Censoring Disney?
My 2 year old and 4 year old recently graduated to animated movies with dialogue! This is a welcomed transition because I can only take so much of the same 30 minute song filled shows played over and over. I have been so excited to expose them to movies that I grew up watching as a child, like The Little Mermaid and Toy Story. Ok, so I was in high school when Toy Story came out, but I had a much younger brother who was obsessed with Buzz Lightyear and enjoyed the movie very much!
A couple of weeks ago, my kids were watching Toy Story and I heard the words “stupid,” “moron,” “idiot,” and “shut-up” over and over and over again. I was shocked! My children have watched that movie countless times and I had never registered that language before. I began to pay attention to the dialogue in all of their movies. In Monsters Inc. (another fabulous movie), I again heard the word “stupid” several times. These are rated G movies marketing very young children who should not be using these words. My husband and I have had discussions about this and don’t know where we stand on this subject. My 2 year old is picking up language at a very rapid pace right now and these are words I do not want coming out of his mouth. However, I hate to go back to only allowing music filled 30 minute movies. I’m thinking we need to expand our Veggie Tale, Sesame Street, and Hermie collections and put some of our other movies away for a couple of years.
How do you feel about words like “shut-up,” “stupid,” and “idiot” in your child’s DVD collection? Do you think I’m overreacting in not wanting my kids to watch movies with this kind of language? Have you been surprised by language or scenes in “kid” movies or shows?
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I don’t worry that much about those particular words in movies. Kids are going to hear them anyhow. It’s better to just explain to them that you don’t use those words.
My oldest just turned 7, and she still considers “stupid” to be a bad word. She was utterly scandalized when she was watching Mythbusters the other day and they referred to something they were about to do as stupid. I just told her it wasn’t as bad for him to be admitting that what he was doing was a bad idea and calling it stupid as it would be to call someone else that.
I think it’s more difficult when they (the children) are REALLY young; but even then, my son has been watching Shrek since he was two years old (yeah, I know, PG movies for a two year old, I’m a BAD MOM!
), and those words never really registered in his vocabulary until he was four. By that time, we could explain that we don’t use words like “stupid” and “shut-up” in our house. And since the kids are usually at home with us, and mommy and daddy don’t use those words, he just doesn’t use them. And if they DO accidentally come out of his mouth, his eyes get really wide and he pops his hand over his mouth and says, “Oops! I didn’t mean to say that!”
I was worried about my son picking that stuff up too. He loves the Disney Pixar movies. To our surprise, he doesn’t use them much. He heard shut up once from someone else and when he started using that we told him that it wasn’t nice and he hasn’t used it since. Like Sharon said, if they don’t hear it at home from mom, dad or sibs, they are less likely to use it. At the same time, you have to do what’s right for your family. If it bothers you, then it’s ok to wait until they are a little older to let them watch those movies. Oh, one other word of advice, the more attention to bring to those things, the more your kid will use the words! When our son has said shut up or stupid, we just tell him that it’s not nice to say it, tell him that Mommy and Daddy don’t say those words, and leave it at that. It’s been forever since he’s used them. When we’ve been outraged by something he says or does, it just feeds the desire to say or do it!
Happy parenting!
And Cruela Deville keeps yelling “Idiots!” in 101 Dalmatians. Etc, etc… They all have them.
We as parents cringe when hearing it. Sometimes our kids don’t pick up on it and we can breathe easy. If they do begin to use those words, it’s just up to us to sit down and have that talk.
I’ve often wondered about the same thing, but as our kids are getting a little older, I’ve been able to explain to them that we’re not allowed to use words like that. Now they’re [maybe a little too] quick to say “Ummm! He said stupid!” when they hear it from anyone else.
I wasn’t allowed to say those words when I was a kid so I naturally get after my own kids when they say it and it does make me cringe a bit when I hear them in movies. The Disney Barbie movies seem to be alright though.
My kids actually hear worse words coming out of my own mouth when I’m not careful but I’ve found that if they say anything inappropriate, they’re less likely to use those words again as long as I don’t make a huge deal out of it. Once they know a word is bad, they love to say it all the time.
What I like to do is explain to the kids that the Monster or toy or character in question doesn’t know any better, using those words, but WE are SMART and WE don’t use those words because we respect eachother and we are not monsters/toys/crazy ladies/etc. My kids love to “tell on” the characters in movies and explain to me that they would never act that way. They’re pretty good kids if I do say so myself!
It’s not just you. My husband and I both grew up in homes where words like hate, stupid, and shut up were not allowed. We were taught to be respectful of ourselves and others and not use such strong, negative and hurtful language. It’s nice that we both agree that we want our children growing up with these same values.
We sensor a lot of media. They don’t watch much so it’s a little easier. Growing up, they watched the PBS/Sprout channel or Noggin almost exclusively since there’s no advertising. We watch Veggie Tales and Berenstein Bears which have really great messages for the little ones. My 5 year old son loves the Discovery Channel so he’ll watch that with my husband – but we’re still monitoring.
We had the same reaction as you did to the Disney movies we remembered watching. While I can have a discussion about language with my 5 year old, my 3 year old is inspired to use the naughty words at this age. So we’ll just keep them up on the shelf for now.
Me too. When “SILENCE!” came out of my almost 3yr olds mouth – I was scratching my head. We work so hard to reflect good manners and using kind words… I am still trying to figure out the source of the “SILENCE!” – Whenever “idiot” or “stupid” comes my way – I might just pass out.
So why is it that all of the moms who commented above DON’T allow their kids to use the words yet Disney seems to think it’s okay to insert the words in all the movies? I think Disney needs to tune in and take the offensive words out of the G rated movies.
Angela, I love how you approach those words with your kids! Hayley, I agree that Disney should not be placing these naughty words in their movies. It really surprises me. They have gotten better about the scary scenes. I forgot how scary Ursula is in The Little Mermaid until I watched it with my perspective as a mommy. My kids prefer Finding Nemo for their underwater film anyway and I love Nemo! We just have to start it off at chapter 2 because it makes me sad to watch Marvin lose all of his babies and wife. Not that my kids even understand that part. I am mainly censoring that for myself because it’s so sad!
The language is nothing! For a school assignment, I once had to watch a Disney movie and count the number of times there was violence. 5 minutes in, I had counted at least 20 things – from being hit over the head with something to squishing a character. Granted, it was a cartoon and the characters weren’t hurt, but… We just seem so desensitized to everything now.
Maybe this site should start a list where parents can add movies/TV shows that are free of this kind of language and behavior? Books welcome too, I’d say!
I have recently caught my 3 yr old saying “shut up” and we do not use this language in the house. When I asked her where she heard that word she told me on her show. We have been reviewing a lot of the movies lately that they watch and they are littered with words I wish they didn’t use. Some of these movies are their favorites to watch and I feel like the bad guy now telling them no. I do wish that Disney/Pixar would NOT put these type of words in, however some of these movies are much older. Movies I have already added to the banned list include: Sleeping Beauty, Bugs Life, Toy Story, and some of the movies listed above. I would like to see what other movies have insulting words in them so I can avoid buying them! Thank you
We are watching Ants and Stalone’s character just said “Bitchin” as in quit your bitchin. My husband and I just looked at each other like.. did he just say that?! You should feel comfortable with G rated movies to leave the room while your kid is watching not have to monitor every word!
Just to add to my comment. We will have to throw Ants out. We have heard 3 more actualy curse words just since I 1st commented! wow