I registered the wideness of her eyes and mouth as an expression of shock. She said nothing for almost a full minute and while she had her eyes just fixed on the empty space above my head, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. When she collected herself enough to speak, her words were barely audible.
Source
“Where did she learn that from?”
My shoulders raised and my palms upturned. My older sister looked from me to her sobbing 3-year-old then clapped her hands together with disbelief.
“Are you sure she didn't learn it from one of those children at school? Or perhaps, one of our neighbors' children!”
I shook my head from side to side rapidly as she spoke.
“But big sis, you know that she couldn't have picked it up from school. There are two teachers in her class to watch them. And how many times does she relate with the children in this compound?”
My sister seemed to be lost in the thoughts in her head once more. She rose to pace slowly, biting her index finger as she walked the length of her bedroom.
“Then where could she have gotten it from?” She lowered herself onto the bed, her face buried in her palms.
“How about we check the cartoon she was watching during her screen time, last night?” I asked my sister.
“I downloaded that cartoon myself. I even saw some parts of it before putting it on her ‘can see’ list” I could hear that her breath was becoming ragged.
“It's possible you missed something,” I said placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, “There's no harm in checking again.”
I brought out her laptop from the wardrobe, turned it on, and sought out the cartoon. We followed every action carefully, observing even the hand gestures and body movements. We had almost gotten to the end of the cartoon when we found what we were looking for.
Two bunnies in a tight embrace stood under the moonlight with their lips locked together for almost an entire minute.
“No wonder it became imprinted in her mind. See how long they showed it for!” I sighed wearily as my sister ranted. “How did I even miss this?”
Her daughter was now fast asleep on the king-sized bed, so she reduced her voice again.
“We have to really be careful nowadays. Maybe you should see the cartoons to the end before vetting it for her to watch because with what just happened, cartoons may no longer be safe for children anymore” I advised.
“You can imagine!” Her daughter stirred and she rushed to pat her back. “Was it necessary to include a romantic scene in a cartoon? Of course, they know infants and toddlers are exposed to these contents so they should be more careful!”
I shook my head, trying to see if there was any justification for the producers but I couldn't find any.
“Cartoons were not like this when we were growing up,” I began but she cut me short.
“What are you saying? We had several educative and entertaining programs that encouraged our innocence as children. Both local and foreign programs!”
“I remember Preschool power….” I began again.
“What about Teletubbies?” She joined in
“And Kali and Tewa show!” We giggled fondly as we reminisced on these programs which had occupied a great deal of our time as children.
“I think the producers of modern-day cartoons should learn from these people we've just mentioned” my sister was saying, “Or better still, they bring the programs back!”
“My own is that I'm wondering if parents are not concerned. If 90% of parents are alarmed when their toddlers begin to misbehave all of a sudden, then something would be done about it.”
My sister scoffed.
“What can the parents do? It is the industry that should sit up. If they rate a program for kids, then it should be solely children's activities that would embody those contents. What is a kissing scene doing in a cartoon rated 7+ for instance?”
I dragged my shoulders in a shrug.
“No wonder children of nowadays are getting more corrupt at tender ages faster than even the adults.” I chipped in.
“I'm strongly for the idea that most children's programmes should be brought back. That way, we can be sure of what our children are watching. Do you think I have the time to sit and watch everything my daughter has to watch?”
I sighed as she walked out of the room, turning once more to look at my niece who I had to spank that afternoon because she had suddenly walked up to a random baby on their street and kissed him full on the lips without taking her mouth off for almost 30 seconds.