That my children don't watch EE/Corrie/Emmerdale etc?

[crazygracieuk]

My children are 11,9 and 6.

They watch plenty of rubbish on TV but other children and parents seem surprised that they don't watch Eastenders, Corrie, Emmerdale, etc.

They've been perplexed when asked their opinions on story lines like who Kat is having an affair with.

Their usual TV viewing is programmes on Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nick etc.

I am ready to be told that soap viewing is normal at primary/first year at secondary but back in the 80s I watched programmes like Neighbours, Home and Away and Grange Hill which was aimed at kids.

When a child is going through abuse on soaps, other characters are always shgown as speaking out against it, which is what is needed.

Go to the thread about what posters have heard said to children, or acts that they have not intervened in, children in some areas see/hear abusive behaviour when they leave their home.

It may not be liked, but lots of children are living in areas where most of the story lines from soaps is constantly all around them.

The soaps show extreme violence all the time! I've seen stabbings, rape, people being glassed, run over, drowned...or is that not extreme?

Some of the kids I work with have witnessed these things in real life. They are not good things to witness, why put them on prime time TV? You're talking about secure families; I'm talking about the less functional ones who might not be under Social Services, who watch this and don't have someone to tell them it's not right.

I started watching Corrie at about 10 or 11. When I was at primary school,people watched Eastenders and Dallas as well as Neighbours etc

Young children might see an episode containing violence and not see the happy ending several weeks later, or even be able to understand a complicated storyline.

Many of the children I work with have been highly affected by things they've seen on TV, games they've played etc.

"the point is that in families that work well, soaps are not harmful"
That's nothing to do with my point, my point is about the families that are vulnerable as I put in my original post.

You haven't seen them, though, it has been in a storyline, but not shown.

Soaps speak out against those acts, compared to when i was growing up and i thought that you just 'got on' with what happened in a family. DV wasn't shown as a negative or talked about, that is wrong.

I live in Liverpool, my children have witnessed some of those acts, going shopping etc. You can talk around issues using visual fiction,in a less scary way.

The point is that these things happen and are the norm, the rest of sociaty should be shown and educated about the 'whys' and 'hows' and how to react/what to do when they do encounter these issues.

Soaps get teens talking in school and that is one way to reach some teens that don't speak out, as sometimes they will confess things to friends.

I don't need to read other threads about the shitty things kids experience, I work with these kids, I hear about their lives, I get spat on by them and things thrown at me, I hold them.

Yes these things are happening in people's lives for real. They are not good things. They are things that cause long term damage physically and emotionally. Why does that then make it OK to portray them on prime time TV for entertainment FFS?

We are talking about different age groups, young children are damaged by their families, in the cases that you speak about.

Teens can find a common ground with a character, which can help them to open up.

Ideally no young children should be watching any shows made for an adult market.

The violence is shown, you'll see a weapon and someone covered in blood, people weilding guns and knives, you'll see cars driven into things, people pushed into water. You see parents hitting their children, being pissed and abusive, shouting and screaming. You see stealing and lying. You see characters being utterly terrified by people who are supposed to care. How is a young child supposed to grasp that oh it's not scary after all because after a few weeks more of confusing storylines someone eventually speaks out?
Perhaps you're desensitised after watching them so much.

"Why does that then make it OK to portray them on prime time TV for entertainment FFS"

I think from an information POV.

Until i came on MN i would never have though that anyone could be as lacking in knowledge as some posters, but when you travel the country, you realise why, they come from a wrold very far removed from mine and those people that i work with.

I constanly try to explain patterns and cycles of behaviour to people, my hairdresser finds it interesting, for instance and she says that she has started to think quite differently, after speaking to me and since her mum has been helping at a homeless hostel.

No changes can be made by keeping things behind closed doors, i grew up in those times.

Because people are talking about these issues changes are being made. If it wasn't soaps then the likes of the DM would be informing some people's opinion.

"Ideally no young child should be watching a programme designed for the adult market"

Hallelujah.
If only we lived in an ideal world eh.

Can we tell the BBC to stop putting it on when children can watch it then?

You seriously think they put EE on for an informative point of view? In that case, after almost 30 years I think we get the picture. How kind of them to show us.
Perhaps it's time for an informative point of view of how functional families resolve issues, let's have 30 years of that now.

The children I work with have been damaged by their families, yes, also by their physiology. In some children there is a marked deterioration in behaviour after too much computer games. Sometimes children haven't slept after being frightened by something on tv.
Don't underestimate the power of seeing violence on the screen.

Oh please, what a load of rubbish.

We don't watch them here either. I watched Eastenders when I was about 18 I suppose but now I think it's rubbish and very emotionally manipulative.

The others are even worse and I could never find them interesting even if I tried. Why do people want to watch idiots making a mess of their lives? It's so sad.

All mine watch the soaps at points . The two eldest love Waterloo Road, Holby etc. They do not watch much TV so hey when we plonk on sofa good to watch a soap IMO and agree with Jeremy (love the name) long live the soaps!! Also the Disney channel is banned as I cannot abide the american teen squawking thing !!

"You seriously think they put EE on for an informative point of view"

No i don't, but the viewer can use it, in whatever way they see fit.