Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Children and Fiction Characters

There's an interesting post I read in Violette's blog. 'Doraemon'. It just struck me, since I'm a Doraemon fan too. Not in a bad sense, though. It just make me think - a lot.
Hm... I've taken a class, a pretty interesting class, actually, about Penciptaan and it's combined with science. In short, it was a class about how science could proof the bible, especially about matters which are usually thought as impossible, like the Noah's Ark (How can the ark carry that many animals and how can they survive inside the ark for 40 days?), the actual age of the earth, how can Kain married his own sister (logically, if Adam & Eve were the only people lived on earth then there would be no one to marry Kain besides his own sister, right?) and be okay, how can Jesus turn water to wine, etc, etc.
Where was I? Sorry, got carried away. Oh, yeah. So, one day the class discussed about fiction characters like Doraemon, Dragon Balls, and such. The lecturer taught us that those cartoons are no good and only make children believe less in God and in Creation. Children will be taught that dinosaurs were real, that this earth is very very old (more than 30 million years, while according to the bible it's only about 6000 years), and that human comes from monkeys, not from Adam and Eve. I was like, "WHAAAAT???" And letting our children being in the real world all the time where everything is so depressing??? Even I created this Ryanverse to run away from the real world, how can children handle the real world without any fantasy-land they can run into anytime?
Quite honestly, when I was little I've never liked fiction characters like that. But that's the point. Now I regret it. What's the point in being a kid if you have not believed in Santa Claus since you were FIVE??? What's the point in being a kid if you never touched the land of fantasy, dreaming of being a Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty or the knight in the shining armor? Yea, yea, maybe that's why I'm such a cartoon-lover now, kinda make up for the missing time. I promise myself that when I have children someday I'll let them roam wild with their fantasy. And this is the connection to the Violette's post.
Personally, I think letting children enjoying the fantasy while they can is a must. It will let them explore their creative side as well as starting to make them feel. By feeling what the characters in the fiction feel, they will learn about compassion, friendship, and many other things. Of course, I admit, this will need a hand from the parents.
Like Violette's post's case. I think it's up to the mother, whether she could wisely handle the kid or not. I don't know the kid personally so I can't tell what to be done exactly, but his mother should know better. If the kid wants to act like Nobita because he wants to have a Doraemon, she could say, "Why don't you study hard and be a good boy, that someday you can invent a Doraemon by yourself and make him your best friend?" or, if the boy really loves Doraemon, she could say, "Isn't Doraemon the happiest when Nobita becomes a dilligent and good child? Don't you want to make him happy?"
I do that to myself all the time, too. When I feel so much fear to do something, I quote Xena, "Everybody's afraid, some only hide it better." When I feel like I can't do something or can't find a way out of a situation, I'll think, "What would Xena do?" When I regret something so deeply, I remember Xena saying, "Nothing we can do to change the past, we can only work to make the future better." I happen to have the same birthday with Donald Duck, and I happen to have the same clumsiness, the same bad-luck as he does, and sometimes I'm so embarassed by myself who let the words out without having the brain processed it first, just like him. But so I think, "Donald is just as clumsy as me, he has bad-luck just like me, he's also often mis-spoken things, but everybody loves him, so everybody can love me too."
See? Fiction characters can be good, too. I admit that maybe they'll make children believe in bible less and less and less, but if the parents really care, they can actually turn the effect as they like. It's not the matter of the object. It's how the subject catches the messages. So if you wanna do something, don't do it to the object. Do it to the subject.

3 comments:

Jeng Ungu said...

interesting point of view, indeed.

never think of it like dat, yknow, like how u mentioned:

"Donald is just as clumsy as me, he has bad-luck just like me, he's also often mis-spoken things, but everybody loves him, so everybody can love me too."

really, all these fairytales and fictional characters are important, i am so goin to let my future kids believe in santa claus. thats probably gonna be one trigger to motivate them to behave well, all for 'end of the year santa's gift'

only life live once, right, so gotta enjoy it to the fullest.

and bout my god bro's mum, ermmm, shes the type who kinda give up easily and when trouble strike, she will be like "pasrah dengan nasib". lucky my god bro end up gettin his degree and not day dreamin bout becoming nobita wahahaha

but this is good:

"Why don't you study hard and be a good boy, that someday you can invent a Doraemon by yourself and make him your best friend?" or, if the boy really loves Doraemon, she could say, "Isn't Doraemon the happiest when Nobita becomes a dilligent and good child? Don't you want to make him happy?"

Jeng Ungu said...

this is irrelevant but to give feedback to the comment u wrote bout me "standing up", well, i didnt do much of the standing up, i think hehehe

1 thing though,

back in 1999, when i was really freakin down from emotional issue, there was this gd fren of mine, one guy. he was the 1 trying his best to spark up my moody nite and brought me to club and we ended up checking out cute guys inside. and who said galfrens are the best partner in crime to check out guys?? my this guyfren is better!! LoLz

and back in 98, one of my masculine girlfren back me up when i had some problems. she, or should i say he, did somethin really meaningful. and gotta say, i had lots of fun binding her chest in a public restroom when her cloth-bandage fell out hehehe.

so these two peeps, despite their love-orientation, are definitely two of the most beautiful people i've known.

beautiful, inside and outside.

* anyway, if u wanna delete this comment away, just delete it, k. i dun want u feel like uncomfie =)

Ryou said...

Geez, of course i'm comfortable with it. I'm also a queer! Heh heh. I'm comfortable with my sexual orientation, too, just not yet confident enough to face the world. I will, one day, when I have someone worth facing all the troubles for.
Well, I'm sure you'll make one great mother one day even without my post. Haha.