My daughter has always known the truth about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, etc. She has always been matter-of-fact about them, even arguing vehemently with an adult about their existence. We have taught her about why these creatures came about in stories and how some were based on actual people. My husband and I had decided long before having children that we would let them in on the secret from the beginning in an effort to not squash their little hearts when they discovered the lie and eventually start questioning the existence of real things. I knew this was the right decision when last year I heard my daughter say “Santa is not real but God is.”
So imagine my surprise at my daughter’s sobs when she learned that a cartoon character was not real.
Last night, I was laying her down for the night. We started talking about a show that she had started watching and my husband and I used to watch all the time when we were kids.
“Kim Possible” was a favorite cartoon of mine, cheerleader by day and world crime fighter at night. She kicked some major rear end and even as an adult she is fun to watch. But much to my daughter’s dismay, she is a cartoon.
Between her sobs, my daughter confessed that she had been wanting to meet her.
My heart broke at her sobs. She then started asking about other shows.
“What about Peanuts?”
“No, honey. Peanuts started as a cartoon in a newspaper, then as a cartoon on TV, and then a movie as an animation.”
More sobs.
My heart broke for her.
It was actually quite disturbing.
I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this news that my six-year-old could not distinguish a cartoon character from a real person.
I wrapped her in my arms and told her how those things aren’t real, but Mommy and Daddy are real. That Kim Possible is not real, but there are real women, police officers, fighting crime everyday. And God is real, which is even more cool. The same God that parted the sea for the Israelites also created her. He knows her and loves her, which is so much better than a cartoon.
This experience has made me realize the detriment of allowing my child to watch an enormous amount of TV. Hey, it’s summer! Why not?
I thought that a six-year-old would be able to handle lots of TV during the summer. Only a toddler would confuse TV and real life, right?
Well, we were wrong.
Then I started thinking about when I was in high school and was saddened when “Fresh Prince” was filming it’s last season.
Saddened. I literally cried during the last episode.
It was as if these characters were real. The actors were real, yes, but the storyline and characters were not. Even as a teenager, I had a tough time seeing the difference.
If I struggled with reality as a teenager, my daughter’s struggle makes sense.
Which means it’s time to cut back on TV and spend more face-to-face time so that she can start to see the difference. Real-life relationships are more meaningful than a shape drawn on paper.
I’m glad that we spend time getting ready for bed, without electronics to distract us from building our family relationship. Otherwise, I may not have known about our daughter’s disillusion.
So TV is going to be shut off for the majority of the day so that we can help her build up real, meaningful relationships and not form relationships with fictional characters.
Although being friends with a chick who fights crime would be pretty rockin’.