Play about movies/ shows that are not made for kids. Today it's ghost busters and WWE (is that what it's called....wrestling)? Most of my kids watch all sorts of things that are for adults and bring the talk/play into here. One watches soap operas with her mom every day.

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Playing WWE? Absolutely not at my home. It is 100% inappropriate for toddlers/preschoolers to be even watching this at home, and they will NOT be allowed to reenact it at my home.

I can not believe the crap that parents let their kids watch, honestly. The two kids I recently termed watched this kind of stuff constantly. They hit, bit, kicked, and were the most violent acting and talking kids I have ever encountered. Their therapist told their caregivers constantly that the TV violence had to stop, but it never did.

I won't allow violent play at all at my home. Some regular "boy" roughhousing is OK with me, but violence is out, even if it is pretend.

I do discuss with parents about how too much television, especially the wrong kind, can affect their child negatively. If I heard a child talk about WWE, I'd be e-mailing their parents right away about it.

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I do ban that stuff. No violent play allowed. No guns or weapons of any kind, no matter what they make them out of.

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Didn't mean to mislead. I don't let them PLAY WWE. One boy brought in a mask and he showed everyone but I made his dad take it home. He talks about it but not in a violent way. The kids don't even know what he's talking about....that has been less of an issue than the ghost busters. Little girl keeps looking for ghosts and talking about ghost busters. I don't want the other kids to start talking about it and taking that play home with them since it's not a kids show.

This really bothers me....kids don't know how to play dramatic play unless its based on a TV show or movie. Rarely do I see dramatic play where they made up their own script. They say exactly what Merida said....or whoever they are acting out. I wish they didn't watch so much TV. There is so much more to do!

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I always redirect them to some other area/ play idea. If they refuse then they become my buddy till they are ready to let it go

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I think it would depend on the movie. I wouldn't ban Ghost Busters, but probably would WWE.

I allow gun, sword, and martial arts play. I don't allow wrestling. I'm too afraid of broken necks with wrestling.

Kelly

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Has she seen the movie or the cartoon? My kids have seen the cartoon which is a fairly harmless 80's show.

Kelly

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She has seen the movie. It's not just this show....I just can't remember the names. I know the hobbit is one and lord of the rings. I don't know anything about these shows except they are not for kids.

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I don't allow any TV but I don't mind gun play or cops/robbers type play.

Of course, it has boundaries and rules but I do allow it.

I would NOT allow the kids to play any sort of WWE type activity at all as that seems to be pretty dangerous.

I know a lot of my daycare kids are allowed to watch tv programming that I would never allow them to watch but that's on the parents.

Every once in a while we do have a movie day (mostly around Christmas or other holidays) but the movies we watch then are things like The Polar Express or the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and things like that.

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"Nope, no thank you. Not appropriate in my house. Find something else."

I say this A LOT.

Funny how the families that start out all "AP, organic food, raw milk, no TV ever, no electronic toys at home..." kinda swiftly devolve into McD's three nights a week, kids coming in with lollipops, unable to play with anything that doesn't take batteries, and what seems to be endless TV time at home...

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I didn't assume that you allowed it-I guessed that you're trying to find a way to deal with it. I tell the kids (in front of the parents, when possible) that those shows are not for kids, and that behavior is not allowed at my house. If there is a problem (and I did have one before), then I talk directly to the parents about how the violence the kids see on TV is seeping into their "reality" at daycare (and probably at home, too).

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I just say, "That isn't for preschool. All done with that. " and they move on.

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Play like that bothers me, and like you, I wish there were more dramatic play that wasn't scripted right from t.v./movies. (Personally, I'd love to ban all princess/disney play as well.) However, dramatic play is how children process things they are trying to understand or deal with, so it's perfectly appropriate and important for them to be able to play out what they're seeing. I'd help them set boundaries/rules for play. For example, some of my kids like to wrestle (not based on t.v. watching, thank goodness). They may--as long as the other child agrees and it's done within safe guidelines.

I'd also work on parent education--documenting what's going on ("documenting" meant in the sharing-the-learning-story sort of way, not in the kid's-in-trouble sense), explaining where you think it's coming from, how you're handling it, etc. I might share articles about the effects of violent t.v. on kids.

The book "Remote Control Childhood?: Combating the Hazards of Media Culture" by Diane E. Levin was helpful to me when I was first trying to figure this out (back in Ninja Turtle days).

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We went through a ZOMBIES dramatic play phase. I really disliked it, but they weren't harming anyone - they had the rules given about running/screaming/touching friends when we pretend play and if they broke them then Zombie Play was blacklisted for the day.

It worked.


I keep my NO, NOT HERE play for anything relating to private body parts or words or play that hurts others (physically/emotionally/etc). When I hear a private part word used inappropriately the kids KNOW I will be at their side in 2 seconds to have a not-so-fun reminder that we don't use that word here.

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I have my daycare set up really well for imaginative play. I don't even bring out the "toys" except for about an hour a day. I have a castle area, a great kitchen area, tons of puppets and a theatre, and lot of different ways to do the imaginative/dramatic play. The rest of the time we are outside and also do preschool.

It does frustrate me when parents let kids watch things that are too adult for them, though. My son, who is 6, has friends whose parents take them to all kinds of grown up movies and let them play insane video games. I notice that those kids tend to be more violent in their play.

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