Our kids learn a lot from children’s shows, but what happens when they pick up the wrong lessons?
For Kelly, it’s a parenting challenge she was surprised she had to face.
She shared her shock in a recent TikTok after her three-year-old son, Kia, adopted a new phrase.
“We taught him the sentence wasn’t nice quite quickly”
When she told Kia to do something he didn’t like, he would respond with “you’re not my best friend.” But the real problem started when he began to say it to others.
“Broke my heart every time I heard it,” Kelly told Kidspot.
Typically, Kia is a beautiful child. He is empathetic, loving, and has a personality that everyone falls in love with.
“Every time I heard him say it, I’d ask him, ‘My son, where did you learn this? We don’t say that, it’s ok for someone to not be your best friend, but you don’t say it to hurt someone,’” she explained.
“I was lucky we taught him the sentence wasn’t nice quite quickly, and he stopped saying it after roughly two weeks, but it took a lot of correcting and teaching him.”
She had no idea where he had gotten the phrase from. But then it clicked.
“Kia was watching it on the TV, and just so happened the moment I looked at the screen, Peppa said it. I was in awe,” Kelly explained.
“I immediately turned it off and explained to him why, and he understood and did say ‘yes, Peppa didn’t make a good choice.’”
She explained to her son that Peppa has a tendency to be “not nice” and a “bully,” which is why they won’t be watching her anymore. A decision that Kia is totally onboard with.
“Today, for his screen time, when I was browsing kids’ Netflix for him, Peppa did pass the TV, Kia did say ‘no more naughty Peppa’, and he chose another show,” she revealed.
In fact, she notices that the media he consumes, while given in small doses and always monitored, does impact his mood.
“If he’s watching something like Miss Rachael or Trash Truck, he is in a happy, positive mood. When he’s watching Peppa Pig he can be a little more sassy,” she explained.
She’s since researched the show further, discovering more red flags.
“Small quick sentences from shows like this can be easily missed”
“She calls her dad fat, is very mean to her younger brother, which made me angry that this show is teaching siblings to be mean to each other, especially because Kia has a younger brother Kian, whom he is so sweet to and loves,” she said.
“Peppa is not a role model I personally as a parent would be proud for my child to learn from. As parents, we always monitor screen time, but small, quick sentences from shows like this can be easily missed.”
She says it’s a blink and you miss it scenario that parents might not even notice until their child is mimicking it.
“In my own house and control, I won’t allow that influence”
“Sometimes our children are going to hear things out of our control in the real world, and it’s our job to teach them right from wrong, but in my own house and control, I won’t allow that influence,” she insists.
She hopes that her experience will remind others that parents can’t let their guard down. Even when they deem children’s programming to be innocent and safe.
“It’s so easy to just trust a show because it’s available on a ‘kids suitable’ platform, that doesn’t mean that’s appropriate or a great role model,” she said.
“As parents, we have the responsibility of knowing and keeping an eye on what he’s watching, and I have definitely learnt a lot.
“With him being our first son, there is no parenting rule book. We are learning along the way as well, and we are proud to share our knowledge with other parents.”