Children and Cartoons

Children have become much more interested in cartoons over many years and it has become a primary force in their lives.
Typically, children begin watching cartoons on television at an early age of six months, and by the age two or three children become enthusiastic viewers.
This has become a problem because too many children are watching too much television and the shows that they are watching (even if they are cartoons) have become violent and addictive.
The marketing of cartoons has become overpowering and so has the subliminal messaging.
The marketing is targeted toward the children to cause them to want to view the cartoons on a regular basis, but the subliminal messaging is for the adults’ to target them into enjoying the “cartoons”.
This is unfortunate because children watch the cartoons on the television and they see material that is not appropriate for their age group.

Television programs that are targeted towards children, such as cartoons, can affect children in both positive and negative ways.
The cartoons contain a wide variety of subject matters that can influence children in many different ways.
The majority of cartoons choose to use violence and inappropriate subject matter to entertain children.
These images and stories can have a tremendous negative impact on children because the violence is rewarded without consequences, is glorified, and idealized.
Children look up to the characters that have a negative impact by distorting their views on conflict resolution.
There are, however, cartoons that contain little or no violence and often try to incorporate educational lessons that concern values and morals that are important for children to learn, thus having a positive impact.
It is common to see young boys pretending to shoot one another, while jumping on the couch and hiding in closets as a sort of make-believe fort.
These cartoons will greatly affect these children's behavior in growing up.
Violence is a learned behavior and therefore