Cartoon Chianti

The other night my daughter and I were preparing to hang out and watch a show of her choosing while my husband and son were out at an activity. The whole house and entertainment selection to ourselves! She chose to watch a beloved series featuring a family of pigs. In the episode the family was tending their garden of vegetables, and the kids helped the grandparents (grandpigs?) prep everything for a salad. As I watched I was thinking to myself, “oh this is cool they are showing ways to try new healthy foods,” observing the plot of the story. The family then sat down to have lunch, showing the clock striking 1pm, and...wait. Hold up. The parents and grandparents all have a little stemmed cartoon glasses of red wine? To accompany their hyper-local-backyard-garden salad? How did day drinking somehow creep into this sweet little toddler show about eating your vegetables?! The scene was short, and I didn’t say anything about it at the time, but it got me thinking…

This is a children’s series that I would have put on for my kids to watch without question--but it is also a show where I wouldn’t have thought lunch with a side of Chianti would have appeared. To be fair the adults seemed to be consuming responsibly, were of age, and the animated wine glasses weren’t the focus of the story...they were just there. But I guess I am wondering: why did they need to be there? What was the purpose? 

We know that things that appear on our screens (tv, phone, ipad, etc) influence us--whether we realize it or not. We also know that youth are especially “influence-able” when they are marketed to, both with actual ads and simple product placement within content--I would say here the wine at lunch was a (likely unintentional) product placement. So merely a silent hint or suggestion supporting alcohol consumption and normalizing its presence at meals. 

So...what’s there to do knowing even toddler shows aren’t necessarily drug free? Screen every minute of every show for content? Ahem... Not. Going. To. Happen. 

So barring banning ALL the screens and shows, I am choosing to focus on the things in our environment I can control and what I can do to support critical thinking in my kids: 

I can check out media ahead of time by going to Common Sense Media to see how they rate for showing “Drinking, Drugs and Smoking”. The site also includes reviews and feedback from other parents and kids which I find helpful. (Please note I looked up this show and it gave a “not present” for substances, however there are likely hundreds of episodes and this may be a singular instance. I would still say the site is a great starting point as a baseline for content assessment.)

I can talk about what I see and hear with my kids and choose to bring it up--remember my post about the Water Bar? Starting these conversations early and often really do make a difference in your child’s attitudes surrounding alcohol and other drugs. There are also great examples and prompts for teachable moments using tv and movies from KnowWhenKnowHow.org. 

I can be mindful about how I talk about alcohol and substances and role model responsible use. Our kids ears and eyes are always on us, so it is important to drink responsibly and not use language signaling the “need” for alcohol or other substances to cope--i.e. walking in the door from work and saying aloud “Ugh, that was a day, I need a drink.” Although small, this sends the message that “alcohol helps me feel better when I am tired/upset/hurt etc.”

I hope you find this helpful as we (as ever) continue to manage our lives with screens and please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments with an email: cdziembowski@dtownctc.org. I’d love to hear from you!

PS--Keep an eye out for our new podcast coming out in November(!)--Parent to Parent: Real LIfe Tips to Raise Resilient Kids