Who can remember watching Looney Toons or Tom and Jerry on Saturday mornings? Cartoons have changed drastically over the years but have their effects on children? Let's compare some older cartoons to their replacements. Looney Toons & Tom and Jerry both have something in common that most toons today do not have... Violence! Tom is always trying to hurt and catch Jerry even though he is usually the one that gets injured and Wile E. Coyote is always getting smashed by anvils. So what message do these cartoons send out? That it's only funny until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious. Is that the message you want your children to receive? Most cartoons today are almost fully educational. Channels like Noggin and NickJr. host an array of shows geared at teaching toddlers important life lessons. Shows like Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go teach toddlers about caring for and helping others and they introduce them to the Spanish language. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan teaches children Chinese and problem solving, while LazyTown teaches the importance of eating healthy and exercising as well as being considerate of others. The list for educational shows on television is endless. Toddlers today are more informed than toddlers from decades ago before reaching even preschool level. They are shown that violence is not okay and taught to care about and want to help other people and animals. The effects of cartoons on toddlers has gone from being a negative one, only offering destructive humor, to becoming positive by teaching them about love, life and being kind-hearted humans. Not saying people who watched Looney Toons as a child turned out to be negative destructive people. The fact is that cartoon creators have taken the negativity and violence out of their shows and as far as most can see it has made a positive difference in our youth. Toddlers and other children this day and age are kind, more creative individuals. They care about helping others, animals and the environment, something that most of us as children knew little about. Television programs are not the only reason for brighter and more empathetic generations but it is a good start. Making certain that children are being enriched in school as well as at home in front of their TVs is an important step to making strong, smart, caring and innovative future adults.