Mar 16, 2017 08:45 PM
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My brother, who just turned five, has been into Ben 10 for a while. He has some Ben 10 toys, including the watch. And he spends a lot of time with a friend at pre-school pretending they are Ben 10 etc. As his father, I have to admit that I haven't really paid much attention to the show. His mother has watched some of the episodes with him, I wasn't thrilled by some of the things he was telling me about the show and the various characters - it just sounded kind of low-class and thoughtless, but I didn't get really worried about it until last night. As he got ready for bed my son told me that he had seen something on the show that bothered him and made him feel very bad. He told me that there was a scene in which a cook who is preparing some food removes ear wax from her ear and adds it to the food. I couldn't believe that this kind of "entertainment" would be set before our young children by a major network and I thought my son must have been mistaken about what was happening in the scene. But it turns out he was right. The scene occurs in an episode called "A Chance of Face". From the "recap" page at tv.com(https://tv.com/Ben+10/A+Change+of+Face/episode/922189/recap.html): "In the cafeteria of the prison, it is lunch time, and Gwen is given a tray of yellowish goop. She asks the server if they have anything that’s organic, and the lunch lady gives her something that “she’s grown herself.” She sticks a finger inside her ear and mixes the earwax into her already disgusting food. The lunch lady tells her that she has more and should come back for seconds." How many parents would think that this kind of gross image is good for young children? Especially young kids who are still learning about what kinds of food are good to eat. Of course this show is rated TV-Y7, which means it might not be appropriate for kids younger than 7. But so is "Transformers" which does not contain this type of disturbing images. And of course the Cartoon Network knows that very young children are inevitably going to be exposed to the show and become absorbed in it, just by the times of day when they show it. So that's how much they care about our kids. A word to the wise: This show is not right for young children. Besides the violence there are very disturbing plot lines and images. Who cares about brothers according to me its one of my favorite shows.
