Tags
children's television, Disney Fairies, fairies, Fairies on Friday, Netflix, PopPixie, preschoolers, Winx Club
… with my five-year-old daughter.
She came home yesterday from school with no voice.
It was no better this morning and so we spent the day at home.
Lots of coughing, Kleenex, water, cuddling and …
… fairies.
Image from free wallpaper available here: http://wallpaper-kid.com/fairies-wallpapers-free-download.htm
My eldest is currently ALL. ABOUT. FAIRIES.
If I’m being honest, she’s been pretty faithful to the fae since discovering Tinkerbell at two.
So, having spent more time than usual today actually paying attention to my daughter’s television shows, I thought I’d give vampires the night off and tell you what I learnt during my five-year-olds’ sick-day.
So here’s “Fairies on Friday” to brighten the last few week endings with “Fangtastic Fridays“. Maybe this will just end up morphing into Fantasy Fridays. We’ll see.
So what did we watch today?
Winx Club and PopPixie on Netflix.
My daughter has been chatting about these two shows for a while and I admit I hadn’t really paid attention beyond the fact that I knew it was about fairies and pixies.
I’m pro fairy. I even have a Fairy Pinterest Board that I started so my girls and I could collect pictures of them together that we liked online – it started with the Disney Fairies so I could ask my eldest about which ones her favourite’s were; why she liked them etc…
Getting back to Winx, there are two (of six and counting) seasons of Winx Club as well as the first season of PopPixie on Canadian Netflix.
But until today, I hadn’t really watched them.
Winx Club is a 2004 Italian animated fantasy/adventure series created by Iginio Straffi. Season 1 starts with Bloom, a girl from Earth, who discovers her magical abilities when she saves Stella, a fairy princess from another planet. Stella then invites her to join Alfea, the top fairy school in all the realms, where she meets other friends to form the Winx Club. When trouble arises they transform into fairies who use their unique magical powers to fight evil and save the world.
They are aided by the Specialists, boys (who become love interests) who are training to be warriors who can use a differing range of weapons along with other abilities.
They have exciting adventures and become fast friends.
Season two (2005) introduces the Pixies, small and super-cute flying fairy-like creatures, who the Winx bond with after rescuing. The spin-off show PopPixie was created in 2011, which features the pixies, elves, gnomes and magical animals who all live in a small village called Pixieville.
Most of this sounds – and is – benign to positive. Winx reinforces issues like the importance of teamwork, cooperation and the power of friendship and respect. Guys and girls are on equal footing in a fight because they have unique powers to bring to the battle. The characters don’t back down from a challenge and creatively problem solve.
That said, the Winx are all also unrealistically skinny; dress skimpy; and are obsessed with body image and boys. As far as I can tell, the pixies while drawn younger-looking also sport short skirts and halter tops.
Which gave me pause as a parent.
Now as someone who spends a bit of time online surfing for fairy pictures, I can attest to the fact that “dressing skimpy while being skinny” is, well, um, fairy tame to normal. Winx didn’t seem much worse on brief inspection than Tinkerbell and her friends.
But further surfing and watching does drive home that Winx Club are really skinny, and there is something a bit more suggestive in their garb than what is worn by your average child-aimed fae.
So the question then becomes even if it is too “old” for my child due to inclusion of those aspects, how much does that really matter? ie: How much of the older “stuff” is sinking in? Is she really just enjoying the fantasy fairy aspect while missing much of the other messaging? If she’s not watching it to the exclusion of other varied media, is she not still getting balance while also enjoying her fairy fix?
In my search for answers, I discovered and subscribed to Common Sense Media which, among other things, reviews a variety of children’s shows and provides information and advice on which parents can base viewing decisions.
I found scrolling through the information and Winx Club reviews there informative. I especially found the differences between parent and child reviews interesting as to age appropriateness and beliefs of how various images influence younger kids.
Common Sense Media also told me what I knew – it’s too old for my kid. It suggested 8-year-olds as the target audience for Winx Club and didn’t have any reviews for PopPixie.
I know the images and much of the material aims at older audiences. But then I know that is also true with Disney, where any number of jokes and references float right over the heads of the younger audiences.
I know my five-year old loves the make-believe, fantasy fairy-land. THAT’s what she’s watching for. I LOVE that she LOVES that. I love watching my child pretend play with all her dolls and seeing her pull inspiration from everywhere: books; pictures on our walls; friends at school; daycare; us; and yes, television…
I can even rationalize that she gets the unrealistic body image modelling thrust at her from multiple areas so, as long as I balance Barbie and Winx Club with Dora, Where the Wild Things Are, The Gruffalo, Harold and the Purple Crayon, the Paper Bag Princess, etc… we can start the conversation NOW about fantasy and reality as it applies to real beauty and female role models.
That said? Now that I’ve sat and watched? I can also discourage Winx Club until she’s a bit older. Having asked enough questions today, I know that she really doesn’t yet understand the divide as to what’s fantasy and reality when it comes to the behaviours of the characters. And expecting her to figure out and take away the good stuff while discarding the stuff I’d like her to ignore? That’s asking a lot.
What about you? What sort of TV viewing rules do you have for your kids?
Photo credits: Winx Club is from here and PopPixie image from here.
Baby Gates Down 
No kids so no rules — but my parents rules for me I think I would have enforced for my kids. 1 hour on Friday evening. The wonderful world of Disney on Sunday. A movie on Saturday. Saturday morning cartoons (for my brother — I was not interested) for 1 hour. While my instant reaction to parents is that they’re silly for even thinking TV influences their kid, a more thoughtful and truthful response is that I think TV can influence some kids to a dangerous degree. My brother was a case in point. He was, by nature, a seeker of attention. He watched cartoons as much as he could. In the old Looney Toons there are drunk guys who are funny (to a kid). My brother started drawing comic strips when he was very young and those comic strips had drunk guys falling down. He drew lots of these. When he got older, he imitated Red Skelton’s “Clem Cadiddlehopper” character (a bum who’s drunk and falls down). This went on — in junior high I got to go explain to the vice principle why my brother had a little whiskey bottle in his coat pocket. The line between reality and fantasy wasn’t there for my brother. He died an alcoholic. Was he BORN that way? (I think so, partly) Did TV etc. influence his ideas? I am sure it did. I think there are some kids (like my brother) who are just VERY vulnerable to the images and the roles depicted on TV. I think you’re an amazing mom to look at this with such a clear vision and ask such important questions. As I read this I wondered if my brother would have been different if my parents had done that, too.
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Very sorry to hear about your brother. We have alcoholism in our family as well so it’s another issue I wonder about as well. On the issue of the influence of TV, I’d say it’s currently a large influence for my 5-year-old and I think at this stage she’s more creative than attention-seeking, but she’s certainly both. She is also at the stage where she tells some amazing whoppers and tales for attention, so we’re watching that as well – and talking about the difference between “making things up for fun” and lieing which can get you and others in trouble. Writing that, I think that would be another example of how blurred the lines are at this stage for her. So if the up front appeal of things like Winx is mostly with an eye to fun and fantasy, I’ll just try to direct her watching elsewhere – and when she does watch, I’ll try to do it with her, so she gets some of my opinions and ideas about the characters, as well as just the shows. And she obviously enjoyed watching with me yesterday and talking about the show.
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My 5 year old is too obsessed with looks, and I think that is the influence of tv and movies and their “perfect” people. I love fairies, but I like the old fashioned ones that were not so skinny. I watched Shirley Temple’s The Little Princess with my daughter. She was chubby by today’s standards, and unlikely to be filmed these days. But she looked healthy and adorable, and today, kids often look starved, anxious and sad. It’s troubling. It’s important to think about these things and talk about them.
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If it gives you any hope, I looked up Shirley Temple’s The Little Princess just now to see if I could take it out of my local library and there were 16 holds on the one copy the Ottawa Public Library holds. I’m now proud #17 on principle. I look forward to watching it in circa (maybe) March and letting the Internet know what I think.
But maybe it speaks to a strong fan base out there for healthy and adorable kids on screen? Maybe I’m hopefully stretching there.
Aside from vaguely being aware of her dancing on the good ship Lollipop, I don’t know much about her, but I certainly think we could use a few more healthy/normal looking stars all ’round.
I admit that I’ve bought my five-year-old play make-up because I figured banning it didn’t really serve a purpose and I thought it might help with fine motor development seeing she isn’t too interested in other crafts/writing etc… I wonder if that was the right choice. I wouldn’t say she is obsessed with looks because I don’t think she has made the connection between make-up, dressing up and looks yet (if that makes sense), I think we are more at the “figuring out how to be a girl” stage. But it’s telling, given I wear little make-up at all, that she wanted it at all (because she certainly never got that from me). I figure we’ll just keep talking about things as she grows and hopefully the messages balance enough that she really makes her own choices.
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I don’t think my daughter is obsessed in a movie-star, red-carpet way, but she is very in control of how she wears her hair, what she puts on, and she checks how she looks pretty often in a mirror. She is aware that it’s partly how she is judged. She also understands that good social skills help her, so it’s not just looks, it’s presentation, in a whole package kind of way. I can’t argue with her conclusions too much, because I don’t think she’s wrong. And I deliberately got Shirley Temple out of the library, partly to see if she would comment on how clothing and body image have changed (obviously not with that vocabulary). I wanted to give her a loved but more rounded little girl to model herself after, if she’s interested. Let me know if you like it. Down the road. 🙂
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I think that sounds pretty much on par with where my 5-year-old is at. We went through a nail polish stint where she continually asked me to touch them up if they weren’t perfect. That’s over, and we don’t currently “do nails” but she’s certainly figured out the importance of matching tops and bottoms, chooses her outfits, and has hair preferences. For the same conclusions you outline, I think all of that is fine/normal.
She’s big on “makeovers” at the moment where she puts make-up on for me. I KNOW I never did this with my mother, but I’m thinking this is just an extension of dress-up play (??).
I will certainly report back on Shirley Temple once we get it (whenever that might be :))
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Hmm, Anna approves when I dress up, but she doesn’t do make up other than chapstick (which she calls lipstick). I wear no makeup ever, though. I worry more about her feeling she has to be perfect. That’s nothing most of us can achieve. And I really limit Barbie access. I bought her pudgy baby dolls. Not that she’s pudgy, but just to counteract what she sees in movies. You sound like a terrific mom. Hugs to you and your little girl!
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After asking around to my friends about this topic, I learned that we were not censored much by our parents where the TV was concerned. I find that I censor my kids a whole lot more than I was. For the most part, I also like watching what my kids watch, too. If there is something questionable, I will make a point to talk to them about something they see or hear, or let them know why I wouldn’t want them watching a show/movie as well.This is something my parents didn’t do a lot of, either. I think you’re doing a great job! Taking an interest in what your kids watch is what, I think, what more parents should do so they can tlk to their kids about what they’re seeing/hearing.
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I don’t think I was particularly censored as a child either and – generally speaking – I don’t think I SHOULD censor my kids all that much (within reason). I think they will see much of it anyway, and I like the idea of being there first time around so we can talk about what we’re watching and talk about what’s pretend and what isn’t, and why people act the way they act in the show etc… and it that’s how people really act, or not, and after that it’s a bit of a stretch for a 5-year-old. I think Winx was just the first show I actually watched that my daughter watches where I thought …. eeew, we’ve moved past Dora and I need to give this a bit more thought.
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Sorry Louise! I didin’t mean censor as in block everything out so they didn’t see it. Maybe censor is the wrong word for me to use. There are shows and movies we would never let them watch due to the content or the abundance of language used, but there are those shows that they watch and there might be something that, as a parent, I may find to be a bit too advanced for them to understand. I will stop/pause what they’re watching and talk with them about what they’re seeing. This is mostly for my eldest. My other two are still toddlers are just getting into superheroes, so the “filtering” is sort happening here with the shows/movies we think they can handle. But we do talk with them about what they see and let them know what they’re seeing is not real/explain subject matter/that they should not try doing what they’re seeing as it will not work in the real world. I hope that makes more sense? Where my oldest is concerned, if she wants to watch a movie I think is a bit advanced for her handle, we’ll read the book, and we’ll talj about themes and content. If nonbook is available, then we’ll do research on the film, or we’ll watch it together Yes, they will see it one way or another, and I like being there when they see it first, too! Thanks, Louise! Sorry my 2nd comment is so long. 😦
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I used to watch winx club all the time when I was younger and none of the unrealistic body proportions and skimpy clothes had any affect on me. I think some children might say ‘ I want to look like bloom’ (or something like that) but when they look at her body closely they realise she’s kinda ugly. I wouldn’t worry about your child being affected by the show if you ingrate the message that her body is beautiful the way it is in her mind. This is just my opinion, by the way.
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Hi Gaby – thank you so much for this insight. I really appreciate it. I do think we communicate that beautiful can be many things and that she too is beautiful. I appreciate you visiting!
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