I am having a hard time explaining to my husband why our 2 1/2 year old Daughter should not watch adult comedy. Can anyone suggest any material or insight on the subject. My little sponge (Ruby) is so innocent and I'd like to keep it that way.
Children are extremely bright. At this age they are little tape recorders..
Remind him, if he does not want her to repeat things to your minister, never let her hear it in the first place.
Subjects that are sensitive in society.. same thing at the grocery store.
People that do not look like us..
Because their minds are not ready. You're right, they are sponges. They are at an age where they learn through imitation. Everything they see, they try to do themselves. Adult comedy is specifically made for adults. It's blatant.
There is often adult humor in kids movies. My husband and I always joke that they throw a few things in for the adults to keep us from getting bored and so that we'll continue to take our kids to these movies. But in those situations the humor is written within the context of a kids movie and in such a way that it goes over their heads. They are paying attention to so many other things. When there's a joke they don't understand, they just ignore it and pay attention to whatever else is happening.
When it's adult humor, there's nothing else for the kids and they pay attention to things that they really cannot understand. But they will try!
Simple: we are the adults, and we can exercise restraint, by watching shows with blue language after the kids are in bed.
Toddlers are little mimics. It's how they learn to speak, for heaven's sake. They cannot exercise restraint.
It will be all well and good until your husband asks her to follow a direction and she tells him "hell/sh*t/f**k no."
Your husband needs to be the adult in the situation. His shows can wait, I promise. We have kept the TV off in the daytime for more or less six years now, other than kid-friendly stuff. Neither my husband or I have died, I promise. Instead, this is a great time for your husband to play with his daughter.
Here's an article on basic language acquisition:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/cupmag/pdf/O%27grady%20artic...
Here's another good article from the Pediatric Center:
http://www.thepediatriccenter.net/docs/brudenell/Understa...
Does he really need all this convincing not to be selfish in his habits?
If he doesn't have the common sense to understand why adult programming isn't appropriate for young children I'm not sure HOW you could explain it to him.
Maybe the day he hears his little girl say something awful like, "you like me baby, wanna *bleep* sometime" he'll get a clue.
Sorry. Guess I would take my kid in another room while it's on. Maybe he'll get the hint if he's left alone often enough.
Check out the blog at Pigtail Pals and Ballcap Buddies. http://blog.pigtailpals.com/ Melissa Wardy is one of the most knowledgeable people I have come across when it comes to how media affects our children. I don't always agree with her 100%, but I have a huge amount of respect for her. She has tons of resources linked in her blog that deal with this exact issue.
Is your husband a large "kid"? Time for him to grow up. A 2 1/2 year old can't even understand adult humor. She can learn all kinds of bad words to say anytime, including in front of his boss, or the church ladies, or the preschool teacher. Is THAT what he wants?
Take your husband to your ped and tell the ped what is going on, in front of your husband. Ask the ped to explain. I'd disable the TV if my husband was being an idiot about this...
