Peppa Pig

Move over SpongeBob, it seems there's a new cartoon villain in town. Her name is Peppa Pig, and she's causing quite a stink with parents. 

Personally, I'm no fan of the cartoon. Pigs with a British accent are pretty cute, but all that snorting drives me mad. Other parents have much bigger issues with the porky little cartoon character, however, and claim she and her cheeky little ways are driving droves of toddlers to act like brats. 

Parents say they're banning the show, because their toddlers simply can't behave after watching Peppa. The Telegraph reports that from sassy backtalk to their parents to splashing in mud puddles, this pig is promoting some piggish behavior. Because clearly no toddler would ever jump in a puddle or speak with anything less than respect to an adult if they didn't see a pig do it first, right?

Hogwash.

One father told the paper:

George Pig, who my son loves, says 'Yuck' at vegetables and only wants to eat chocolate cake. A day after watching that episode, my son wouldn't eat his cucumber and tomatoes.

Let's roast the pig!

I certainly have shows I don't let my children watch. SpongeBob is a good example, because I find that guy creepier than hell. But I don't think he's powerful enough to overcome the parenting lessons I try to instill in them the rest of the 23 and half hours a day when they're not watching him. IF I do let them watch it on occasion (only at an Embassy Suites Hotel -- long story), then I watch with them and we talk about why that kind of behavior isn't nice.

I'm all for parents denying their children any program -- all programs for that matter -- if that's what they think is best for their family. I just don't think that Peppa Pig should be blamed for terrible toddler behavior. Parents should.

Our kids are going to be subjected to all sorts of "bad influences" throughout their lives, many of which we won't be able to control. If it's not Peppa, it's going to be that brat in their Little Gym class, and so on. So I think it's best if we get used to the idea now that our parenting needs to be more powerful than any outside messages and stop passing the blame onto cute little pigs or anyone else.

Do you let your kids watch Peppa Pig? Do you notice any bad behavior because of it?


Image via eonefamily/YouTube