Have you just been begging for a reason to boycott Dora the Explorer, to rid your home of all things Spongey, or to reduce the time your kids spend online or watching TV? Well here is a really good reason and one you can explain to your kids. I am hereby boycotting Nickelodeon.
It isn't often I boycott things or get too riled up about issues, but this one has me steamed and willing to boycott to the hilt. I checked it out by going to nickjr.com and sure enough, down at the bottom, listed under "nickelodeon kids and family websites" you will find 5 links to addictinggames.com which is host to some very very disturbing games gear towards kids. For Nickelodeon to do this just boggles my mind. I know lots of parents who consider NickJr to be a safe site for their kids to play online. But if your kid gets curious and starts clicking on things, or hears about this cool site from a friend and goes to check it out, your child might end up playing a game where they get to imagine their teacher naked or mutilate their classmates. Not so sweet, not so educational, not so NickJr, is it?
I sent a personalized letter to Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital, Nickelodeon kids and family group. Tomorrow I'm going to tell my kids what I told Mr. Youngwood: that until they stop supporting such a heinous site and issue a grand scale apology to all the families and children who's trust they have betrayed, that we will not be renewing our cable once we move, that from this day on my children will not be allowed to watch Nickelodeon, that all Nickelodeon sites will be blocked on our computers, and that not a single cent of ours will be spent on any Nickelodeon licensed merchandise.
I won't ask you to do the same, I just wanted to let you know this was out there because I was glad someone let me know.
13 comments:
I'm not shocked at all. This is exactly why my children are not allowed to play ANY video game on the computer or otherwise, or watch ANY movie. They are not allowed to be on a computer without myself or my husband sitting next to them the entire time. This stuff is EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING.
We can't even go to the dentist without seeing it. Last year when we were there they were watching the last popular cartoon movie for children while they waited for me and were so offended they had to leave the room. The next time we went they had to sit in the room I was in and read their books.
It's not my intention to shelter my children from the outside world but really, the outside world leaves us no choice.
The thing that is shocking to me is that more parents aren't taking drastic measures to keep this stuff out of their children's minds and hearts.
Sorry! Apparently I feel as strongly about this as you do!
Oh...I need to think about this. I think Nickelodeon is inappropriate for children, in general.....but I hadn't really thought about Nick Jr, or that the addictinggames.com linked from Nick Jr. as well. :-( Ming Wai LOVES her Nick Jr.
Either way, we're not getting cable after the move...but I need to think about this some more. We'll most likely keep watching Nick Jr. during naptimes, just to get us through the move.
So, so sad...and disappointing!
Boycotting Nickelodeon will be easy for me. Dora is the only one of their shows I can even stand to watch, and Shea would rather watch PBSkids shows.
I saw you posted this on FB and have talked with my kids since then. We don't watch much TV, and the kids are only allowed to watch whatever we've TiVo'd for them, but my big kids love Penguins of Madagascar and my little ones love Max and Ruby, both on Nick. I suggested, since my kids were so disappointed with my announcement of a similar boycott, that they themselves write a letter to Nickelodeon explaining why our family will thenceforth not patronize them in any way and expressing their disappointment that they will no longer watch their favorite shows on Nick because of the poor choices of the network.
This is already our last month with satellite, which will be great for our entire family. Even though we police the TV, my husband and I are ready to revisit life without having it at all.
I think it is so important that we not only boycott, but do as you did and actually write to the network so they know WHY.
WOW!!! Un real!!! That's bad! Hey could you help me find the post you did on making a baby wrap? The one I have is too thick and I want to make one that is thinner for when my first baby girl is tiny:) The one I have is also blue:)
I found your blog thru Stephanie's link.
Wow- thanks for sharing. I had no idea.
I'm so glad Stephanie linked over here! We live in Poland and our kids really want Nickelodeon so I thought we might try it next time we renew our satellite contract. We won't be if they haven't done some serious fixing of this MAJOR problem. We're in on the boycott with you.
I too came from Diapers and Divinity.
Kudos to you for taking action to stand up for what you believe in!
If you or your readers use twitter, you can also contact NickJr there. Here is what I just tweeted to them: http://twitter.com/fringies/status/14586845851
I don't think my 5yo even knows that the tv can be turned on any time of day for instant entertainment. And I'm becoming more and more convinced that that is a good thing. We have very bare bones basic cable (history channel and BYUtv and that's about it) and pretty much only use the tv for videos anymore and sparingly.
Thanks for the warning though, my older two, though, are becoming more aware of websites and this is a great reminder that I need to be more hypervigilant about their internet use.
saw it too. Not impressed. We have kind of stopped watching Nick anyway because Sprout is such a good channel and Boomarang lets us watch all the old stuff, but even that has to be monitored. We found swear words written in instructions on some kids games online etc. We just play the game or go through it first and they are not allowed to click around, but I know that if Nick gets enough pressure they will change. The companies figure that for every letter they get, at least 100 people feel the same way and don't bother to write, so 500 letters would make a huge difference. Its important to say -- I love this show or this product and its so sad that I am forced to give it up because of your policies, because they need to know what parents do like. if that makes sense.
Also, I do believe that Nick (owned by MTV) has an agenda and does push it on the children. In order for parents to change the agenda, they must also write to the advertisers. Its does work. Also, if you point this out to the Christian Coalition, they have a great network that has an email chain as well as published material. They do make a huge difference in the causes that they take up.
Its not just what our kids view-- its what other kids view. Some of those games were incredibly violent, and were to kill people in your high school, etc. I don't want another Columbine. Companies must take some responsibility in this regard, but they will not without significant pressure economically!
whew! Thats my 10 cents. :)
Hey, mom;) love ya.LOL
So, did you ever get a response? Has anything changed on the site?
Post a Comment