CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Backgrounds to the Study

          Childhood as a stage in the human life cycle encompasses a period of  phenomenal biological, physiological, psychological, and social growth. Between infancy and the beginning of adolescence, about age twelve, the human acquires major life skills the ability to walk, talk, read, care for oneself, and come to know the world around him or her. During this time, the child first encounters the major agents of socialization:  the family, peers, schools, and media.

       Children is the future as we knows, their right behavior that can be accepted by social were established in family, communities and sociality.

          The child now is very different with the several years ago. It’s the real problem to the parent, teacher and government for handling that was a serious public problem in many socialites around the world, one of the main causes was media influence. (Saman Gnangsanit, 1999 p.29)

          The children in common society will be easy to accepting influence from environment and they have good memorize to do anything because of stimulant. The brains can help to learning and doing anything. It’s transforms to be their negative lifestyle and copy-cat behavior (Dr. Pang Shinnapong, Oct  2004) Children will be view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts. (Congressional Public Health Summit, 2000).

          Therefore, the “terms” animation and cartoon have been associated with lively and usually humorous images set in motion.

          According to Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (2001) Defines animation as giving life or liveliness to something and while, the word cartoon is refers to the sketches or drawings similar to the ones we have seen in newspapers. When these words are combined to animated cartoon they refer to a “motion picture consisting of a sequence of drawings, each so slightly different that when filmed and run through a projector the figures seem to move” (Random House, Inc.,2001, p. 82)

          The popular animated cartoons channels are: Nickelodeon, Child Smille, BabyTV, Animaux, Cartoon Network, Jimjam  e.t.c and they are now available on cable tv such as Startime, Dstv, Gotv e.t.c

          Similarly, some of the popular cartoons are: Dragon Ball Z, Fruits Basket, The Simpsons, Futurama, Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, Sailor Moon, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Tarzan, Tom and Jerry and Spider-Man e.t.c while of these cartoons are shown at the cinema hall such as Ikeja City Mall.

          It is against this background that the research examined the influence of animated cartoons on the behavioral development of children who watch animated cartoons at the Ikeja City Mall. With the view to know how cartoon influence the learning skill of children, affect the socio-cultural behaviours of children, what are the role play by parents on the cartoon viewing habits of their children.