Removing Violent Cartoons in Children will Cause Better Night-time sleep

Violent Cartoons And Their Effects on Children

Do you want your children to sleep better at night? Do you allow them to watch violent cartoon? Well, this is the time that you need to substitute Dora the Explorer for Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny.

A recent research found out that watching non-violent TV programs reduces the sleep disturbances that children experience at night. These non-violent TV programs should also be age-appropriate to make the effects better for their sleep.

 All cartoons may seem good for children because we always think that these animations provide kids with appropriate entertainment. However, the mere chasing of a cat and a mouse and frequent tactics to make the other surrender in Tom and Jerry makes it a violent form of cartoons. Now, there are a lot of cartoons that offer this type of theme and it makes them more appropriate for adults who want a stress reliever than kids who would want to sleep better.

 The study involved 565 children with the ages of three to five years. The children were divided into two groups. The first group had a switch in their TV programs from violent cartoons to educational ones. The other group did not have any change in their viewing habits, which composed of non-so good cartoons or violent cartoons.

 The study collected data on the sleep routine so these children for months. The results showed that those who watched non-violent cartoons or shows had lesser sleep disturbances that those who still watched the violent ones.

Why Some Cartoons are Violent

For adults, most cartoons are not violent at all, in fact, we regard them as funny. However, these funny cartoons for older children and adults tend to be very violent in younger children in various ways.

We should take into consideration that younger children especially the toddlers and pre-schoolers are not yet exposed to the metaphor and irony of life. This means that what they see is what they get and they tend to interpret the “funny” scenes as violent.

 Due to this, younger children may adapt more violent reactions as well as behaviours that they watch in the television. In terms of sleep, these violent scenes tend to disrupt their sleep.

How Non-Violent Cartoons Promote Sleep

Before bedtime, children should do relaxing things rather than aggressive ones that will just stimulate their senses. Educational and non-violent cartoons and programs tend to offer relaxing scenes as well as music to help children experience a sense of well-being before they go to sleep.

 The lack of violence also limits nightmares especially in pre-school children with very vivid imagination. When they watch violent cartoons, they tend to think about the scenes more often disrupting their sleep.

What do Experts Recommend?

The study further supports watching programs such as Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street and Curious George. There are a lot of non-violent and education TV programs that are now available so instead of letting your child pick what they want to watch, you might as well impose limitations on the kind of programs that they see rather than removing the TV altogether.

Parents play a big role in the development of their children. Cartoons may be engaging, but always remember that not all cartoons provide beneficial effects to younger children.

Posted by Tessy Parker

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