So, apparently some parents are banning their children from watching every child’s favourite cartoon pig – Peppa – because she and her brother George Pig are ‘a bad influence’.
According to the Daily Mail, parents have taken to Mumsnet to voice their despair and their belief that Peppa is ‘making their children naughty’.
Apparently one father blames Peppa for encouraging his four-year-old to joyfully splash in what he calls ‘muddy puddles’, a reference to one of Peppa’s favourite activities.
Yet, of course, for early years practitioners the joy of playing outside in bad weather and splashing outdoors in puddles could not be encouraged enough.
But perhaps you might have some sympathy for parents faced with requests for ‘chocolate cake’ for breakfast (George’s favourite)?
One mother posted that her son shouts ‘Yuck!’ at vegetables and only wants chocolate cake.
Another wrote, ‘My daughter keeps saying “no” and “yuk” in a really high and mighty way, just like Peppa does, and generally answering back when I ask her to do something.
‘Shall I ban Peppa Pig, or is that being totally unreasonable?’
From my own limited personal experience, Peppa does seem to loom large in toddlers’ imaginations.
On holiday last summer, I asked my two-and-a-half year old nephew what he had enjoyed the most about our trip and was baffled to receive a gleeful reply: ‘The museum!’
We were in rural Italy at the time and museums were few and far between, and it had been more of a sea and sandcastles kind of holiday.
Perplexed, it was left to his older brother – six, and a devoted Peppa fan – to enlighten me that this was actually a direct quote from an episode of Peppa.
My sister (their mum) describes Peppa as ‘genius’, and says, ‘I’d argue Peppa promotes positive relationships between children and parents. They’re always going on fun outings and trips and visiting Granny and Grandpa Pig, and they love school!’
So, Peppa Pig and George Pig – the scourge of parents at their wits’ end (chocolate cake) or positive role-models (muddy puddles)? You decide!
* I forgot to mention that ‘a toy train’ was also on my youngest nephew’s Christmas wish list (despite the fact he already has more trains than you would think were strictly necessary), and that he was disappointed to find that Father Christmas was not waiting downstairs to greet him on Christmas morning. You guessed it – ‘naughty’ George…
