What Your Tween is Watching on TV and YouTube

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How To Be a Better Dad is the parenting advice section on SingleDad . This month’s article topic is learning what your Tween is watching on TV and on YouTube. Our research will surprise you. Read more…

How to Be a Better
Dad:
What Your Tween is
Watching on TV and YouTube

How To Be a Better Dad is the parenting advice section on
SingleDad . This month’s article topic is learning what your Tween is watching
on TV and on YouTube. Our research will surprise you. Read more…

The Back Story

This blog topic came out of a conversation this past summer.
I was driving my daughter and her friends to a summer day camp and I happen to
be "eavesdropping" on their conversation. It appears that our tweens are big
time, Internet fans to a collection of websites and YouTube Channels.

What Your Tween is
Watching

As a father of three, I decided to do some investigating and
share what I watched over the course of a couple weeks. Some of this stuff is
harmless, and I must admit that most of the content and subject matter has been
recycled from the past TV shows and "re-packaged" to fit modern times.

Believe it or not, you will be surprised when you ask your
tween or teen if they have heard of any of the following TV shows or You Tube
Channels:

YomYomF – Channel on You Tube


Touch The Sky Films – You Tube Channel


Adventure Time – TV, Cartoon Network


Regular Show – TV, Cartoon Network

Now, I am not saying every Tween and Teen out there is
watching these channels, however, I want to bring it to your attention to what
I discovered in hopes of sparking some conversation between you and your child.
Here is my review of these four channels and what they mean to me.

YomYomF – Channel on
YouTube

This show has no off-limits. I caution every parent when
watching the collection of videos and contributors that seem to poke fun at
every social, political and environmental subject. What makes this channel so
popular is it’s shock value. Creative videos combined with quick, matter of fact
dialog laced with profanity brings the viewer into an adult-only, viewing.

I think the best way to understand YomYomF, is to compare it
to the early days of shock TV
programs. YomYomF reminds me of "South Park" and it’s ability to shock the
viewer with controversial subjects. However, where South Park was limited to
Cartoon characters to deliver the message, YomYomF uses real-life actors such
as Jessica Alba, Tony Hawk, Wayne Brady and a variety of internet stars like, Danny
Pudi, Jenna Marbles and Harry Shum Jr.

In summary, the best advice I can offer any parent is to
watch a few videos and make your own decision whether or not it is suitable for
your tween or teen. Personally, I am shocked to see Tony Hawk and Jessica Alba,
who are both active parents in their respective households support this kind of
content on the YomYomF Channel. Some
of the videos I found entertaining and funny, but the majority of the time I
kept asking myself: Would I feel comfortable watching this with my daughter?
Enough said.

Touch the sky

Touch The Sky Films

So take a handsome, teen heartthrob and throw an
indifferent, depressed monotone voice and you have the star of this YouTube
Channel named, Touch the Sky films Christian Novelli. Most of his videos touch on his
experiences with just getting through the day without some level depression. As a parent, I am concerned that this
guy is sending the wrong message about life to our kids. He is non-violent;
he’s not a gamer promoting violence like so many other channels on You Tube.
However, I fell like Christian is promoting apathy, which is just as dangerous.
Christian is promoting the lack of
enthusiasm and how to be disengaged with others and avoid social or physical activity.

Now, I am not expecting a "Tony Robbins" personality is
going to connect with my kid, however, I can see how Christian’s collections of
videos portray a life of indifference… all just getting by mentality; and I
don’t like it.

The things that I noticed were common themes in his videos
were the following:

-Christian does not like "Day Light"

-Christian likes to ponder random things

-Christian is always stressed out

-Christian shows no real emotion

In summary, I can see how Touch The Sky Films is so popular
with our kids these days. You have a star that is cute on camera, talented with
his video and music edits and is able to get his message across about life. As
a Father of a teen daughter; I am choosing to keep this young man away from my
daughter and her bright and ambitious future.

adventure time

Adventure Time –
Cartoon Network

When I watch Adventure Time, I think of the evolution of the
shock cartoon content over the past 20 years. First there was The Simpson’s,
then it was South Park, and today it is Family Guy. All three of these cartoons
poke fun at our American society and get away with it because Americans love
controversy and we really don’t mind seeing it through a cartoon because it’s not a "real person", right?

Anyways, the Adventure Time cartoon show on the Cartoon
Network is based on two main characters, Finn, a 14-year-old boy, and his best
friend, Jake, a walking, talking and shape-shifting dog.

Nobody really expected a cartoon featuring post-apocalyptic
candy kingdoms and Korean-speaking unicorns to become a children’s-television
success story. Nor did anybody expect that same show to be a success story with
just about every other demographic out there, either. But that’s exactly what
happened to Adventure Time, an animated series following the exploits of Finn
and Jake.

As a parent, I can see the allure to watching these
30-minute adventure cartoons. The content is mildly dark, however, there are
the occasional "fart and poop jokes" that remind you that its ok to laugh and
be childish. This program was the least offensive of the group of channels that
I reviewed and I felt comfortable watching this program in front of my
daughter.

regular show

The Regular Show

Don’t let the generic title of this show fool you; there is
nothing regular about The Regular Show.

The series revolves around the lives of two friends, a Blue
Jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby, both employed as groundskeepers
at a local park. Their usual attempts to slack off often lead to surreal
misadventures that are either over the top or supernatural. While each episode happens they enroll
and interact with the other main characters of the show: Benson, Pops, Muscle
Man, Hi-Five Ghost, Skips and Margaret.

When watching these cartoons, I noticed one reoccurring
theme in most of these videos which has an eerie correlation to the new
generation of kids these days:

-Slacking is a good thing.

Although the misadventures of Mordecai and Rigby are funny
cartoon episodes; I am left with a feeling that the joke is left on me as a
parent. Watching these cartoon characters dodge their responsibilities of work
in lieu of fun and adventure makes me feel like the show is telling my teen
that this behavior is acceptable. I know, it’s a cartoon and I am not supposed to take this so
seriously, however, it is my obligation as an observer and parent to share my
opinion.

How To Be a Better Dad Summary

Being a parent to teens and tweens in our American culture
is a challenge. With today’s technology and access to a variety of media; I am
not surprised by the popularity of the two cartoons and the two YouTube
channels that I shared. Like all parents, I want to feel like I am being a
responsible and connected parent with my child. Having someone like me share
this information is my way of giving back to the parent community to inform and
educate other parents of teens and tweens about what our children are watching.
I hope my review will give you a better understanding of what’s going on and
maybe answer some of the questions you might be having about your teen or
tween.

Richard JaramilloRichard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com,
a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children.
RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents
“Make Life Happen…Again!”