Tom and Gerry cartoons - slapstick comedy or unsuitable entertainment for 4yr old ds?

[northstar]

My ds 4yrs 3mths has discovered Tom and Gerry cartoons and is mesmerised by them. Are they suitable for him? He is presently playing with the handle of a plastic golf club as a sword as I dont buy him weapons to play with. Is he processing the slapstick or does he see violence?
I'm not sure if all boys are like him at his age as there aren't many his age around, and only 3 in toddler group as opposed to 8 girls who play nicely and are so much better behaved. Am I just being a mum who doesnt totally "get" 4yr old boys?

I've thought the same thing with my 4 (very nearly 5) yo He does watch occasionally but gets quite bothered that the cat always seems to get really hurt. As I said I've wondered the same but I was brought up on it and I don't like violent things at all and it doesn't seem to have harmed me!

I dont think theres any harm in it.

Kids will always turn sticks and kitchen roll middles into swords and guns anyway.

Did you watch it when you were young?

Harmlessimo.

As in Tom and Jerry the old cartoons of cat and mouse chasing?

Er, perfectly fine imo!! God, it's hardly like Power Rangers is it and plenty of 4 yr olds watch that!

Mine adore Tom and Jerry!

furball - my ds seems to love it when they get hurt, if it bothered him it'd be better!
No he is a beautiful sweet little violent monster atm - I am terrified I will catch him dangling 14mth dd out of the window (or NOT CATCH HIM)

I watched T&J when I was little as well but never liked it and parents were always turning it off as they thought it was too violent (my parents were a bit ahead of their time -this was the early 70s!). I think I have to say as a parent myself now i agree. In fact, even in adult viewing I don't like slapstick and I don't like violence for the sake of violence. Personally, I would turn it off and explain to my kids why I didn't like it - maybe something like "I don't think we should watch shows where the characters are always hurting each other. It's not funny when people hurt each other in real life and it makes me feel upset to watch it."

I'm sorry but I just don't buy the argument that "kids will always do such-and-such anyway". That may be so but it doesn't mean that we have to encourage it.

You just contradicted yourself there SM.

So what would you do if you kids ran round with a plastic golf club pretending it was a gun?

I watched T&J as a child and do you know wht? I've never felt the urge to shove a stick of dynamite in a cat's mouth or whack one with a frying pan.

Children get that a cartoon is not real.

Are you sure you cant jump of the roof and run in the air for 10 seconds before falling SD?

ds2 (4 and a half) loves T & J. And Scooby Doo (which has kind of taught him that monsters aren't real). We now have TV fights in our house as ds1 and ds3 are still into cbeebies.

I'm erring on side of caution and DD age 3 is on a diet of CBeebies and selected others from Disney/Nick Jr. I hadn't realised how prudish I could become, or perhaps how we notice stuff more now - I had a video of Hector's Hosue (nostalgia freak) and was shocked when he got his "big gun to shoot the burglar if he comes here", then with a Mickey Mouse video which again had shooting moose (mooses?) - then of course there are plenty of old cartoons eg Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes which have smoking - oh, help!!

I think it's fine. Ds (6) and dd(3) laugh uproariously over Tom and Jerry.
My two love a bit of slapstick.

madmarchhare - what I meant was - I agree that "kids will do such-and-such anyway" but that is not an excuse for parents to actually support such behaviour. I have a 3 yr old DS so we have been through this. Whenever some harmless toy becomes a gun I tell him we do not play with with guns, we do not shoot people and we do not kill people. We have compromised - for example, some plastic wristband from McDonalds (really a laser blammer according to him!) can no longer "shoot" or "kill" but it can "freeze" people. I'm happy to play along with that.

I know kids realise cartoons are not real but it doesn't mean they can't be discouraged from watching stuff that's just pure s**t.

I would rather DD watches T &J and similar cartoons than some of the other programmes with "attitude"
I hate the language, sarcasm and intonation on some of the other programmes.

I (mostly ) agree with Sugarmagnolia.

my 6 yr old stills loves Tom and Jerry
I'm quite surprised that anyone would think there was any harm in it
I watched it when I was young and I never tried to hurt my cat or my frineds cause I knew that wasn't acceptable
I also knew that it WAS JUST A PRETEND CARTOON and that it doesn't happen in real life

my dd1 also knows this and has never tried to recreate the stuff she sees on it

God soon we aren't gonna let them watch anything

I don't let ds watch anything, trinity

lol franny

"God soon we aren't gonna let them watch anything"

Actually, I happen to think T&J is one of the all-time worst kids shows ever. And I'm not exaggerating - I'm dead serious. It's what the Simpson's Itchy & Scratchy is spoofing because it really is that bad. I don't think it makes someone a bad parent to let their kids watch it, and I don't think it's going to turn kids into monsters, but I do truly think it is a terrible, terrible show.

Also, and I'm sure this is NOT the way to make myself sound like mother-of-the-year but...my kids manage to watch plenty of tv without watching characters that shoot, kill, burn & regularly hit each other over the head with frying pans, lead pipes, rocks, etc, etc. Yes, they know it's just pretend, but there is plenty of really good children's telly out there.

Ban Fifi and the Flowertots - that naughty wasp is always stealing stuff.

I guess my concerns about what DD and DS watch are to do with what they learn about solving problems in the real world, and about values and 'good' behaviour.
I loathe violence, but slapstick is a very different thing from vindictive behaviour, or the idea that you should respond aggressively to any thing that upsets you, or, most of all, that the best way to be is strong and tough and to be a hero you have to be aggressive.
I see Tom & jerry as more like a clown show than a display of violence; whereas power rangers and the like makes me depressed, with its constant message that 'you solve problems with force'.
Running around with a stick shouting bang bang is just role play. What's more important to me is that DS & DD have a clear grip of better ways to solve problems in reality - decent negotiating skills, and some developing empathy - ie some emotional intelligence.
I agree with Spagblog about the sarcasm etc on older children's progs. To me, this puts those horrible events where the girl's face was slashed at school after she had bullied her attacker into a very unpleasant context. i feel that a lot of older children (and adults) just haven't developed any emotional intelligence and don't get role models showing how they could handle situations better.

Agree that Tom and Jerry is violent (of course) but disagree that it's rubbish. My dh just bought some dvds of it which we watched on Saturday and we were struck by just how inventive and well put together it is. (Maybe should be given 18 cert and shown late at night in arts cinemas.)

Mind you, it's a bit bizarre watching T&J after years of Itchy & Scratchy - I kept expecting them to rip each others eyeballs out etc.

well said hovely

I think now a days, we over analyse things, i always watched T&J too when i was little and i am afraid i am gonna use that line of "it never did me any harm" lol.

Most cartoons have some sort of violence in, and i agree the older ones are the worst...roadrunner, taz etc but having said that my nephew watches cartoon network and some of the cartoons on there are pretty bad too.

I don't know what the answer is tbh.

children love the speed of tom and jerry and the twists and turns, the thrill of the music and the chase...the goody and baddy theme, the familiarity and repetition, the lack of adults and the anarchy.

Children are basically anarchists.

Tom and jerry is a lot cleverer than the pap served up too often.