SpongeBob SquarePants Not A Good Fit

I can’t stand SpongeBob SquarePants. I mean really, I doubt the Crabby Patty is tasty enough to spend almost every episode protecting the recipe for it.

My daughter knows not to watch Sponge Bob when I am around, the sound of it is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Part of me was not surprised to hear about the latest study about children and television, that it is not only the quantity of television that children watch, but the quality as well. I mean it is common sense, that not only violence but the tone of show will impact young kids, right?

Certain fast-paced shows that have multiple scene changes were shown to impact the attention span of young children. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics, and was done by researchers from the University of Virginia.

It involved 60 four-year-olds, divided into three groups. One group watched nine minutes of a PBS show, “Caillou,” another watched “SpongeBob” and a third group spent time drawing.

According to the study, 15 percent of those who watch “SpongeBob” achieved the problem-solving task, compared to 35 percent of those who watched the educational cartoon, while 70 percent succeeded among those who spent their study time drawing. The “SpongeBob” group also had a lower ability to delay gratification and to follow rules than did the other groups.

Nickelodeon spokesman David Bittler disputed the findings and remarked, “SpongeBob SquarePants” is aimed at kids aged 6-11, not four year olds.

However, with an older sibling, a younger child often ends up watching shows not necessarily geared directly to them.

These days a favorite in our house is “Phineas and Ferb” on the Disney Channel. It is probably still a little fast-paced for my little guy, but it is a lot less annoying than “SpongeBob.”

Another favorite of my son’s is “Dinosaur Train,” which is a cool show with lots of dinosaur facts. His most highly requested show is “Little Einsteins,” with a group of four kids who explore classical music and art.
Both kids also enjoy “Scooby Doo,” we have some of the movies featuring those meddling kids, and catch an episode now and then. The kids like the “spookiness” of the show, and I like that people don’t actually get hurt and the monsters aren’t real.

Reminds of me of why my mom used to let me watch the A-Team, because no one ever died.