Enjoying Christmas drawings: benefits for children
We review the values transmitted by Christmas series and films aimed at the smallest of the house
Christmas is a special time. They are dates full of feelings and new values, which we do not highlight so much throughout the year, and which are accentuated at Christmas time. And if there is a part of society that lives with greater intensity, if possible, the parties are the smallest. Television, shopping malls, the streets … everything is filled with stimuli that reach infants in the most direct way.
And, in addition, cartoons and children’s programming ‘dress up for Christmas’ . The television grid is filled with stories typical of dates where a series of values become relevant and makes children receive indoctrination about them in a more intense way: illusion, magic, generosity, empathy, family affection … everything which encompasses the true spirit of Christmas. Cartoons like Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob or Caillou have special episodes for the dates and movies like ‘Go Santa Klaus!’, ‘Alone at home’, ‘A father in distress’ or ‘The Grinch’ are already classics of the months of December and January.
That is why, from PregDream Navidad we present you the values that cartoons transmit at Christmas time and that fill the televisions of all the homes where children live.
Index
THE ILLUSION
The first characteristic value of Christmas cartoons is illusion. The illusion for a time full of surprises, activities, leisure and gifts. It is the illusion conveyed by the idyllic and cared for endlessly Christmas decorations in the cartoons for the month of December-January: gigantic Christmas trees, dozens of different colored balls, the classic sock hanging by the fireplace, sweets and countless gifts wrapped perfectly and strategically placed. All this, that atmosphere, envelops the story in the midst of a necessary illusion at Christmas.
In addition, we often find outings or shopping afternoons in major cities in the world: New York, London, Paris, Chicago … The snow that provides this differential symbol, that whiteness that takes us directly to Lapland, home of Santa Claus and this transmits illusion for the time to the smallest of the house.
THE MAGIC
In relation to the above, magic is another of the values transmitted by Christmas drawings. This way of transferring the plot to the northernmost point of the Earth, to the north pole, fills the hearts of children with illusion who, in many drawings, have seen how children of similar ages to them traveled with Santa Klaus himself, in his sleigh, spreading illusion all over the world. All this conveys that fantasy, the magic of Christmas.
The magic that the characters that only seem to exist also provide at Christmas: the magical reindeer, the elves of Santa Claus, the Three Wise Men, animals that speak and have feelings and more of the same with the plants … That magic that they know transmit the scriptwriters and that reaches children and even the not so children in a very special time.
GENEROSITY AND EMPATHY
One of the most important values for society multiplies its presence and its allusions at Christmas time. And of course, in the cartoons it was not going to be less. They try to enhance the value of generosity towards others, towards relatives, with friends … and especially with the most disadvantaged: a beggar, an old man without a family, a stray animal … The fact of bringing food or gifts to that most helpless part of society is a symbol of generosity that children can collect from these types of drawings.
Generosity is also related, to a great extent, to empathy. The empathy of putting ourselves in the shoes of those most disadvantaged or lonely people , knowing that, while we dine in luxury and have dozens of gifts, others barely have a piece of bread to put in their mouths. That is why empathy is also celebrated during Christmas.
FAMILY AFFECTION
Another of the values transmitted by Christmas drawings is the importance of family and friends. Children are influenced by television from a time when we are encouraged to spend more time with our loved ones . And they do this in the form of reunions, either because they live in different areas or because the relationship is not good. Christmas drawings and series encourage us to forgive, to talk and to reconnect with people with whom, perhaps, we would not speak the rest of the year.
The traditional example of this is the typical son of divorced parents, who only has a ‘close’ relationship with either his father or his mother. But at Christmas he discovers a dimension of the parent with whom he did not have such a relationship that makes him regain the affection and affection that every child should have towards their parents . Spending more time with them or making special plans together. Movies like ‘Wow Santa Klaus!’ or ‘A father in distress’, two of the most typical children’s films of Christmas.
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
In addition, and speaking in a more traditional way, Christmas cartoons have historically transmitted religious values . More specifically Christians in our country. Knowledge about the history of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Magi, Moses, Noah … of all the Christian stories that have filled Christmas in Spain in previous stages. That religion that has taken a back seat in more modern times, although there are still films that convey the religious values of which we speak.
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
And finally, encompassing all of the above, the Christmas spirit. A Christmas spirit that mixes enthusiasm, magic, generosity, empathy, affection … The Christmas spirit that is transmitted to children through drawings and that gives them all the values that we have described above. That spirit that makes these holidays so special and that makes children’s Christmas cartoons and films so special.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.