A new article by Angeline Lillard and Jennifer Peterson in Pediatrics indicates that four year-olds have a difficult time focusing immediately after watching nine minutes of a fast-paced cartoon (i.e., SpongeBob SquarePants). You can read it here.

A recent article by Costas Karageorghis and David-Lee Pries in the Sport Journal describes ten years of research indicating that fast-paced music helps individuals increase the intensity and duration of physical activity.  You can read it here.

An unpublished account of my own wife’s behavior indicates that she cannot fall asleep to True Blood on HBO.

I mention these three separate observations to make this point:  the best paintings, sculptures, television programs, music, movies and other forms of mediated reality change the observer.  They motivate us to laugh, cry, reflect, or move.

Expecting that a good, fast-paced cartoon would doing anything but motivate kids to jump around is as absurd as expecting that an exhibit of the collected works of Hieronymus Bosch would motivate patrons to bake cupcakes.

We all want our children to focus, to concentrate, to be healthy and to use their abilities to the fullest.  Conflicting reports and “magic bullet” solutions only make this harder.  It is why I object to the tone of Lillard and Peterson’s article.  Banning fast-paced cartoons is not a panacea.  It will not guarantee improved academic performance, but being a parent might.

Kids need parents.   They need parents to create environments where success can happen.  According to Lillard and Peterson’s data (which I believe), this might mean not allowing our kids to watch fast-paced cartoons (or play high-energy videogames, or listen to fast-tempo music) before or during studies.  It might mean setting an appropriate environment, with the right lighting and sound, for sleep.  It also might mean using Tom and Jerry to motivate kids to move around and get that much-needed physical exercise.