Back in the days, cartoons for children used to be that, CARTOONS FOR CHILDREN.
Childhood was fun, and we were allowed to grow at our pace as we transitioned into adulthood.
Nowadays, I don't understand, so I cannot say the same as most of the movies rated PG13, are R-rated in disguise.
You will be watching some movies tagged PG13, and you'll be wondering if maybe it's an error, probably they meant to tag it R-rated.
It should be worthy to note that back then, my parents can comfortably leave us to watch whatever cartoons we like without fear of us stumbling on some Adult content.
While I lived with my foster father and his family in Port Harcourt, the first thing he told me while I moved in was that he does not allow Africa magic or any Adult channel in his house.
He went further to say that the only Adult channel one can watch is the news.
So, it's basically you are listening to the news or joining the children in watching cartoons, and that made the cable useless to me.
The thing is, as much as my uncle wants to protect his children from the adverse effect of the media by letting them be children and grow as such.
I do not think he's aware how far gone life has become that even cartoons still need parental guidance.
One thing I have come to realize is that anything we see in the media, either for entertainment or information, is greatly influenced by the Character, behavioral pattern and the actions of people in that area.
Thus, we do not have the same shared culture and values. It is for this reason parents should be proactive with what their children get exposed to so they don't end up going against societal norm and values.
Once, my sister was watching cartoons on her phone, my daughter heard the sound and came to watch it with her in the sitting room.
The way I was seated, I could see the cartoon from my end, and it has really nice graphics and great story line, so I got interested and was watching it too with them.
I didn’t join in quick, so I seemed a bit lost with the story and I asked my sister to narrate for me, so I can catch up. By this time, she already left the phone with my daughter and was attending to her son as they came for the weekend.
She started the narration, and I was following, until the part where she said the “man's boyfriend.”
I got confused, and I'm like, “maybe na me nor hear well.”
To confirm, I asked her, “oh, you mean the man's girlfriend?”
She said, “no, the man's boyfriend.”
I'm like “ahn ahn?? Man's boyfriend keh? For children's cartoons??”
Then it hits me, it's an adult carton…. Immediately I asked her, “are they gay?” And she said yes.
I wanted to mad, the way I yelled, “you dey play gay cartoon for my pikin?”
I didn't even know when I dived the phone from my daughter and switched to Coco melon via YouTube.
I am not Homophobic, but I am pro letting children be children, let children grow as children and be exposed to content within their age bracket.
Aside coco melon, my daughter only watches cartoons or TV shows that have no sexual content, not even a boy and a girl crushing on themselves because this is her formative years and like I always tell her, there is time for everything.
All images are mine
