Self-isolation. What Cartoons Are Useful?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

An urgent question during the period of self-isolation, when everyone is at home. Moms and dads need to work from home, and the easiest way for children is to turn on cartoons.

And yet: which cartoons to include?

There is a widespread belief that, in principle, any cartoon broadcast on TV can be given to a child to watch. And there is nothing wrong with that.

As for me, as a specialist inclined to analyze the factors influencing the mental development of a child, I cannot agree with this opinion.

Parents often turn to me with problems in their children: hyperactivity, disinhibition, emotional instability, fears, etc. Of course, the reasons for such phenomena can go beyond the boundaries of psychology and remain in the jurisdiction of physicians. But more often the reasons turn out to be complex, when, against the background of neurological predispositions, the brain is loaded with low-quality visual products. Fortunately, in most cases, well-structured psychological work is sufficient. Therefore, when I see a preschool or primary school child who comes to me with a smartphone in hand, I ask his parents questions: "What is he playing? What is he looking at there?" And I get important information. However, this behavior "on the face" is not often. And the information has to be collected for consultations bit by bit. After all, they often bring a "cultivated" child to our classes. It is clear that we all want to be good parents, especially in the eyes of others. And sometimes parents do not even suspect that through "harmless" toys / cartoons in a smartphone, a child can receive such a portion of negativity that then years of correctional work may be needed.

So, if you do not go to extreme cases and do not take into account the entire range of "entertainment" services of our gadgets, but remain within the framework of the question: what should be a good cartoon, then I would single out several criteria.

Once listening to a fairly well-known psychologist, Kovalev S. V., I drew attention to his statement that the most useful cartoons can be considered (and this is proved by psychologists, in his words), domestic animation products of the 50s. XX century Catching on to this idea, I decided to try to analyze what is in the animation of those years, and what is lacking in modern animation.

The fact that animation is an art that can affect the psyche is not a secret to anyone. Therefore, I propose to evaluate cartoons, analyzing the quality of certain means of influence. Good cartoons can be considered those in which are present:

- visual means of influence: aesthetically pleasing images respecting the natural proportions of the bodies of people, animals, etc., up to clothing, appearance and emotional expressions of positive and negative characters (clear separation of one and the other);

- auditory means: high-quality musical accompaniment (classical music), the absence of sharp / unexpected sounds that irritate the ear;

- semantic means: the presence of the meaning (s) of the cartoon (purpose), morality (encouragement of good and censure of evil), the presence of detailed dialogues / monologues in compliance with the rules of the Russian language, translation of different models of behavior according to the age and gender of the characters (no mixing of gender roles);

- technical means: the presence of smooth transitions between frames, the absence of frequent frame changes.

Of course, among modern cartoons there are some deserving high marks, but, as a rule, parents have no time to analyze them. And then I suggest that they show our wonderful kind cartoons (time-tested and psychological analysis of individual specialists, and even scientists) instead of dubious modern animation, but they often tell me that their children will not watch them, becauseaccustomed to more dynamic cartoons.

While conducting developmental classes and classroom hours in elementary school, I became convinced from my own professional experience that this is not the case. Having shown the cartoon "Friends and Comrades" (1951) to children in the 2nd and 3rd grades in class, I recorded the fact that everyone was watching, except for one student, who was labeled "hyperactive" by the teachers. And I was already ready to admit my defeat and come to terms with the fact that, apparently, the perception of some children is so adapted to modern "high-speed" animation products that they will not be able to watch the high-quality products of the past. But when it came time to discuss the cartoon, this "hyperactive" boy took the most active part in it. Obviously, without physical activity, he simply could not perceive it. But after all, he perceived and assimilated important points no worse than other children. We also watched the cartoon "Magic Shop" (1953) with the guys, and the result was about the same.

What can be the results of a child viewing high-quality cartoon products?

First of all, you need to warn that the measure is important in everything. The less often the child will sit in front of the screen and the more he will play, communicate with other children and adults, walk, the more harmonious his development will be. The later the child starts watching cartoons, the better. Until 1 year old, you certainly should not sit a child in front of the TV!

However, we can list some of the undoubted advantages of domestic cartoons of the middle of the last century:

- development of aesthetic taste through aesthetically pleasing visual influences, - development of ear for music through the perception of quality music, - harmonization of the emotional state due to a harmoniously built composition, the presence of pleasant music, the absence of harsh sounds, - assimilation of norms of behavior in society due to the separation of the concepts of good and evil,

- development of speech due to the perception of detailed dialogues / monologues and the semantic content of cartoons, - the development of will due to the efforts that the child has to (often unconsciously) invest in listening to detailed speech, classical music, unhurried unfolding of events, etc.

Finally, I will add one more case described by my colleague.

Having opened her family center, this woman was very attentive to the development of her children. By the way, she has now opened her mini-primary school. So she said that she showed her eldest daughter exclusively Soviet cartoons. And when she asked to take them with her friend to the cinema on "Madagascar", the mother was very surprised, but did not refuse the request. How long do you think her daughter (at that time of primary school age) was able to sit in front of this cartoon? Just 15 minutes !! Agree, and even then a little! I don't want to include it for myself either!

My colleague with her daughter and her friend found a solution that was satisfying (as far as possible) for everyone: the friend watched the cartoon to the end, while the mother and daughter were waiting for her in the lobby of the cinema.

This article is the result of the practical experience of a psychologist and a mother, and does not pretend to be strictly scientific.