[ash23]

I don't watch soaps and on the couple of occasions that my daughter has seen them (she's 9) she has been terrified and/or replulsed.

She will actually leave the room or ask to leave if we happen to be somewhere and a soap comes on. She is particularly frightened of Eastenders.

She does watch other things that I find more "grown up" though but I watch with her but only one or two. Such as Teen Mom. She loves that program.

But no, personally I don't think that soaps are appropriate viewing for children.

[vicwatson]

We don't view them anymore, we made the judgement call that the themes in them were of a grown up, adult nature.

They deal with real issues yes, but there is a time and a place for children to see them and that IMO is when they are grown up enough for that.

I for one don't want my children to learn about murder, abortion, divorce, alcohol/drug abuse etc etc etc on a soap tv programme, I'd prefer if they learned the full and open facts from their parents when time is right.

Each to their own mind.

[qwertytlk]

Originally Posted by nesf

I'd be extremely slow to base any decision on such a radio show. You've someone talking about their thesis research not a consensus coming from multiple studies. No one should take one (or a few) studies as meaning anything, they can very easily be statistical noise. Also if her thesis research wasn't backed up by empirical evidence and peer reviewed it's worth less than nothing.

while i agree with you and see where your coming from, when i listened to what this girl was saying i felt it made perfect sense so i more basing my decision on that rather than anything else. It doesnt matter to me if she has evidence to back up her claims, i just happend to agree with what she was saying and in fairness i can see how soaps would be unhealthy to children. I mean the charachters are just bouncing from one disaster to another-this is not an acurate portrayal of what real life is. I also think many of the storylines (rape, incest, murder, constant affairs and backstabbing etc) are unsuitable for young children. If my son decides he wants to watch them when he is older-at least over 15, then this is fine but not before that.

[nesf]

Originally Posted by qwertytlk

while i agree with you and see where your coming from, when i listened to what this girl was saying i felt it made perfect sense so i more basing my decision on that rather than anything else. It doesnt matter to me if she has evidence to back up her claims, i just happend to agree with what she was saying and in fairness i can see how soaps would be unhealthy to children. I mean the charachters are just bouncing from one disaster to another-this is not an acurate portrayal of what real life is. I also think many of the storylines (rape, incest, murder, constant affairs and backstabbing etc) are unsuitable for young children. If my son decides he wants to watch them when he is older-at least over 15, then this is fine but not before that.

Sure but all that works on the assumption that children can't tell it's not real life, something I'm really not convinced of and haven't seen evidence to prove. No argument on some of the story lines in some of the soaps not being suitable for young children.

[implausible]

You know guys, this thread has really got me thinking and so I am bidding EastEnders adieu. There is far too much yelling in it and my wee man now recognises the theme tune, which has got me a bit worried. I can always watch it on rte+1 or bbc3 at 10. There will be enough bad influences to worry and teach him about in future without plonking him in front of EE.

Thanks!

[Deliverance]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm not doing a study on this by the way It is just something that I noticed as a parent of a 6yr old. When things get loud, dramatic, angry and violent in some scenes my kids attention was drawn to the screen and she was sucking her thumb, I started pausing the show and even turned it off at times. Eventually I found it better to not have these shows on when she was in the room.

Besides this I started equating the amount of hours spent watching soaps and it comes to the equivelant of almost a whole day worth of working hours! I'm going to stop having them on now at my place due to these personal findings.

The consensus from this thread so far is that soaps are not acceptable, healthy viewing for kids as captive viewers, pretty obvious really but good to see how other parents are thinking about this issue as well.

I think that drinking on soaps is becoming an issue as well as the fictional characters social lives seem to revolve around the pub, beer from the fridge and spirits when things get particularly tough. Interstingly as a point I noticed that the workers seem to drink lager whilst the 'upper class' (employers) drink spirits and tend treat the workers like sh*t. Something that the workers seem to be happy to accept as they are desperate for work.

The bottom line to me is that soaps are unhealthy viewing overall, not just for kids but for adults as well. When you think about it these shows are piped into our homes on a daily basis and over time can and will have influence on development from childhood to adulthood.

Interesting to see more views on this as the discussion continues?

[Daisy M]

Originally Posted by Deliverance

Thanks for the feedback, I'm not doing a study on this by the way It is just something that I noticed as a parent of a 6yr old. When things get loud, dramatic, angry and violent in some scenes my kids attention was drawn to the screen and she was sucking her thumb, I started pausing the show and even turned it off at times. Eventually I found it better to not have these shows on when she was in the room.

Besides this I started equating the amount of hours spent watching soaps and it comes to the equivelant of almost a whole day worth of working hours! I'm going to stop having them on now at my place due to these personal findings.

The consensus from this thread so far is that soaps are not acceptable, healthy viewing for kids as captive viewers, pretty obvious really but good to see how other parents are thinking about this issue as well.

I think that drinking on soaps is becoming an issue as well as the fictional characters social lives seem to revolve around the pub, beer from the fridge and spirits when things get particularly tough. Interstingly as a point I noticed that the workers seem to drink lager whilst the 'upper class' (employers) drink spirits and tend treat the workers like sh*t. Something that the workers seem to be happy to accept as they are desperate for work.

The bottom line to me is that soaps are unhealthy viewing overall, not just for kids but for adults as well.

I think implying that soaps are unhealthy for adults is a tad over the top.
I doubt your typical adult could be influenced by caracters on soaps to go out and behave as they do. For most adults who do watch them they are some light entertainment that doesnt take any brain power to understand and can be watched while doing 101 other things. I like watching a wide variety of programmes but prefer reading. That doesnt make me any better or worse than self confessed soap addicts I am who I am as are they.

Equating watching soaps to a days working is pointless unless it is stopping you from going to work. You are no better off watching a documentary than a soap if it is inteferring with your life and stopping you preforming necessary tasks.

[cynder]

My fella us a soap addict, he doesn't smoke doesn't drink alcohol that often rarely gets drunk, doesn't do drugs, doesn't beat me or the kids, and tbh I couldn't give a rat's was he likes watching soaps. Doesn't change who he is, doesnt influence him any way, after spending 8 hours a day writing code it's something easy on the brain to watch. He never misses a soap and records something if he has to work late.

[ash23]

Personally I think soaps are on too early and I would prefer to see them on later in the night because I feel that over the years the topics and drama in them has become more and more adult and really isn't suitable for family viewing.

But that's just me and I'd never watch them anyway. And thankfully my daughter seems to show the same dislike for them.

[CrazyRabbit]

Originally Posted by Daisy M

I think implying that soaps are unhealthy for adults is a tad over the top.
I doubt your typical adult could be influenced by caracters on soaps to go out and behave as they do. For most adults who do watch them they are some light entertainment that doesnt take any brain power to understand and can be watched while doing 101 other things. I like watching a wide variety of programmes but prefer reading. That doesnt make me any better or worse than self confessed soap addicts I am who I am as are they.

Equating watching soaps to a days working is pointless unless it is stopping you from going to work. You are no better off watching a documentary than a soap if it is inteferring with your life and stopping you preforming necessary tasks.

If adults were not influenced by what they see on TV, then there would be no advertisements. As a species, we are very susceptible to being influenced by what we see/experience. It's a strength & a weakness.

[Tom Harward]

in my opinion they are not suitable for kids.

[Daffodil.d]

I don't leave my kids watch them. I only watch eastenders but i tape it for later. Actually I am on the fence about the Simpsons even lately. I know that's not a soap but some of the content has a question mark over it. Anyway I was reading this thread and wondering how many people Sat and watched coronation street with their mothers when they were kids. I did and it had no affect on me but maybe they were just less dramatic back then.

[lynski]

Originally Posted by Deliverance

I think that drinking on soaps is becoming an issue as well as the fictional characters social lives seem to revolve around the pub, beer from the fridge and spirits when things get particularly tough. Interstingly as a point I noticed that the workers seem to drink lager whilst the 'upper class' (employers) drink spirits and tend treat the workers like sh*t. Something that the workers seem to be happy to accept as they are desperate for work.

I agree with this. I do not mean to say that people copy the behavior of their fav soap characters but i do believe that soaps contribute to the normalisation of extreme behavior. I dont know how to express it better than that.
Our brains do not function on a completely conscious level and we cannot choose where we learn our lessons, I believe the influence exists and we are not always aware of it.
Like advertising, if there was no influence why would they bother to 'cover issues' and why would the charities behind issues be scrambling to have the soaps 'cover' them?
I firmly believe, for instance, that if there was a breastfeeding character in a mainstream soap it would be very influential. I also think Corrie missed a great opportunity to get the message out about breastmilk and premmie babies last year with Fiss and Hope.
It is recognised all the time that the soaps to good work in promoting or spotlighting 'issues', so why cant their negative influences be more openly discussed?
I dont think, btw, that watching a soap full of faithful, teetotal, exercising, healthy people would be very interesting either, but for once i would like to see a couple get together and not be waiting for the 'crisis/breakup', can't someone just be happy?
So, in summary, my children will be 18 before i let them watch soaps ;-)