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Sunday, January 13, 2008
Politics, for Four Year Olds
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Photo courtesy of here.
Last night, I gave my son his first lesson in what might be considered politics—specifically the manner by which television commercials sometimes lie to manipulate the minds of consumers. He seemed rather disturbed by the lesson, which centered around “Green Bags,” a product that advertises on Cartoon Network, sometimes appearing while we watch Spongebob. After seeing the commercial just once, my son was sold on the concept of “Green Bags,” and even told my wife the next day that she should “stop throwing your money away and buy Green Bags”—a quote taken right from the television.
If you have not seen the advertisements, the Green Bags purport to keep produce fresh for much longer periods, all due to some scientific-sounding explanations about how Green Bags are made.
The second time the commercial came on, my son recognized the Green Bags right away. He even got excited, and started telling me how we should get them to save money and keep our fruits and vegetables longer. So I sat him up on my knee and tried to give him his first lesson in media.
“Sometimes,” I said, in my best Daddy-voice, “TV commercials tell lies.”
My son seemed rather upset at this notion. He paused, then continued to tell me how great Green Bags would be for our household.
“No,” I protested, “You can’t always believe what commercials say. Sometimes commercials tell lies to trick people. That’s not very nice, is it?”
My son agreed that it was, in fact, not very nice to tell lies—but he countered that the Green Bag commercials were telling the truth.
So, with just a bit of Googling, I found this televised news segment. It shows how the Green Bags appear to work for carrots and green peppers, but how they actually make other produce items decompose at a faster rate than traditional storage techniques.
First up, the segment shows the bags working for carrots. This made my son very happy. “See?” he asked. “They really do work.”
“Keep watching,” I urged, already knowing what would come next. The broadcast continued, showing several examples of the Green Bags failing miserably. “See,” I told my son, as we watched. “The Green Bags are not working.”
My son’s face got very serious while watching the broadcast on my screen. I could see his mind processing that the television commercial had, in fact, apparently told him a lie: Green Bags, at least according to the experiment on the newscast, did not keep produce more fresh as promised.
We returned to Spongebob, and my son jumped on my lap, pressing his head close to my shoulder. He seemed upset. “Is something bothering you?” I asked.
“The commercial lied,” he said, with sadness.
“Well, not all commercials lie. You just need to be careful.” Then Spongebob returned to the screen, and we forgot about Green Bags, turning our attention to the yellow and porous character from Bikini Bottom.
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13 Jan 2008 at 07:24 pm | #
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Please provide a follow-up story when Santa becomes the topic of reality !
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13 Jan 2008 at 11:49 pm | #
No, Jason, you offered your son a lesson in marketing.
14 Jan 2008 at 08:22 am | #
I’m not sure the difference between politics and marketing.
14 Jan 2008 at 02:47 pm | #
Everything is political, it’s just that some people don’t understand the political implication of their choices, that’s all.
14 Jan 2008 at 11:37 pm | #
Do 4 year olds really think about the shelf life of produce and the ramifications of not using the most efficent methods to preserve it? I know they can be easily lured by a sales pitch for toys and even fast food which would be an easy concept to address as a child that age would say, “I like that toy. I want that toy.” And the response would be either “You can’t have that toy.” or “You can have that toy.” And then an age appropriate reason like it’s a good toy, or not the kind of toy mommy and daddy think is good for you. The response wouldn’t usually be that the commercial for the toy is deceptive and you’ve been duped.
15 Jan 2008 at 01:42 pm | #
You’re right cinysuz, there should be a minimum age requirement to begin teaching children to think critically. Simply giving your children “yes” or “no” answers to their questions, regardless of “age appropriateness” does nothing to help them grasp the “why?”
15 Jan 2008 at 08:05 pm | #
So Ryan, how do you think sex education should be handled? After all there’s a very real risk of AIDs, pregnancy, not to mention the intricacies of the actual act. Is any child too young to know ALL the facts? Wouldn’t the entire picture scare the hell out of them?
Don’t be silly. Of course children should be steered away from mindless consumerism, and as early as possible. It’s a hard job to teach children that material possessions aren’t the measure of their worth.
But the level of understanding has to be appropriate to the age. Putting the burden of determining the validity of advertiser’s claims is way too much for a 4 year old. All advertisements are manipulative and that translate into lying. That’s a lot to lay on a 4 year old. They don’t have the resources or maturity to come up with satisfactory conclusions about what is legitimate and what isn’t, so don’t they still just depend on the good judgment of mommy and daddy? And that’s as it should be.
15 Jan 2008 at 09:33 pm | #
I’m still trying to figure out if telling my son about whatever I think he is capable of is “the good judgment of daddy” as defined by cincysue…
Needless to say, my son is doing just fine with his new information…
15 Jan 2008 at 10:39 pm | #
I’m not sure how asking me how I would negotiate age discretion for sex ed is getting at the issue. The kid simply went gonzo for the GreenBags and Dad proved to him that they aren’t as neat as the commercial. I would imagine that Dad burst his bubble to get him to question things that seem to good to be true. I’ll turn the tables on you a bit and ask you in what situations would you deem it necessary to ask children to think about the world around them?
16 Jan 2008 at 08:22 am | #
I don’t question that children should think about the world around them. And obviously they do whether you tell them to or not. I was talking about age appropriate understanding. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t go with strangers is totally appropriate. Even that some strangers might not be nice is appropriate for a 4 year old. Explaining that strangers molest and kill children would be too much. It would instill fear and mistrust. Everyone is at first, a stranger. All commercials are deceptive. There’s plenty of time to learn that.
16 Jan 2008 at 08:48 am | #
Four year olds tell lies, and they know they are doing it. They are perfectly capable of understanding the concept.
Four year olds do not molest and purposefully kill other people.
16 Jan 2008 at 03:13 pm | #
Commercials lie, but televised news segments tell the truth? The media - especially this misguided blog - either lies or gets it wrong more often than not. If you really want to teach your son a lesson, have him question everything and then make up his own mind.
16 Jan 2008 at 04:46 pm | #
anon, we’ve covered how broadcasters use video news releases or corporate propaganda disguised as news here. I think that the Dean has already begun teaching his son to question what’s on TV.
16 Jan 2008 at 07:06 pm | #
What are you talking about Dean? I didn’t say 4 year olds molest and kill people. I said they are too young to understand that kind of explanation. And it’s debatable whether or not 4 year olds understand what a lie is. They’re still sorting fantasy from reality. Dreams can become truth as can stories and movies.
From the National Network for Child Care about the behavior of 4 year olds.\\“Energetic” and “imaginative” best describe the 4-year-old. Often impatient and silly, they discover humor and spend a great deal of time being silly and telling you “jokes.” A 4-year-old’s language may range from silly words such as “batty-watty” to profanity. Loud, boisterous laughter may accompany such language.
Imagination suddenly becomes greater than life for the 4-year-old, who often confuses reality and “make-believe.” Wild stories and exaggerations are common.
Four-year-olds feel good about the things they can do, show self-confidence, and are willing to try new adventures. They race up and down stairs or around corners, dash on tricycles or scooters, and pull wagons at full tilt. You still need to watch them closely as they cannot estimate their own abilities accurately and are capable of trying some outlandish and dangerous tricks.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
enjoys playing with other children
takes turns and shares (most of the time); may still be rather bossy
seeks out adult approval
understands and obeys simple rules (most of the time)
changes the rules of a games as she goes along
likes to talk and carries on elaborate conversations
capable of feeling jealous
persistently asks why
boastful - enjoys showing off and bragging about possessions
fearful of the dark and monsters
begins to understand danger - at times can become quite fearful
has difficulty separating make-believe from reality
lies sometimes to protect self and friends, but doesn’t truly understand the concept of lying - imagination often gets in the way
may name call, tattle freely
likes to shock others by using “forbidden” words
expresses anger verbally rather than physically (most of the time)
still throws tantrums over minor frustrations
imitates parent of the same sex, particularly in play
enjoys pretending, often with imaginary playmates
pretending goes far beyond “playing house” to more elaborate settings like fire station, school, shoe store, ice cream shop
loves to tell jokes that may not make any sense at all to adults
can feel intense anger and frustration
has vivid imagination and sometimes imaginary playmates
enjoys dramatic play and role playing
4 year olds are incredible. Let him be a kid, Dean.
16 Jan 2008 at 07:19 pm | #
How many children do you have, cincysuz?
16 Jan 2008 at 08:08 pm | #
4
16 Jan 2008 at 08:11 pm | #
I didn’t say or imply that you’re not a super parent. I only cautioned about confusing little people with too much information. That’s all.
17 Jan 2008 at 12:00 am | #
Jason - maybe mute commercials when possible. That is the compromise I reached with my husband for our kids.
I was not raised with a TV, do not watch it, believe it is a whole bunch of bad things.
He likes it, watches it. Our kids split the difference, I guess. During “tv time” the rule is all commercials must be muted. I sleep better at night knowing that a tv show is poisoning my kids’ brains, but at least the commercials are not.
22 Jan 2008 at 02:37 am | #
My 3 year old watches Noggin. No commercials to worry about