Childrens Movies

Movies have become one of many things we enjoy for entertainment. If they are enjoyed by people of ages, then why do they need to have adult themes in children movies? I know that parents are going to be watching them too, but in my opinion, the adult themes can be cut back in children movies. When you watch some children movies, you sometimes have to wonder if this is okay for children to watch. I recently watched one that made me question if young children should watch it, even though it was made for them.
The past two summers I have worked at a daycare near my house. Each day we go on a field trip and one of the field trips is to the local movies theater to Summer Movie Magic Days. The movie theater selects two movies that you can chose to see, one is rate G for General audiences and the other is rated PG for parental Guidance. I know that it is the parent’s choice for what movie they let their children see, but some movies should have a higher rating than what is given.
At the daycare we let the children pick what movie they want to see and the day I was working one of the choices was Barnyard. This movie is rated PG, and I know that it will have some adult themes in it, but there were more than I expected. There is no need to put more influences into a child’s life than what there already is in the music that we listen to now and the TV shows that we watch.
One of the biggest examples on the movie I keep coming back to is when the cows decide to steal a human’s car and go joy riding in it. When the children see this, they will start to think that it is okay to take someone’s car and do whatever they want with it. After they decide to steal the car and go joy riding they are drinking milk and to me it seemed like the milk is suppose to be something that they are not suppose to have and it is illegal. This is just wrong to show the children of our world that it is okay to drink and drive when they are driving and what they are choosing to drink is illegal. Then after all of this the cows decide to speed and get into a wreck which then leads them to abandoning the car and racing back to the farm before anyone finds out about it. After seeing the latest part of the cows abandoning the car and running from the police, I was shocked at how they set up the movie.
The movie was good, but it was very shocking as to how the portrayed the cows and made everything seem okay. Most of the children were laughing when all of this was happening, as was I, but the more I think about and watched the children at the daycare play, I realized how they pick up on the little things.
When children are young their minds are like sponges, they absorb anything and everything. One of the girls in my high school graduating class, recently had a child before we graduated and was in the early learning stages when we were about to graduate. One thing that I remember her clearly saying was that she had to make sure the father of her child watched what he said around her because she was starting to pick up on what he was saying. He may not be the best dad in the world, or he could be the best one, I do not know, but all I know is if the little girl’s parents do not watch what they say around her, then when it comes time for her to go to school she will have a vocabulary full of many words that are not appropriate for her to say at her age and that are not appropriate for other children her age to hear.
It sad to see in today’s society how the children are growing up, compared to how their grandparents and parents grew up. Times were tough when my grandparents were being raised and they were tough when I was younger, and they only seem to be getting tougher for the next generation that is growing up now. Just because of the tough times does not mean we need to stoop to low levels and say that stealing cars, drinking and driving, and avoiding the police are okay, even if it is in a cartoon movie. Children look up to these characters are role models and they are not the ones that I want them to see. I know that I do not have any children now, but when I think about I will have children someday, it is scary thinking about what kind of movies, TV shows and the type of music they will be listening too.
This is not a good example for the children to see. Many parents may agree that it is okay and that it is only animals and their child would never pick up on any of the themes in the movies, but some children will because of the capability of their minds. With seeing movies like this we are only encouraging the children to behave like the characters. I know that we will not stop our kids from watching these movies, but it is scary thinking that these movies could eventually influence the future of the children.
With the influences on the children and even adults today it is even more important that we take time to spend with our families, especially children as they grow up. I think that no matter what the children see in any movie, TV show, or what kind of music they listen to, it will come back to how they are raised by their parent. Parents are the biggest influence in a child’s life and there is nobody who can replace the role of a parent.