Ben 10

My son, 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* (*://*tv*/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.

I feel kind of funny to watch this, when its targeted at boys. Well boys do like action shows don't they? I use to watch this and I don't remember blood. Just Ben turning into weird aliens. If your child is a fan of action and aliens, this is the perfect show for them. But does anyone find it weird that Ben is voiced by a girl?

I watched several episodes before letting my son watch - and decided AGAINST him watching the series. The sci-fi and action would be enjoyable to many kids...but I could not tolerate the way Ben and his cousin, Gwen, talk to each other. They bicker almost constantly, calling each other names (Doofus, Stupid, etc.) and complaining about having to spend time together. While it is obvious that both ultimately will help each other out in times of crisis, it sets a terrible example to kids that name-calling and bratty behavior are acceptable ways of communicating.

I was sceptical about this cartoon and my son just got interest in it and I gave it a shot and let my child watch for few minutes and watched with him, I couldn't wait for it to end, the scenes were disturbing and not educational at all. After we watched my son started to say the big giant wolfe scared me, and he said it consistantly until I had to try and diffuse his mind with other children programmes like fireman sam etc, he went and after about 10mins came back and started talking about giant scary big bad wolfe.I will never let my son watch it again.