They may keep the kids quiet, but it looks like Peppa Pig and Frozen are causing more harm than good.
A new study has found that they are actually “too violent” for young children.
The study explained that shows like Peppa Pig and films like Frozen are displaying violence and pain in negative ways.
Apparently, children’s entertainment is solely portraying pain through violence. Experts believe this can have a lasting negative impact on them.
The study’s team analysed 52 hours of children’s movies and TV shows. They identified an astonishing 454 incidents of pain throughout the viewings.
The team revealed the most common type of pain in these shows/movies was violent pain and injury.
General pain like tripping or scraping your knee only amounted to 20% of incidents.
The experts are concerned about other characters’ reactions to pain. They found that 41% of characters who witnessed others in pain were not empathetic. This could have a concerning impact on how our own children react, they warned.
Speaking about their finding, Dr. Abbie Jordan of the University of Bath said, “Pain, in particular chronic pain, can have hugely debilitating effects on the lives of children and young people right through into adulthood.
“Part of the challenge in this is how we talk about pain.”
She added, “We know children spend increasing amounts of time watching these influential programmes and films and that what they depict feeds through to their understanding and awareness of an issue.”
Dr. Jordan said, “Our assessment is that these programmes could do much more to help children understand pain by modeling it in different ways.
She said it is “crucial” that they show “more empathy when characters experience pain”.
“That’s important for how children interact with others when one of them experiences pain, such as when a friend might fall over in the playground or when they go to the doctors for routine vaccinations.”
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