive. Do we really want our children thinking that death is not permanent and that if you kill someone it doesn't matter because they will come back to life anyways? I definitely do not want my son thinking that.

Also, maybe the reason our children are becoming more violent is because they are exposed to it through most of their life. By the time they are engaged in violent acts themselves they could seem almost normal. They have been over exposed to these things so it may not be a big deal to them.

I think if we replayed the old television programs from when I was young, our children would not have so much exposure to violence and there fore would not even think of some of the acts. But if the programs that continue to come on television involve so much violence, it is going to become more and more of a problem amongst our children; and it seems out of our reach as parents.

Some shows I have watched with my son which are his favourites but are inappropriate are:

Spiderman

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (his favourite of all time)

Batman

Transformers

Pokemon

Ben 10

And that is to just list a few. Now I still allow him to watch these programs, I just don't let him think it is real. I explained to him what really happens if you are to commit these violent acts. He now does not try to hurt people in any way, except on the occasion where he decides to wrestle with his step father. I think if you are going to allow your children to watch these programs, you should sit down and watch a few of them as well, so you are aware of what your children are watching and what is appropriate via your standards.