ARE THE CARTOONS YOUR KIDS WATCH ACTUALLY MADE FOR KIDS?
With the many streaming platforms out there, kids have access to a more diverse array of content than ever before. That being said, parents need to be extra vigilant about which shows and videos are captivating their children’s attention, particularly when it comes to cartoons.
with adult animation becoming more popular in recent years, many of the cartoons available on TV, streaming services, and YouTube are explicitly not for children.
So, how can parents make sure the cartoons their kids are watching are safe, wholesome, and educational?
In recent years, as YouTube has continued to amass countless hours of video content — much of it geared toward children — they’ve developed YouTube Kids, their streaming site for children under the age of 13. This site isn’t airtight, however, and disturbing content can sometimes slip through the cracks. Parents might also find value in sticking to certain channels or streaming services, such as PBS Kids, Nick Jr., or Disney+. There are also organizations like the Parents and Television Media Council, whose website, ParentsTV.org, can help parents determine which cartoons are okay for their kids to watch. Ultimately, the best way to ensure cartoons are safe is to watch with your kids. After all, this turns a solitary activity into one where parents can learn, laugh, and bond with their children.
SSA AVERAGE PROCESSING TIME DECREASED IN 2020 With things opening back up, it seems apropos to reflect on freedoms we are getting back to this Independence Day. Even the simple act of gathering with friends and family for a backyard barbecue feels like something to appreciate. While we’re all glad to be back on the road to normalcy, the last 15 months of pandemic restrictions have left their mark on many areas of society — in ways both good and bad. One unexpected upside of the pandemic is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) added an online video hearing option to their standard telephone hearing options. With that addition in the fall of 2020, the SSA has reduced the time it takes for applicants to get through the hearing process. Astonishingly, this one technological change led to a 25% drop in the average time it took the SSA to process claims in 2020 compared to 2019. Government agencies aren’t exactly known for moving quickly or their cutting edge technology. While SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul said that adding a video hearing option has been talked Some Good News Cartoons on their own aren’t bad for kids. In fact, enjoying them in moderation can have myriad benefits for a child’s development. They can bring laughter and relieve stress, engage a child’s imagination, help them develop their language skills, and teach them about topics ranging from mathematics to social skills. The best cartoons can be bright, colorful, funny stories that help children learn and grow. That said, though, not all cartoons are for kids, nor do they teach good lessons. Many cartoon characters encourage violence and speaking rudely to teachers and other authority figures. Additionally,
about for many years within the organization, the pandemic provided the needed sense of urgency to quickly implement the technology as a way to continue serving people and keep the claims process moving while keeping everyone safe. While the processing time has decreased — and that’s great news for our clients who are waiting to receive important benefits following a disability — it still takes, on average, upward of a year to complete the hearing process on new claims. That’s an improvement over the 502-day average of claims processing times in 2019, though. We’re hopeful that even as things get back to normal, this will be the new normal for our clients. While it’s been a difficult year for so many of us, we are grateful the tide is turning and a few silver linings have emerged.
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The Di Bartolomeo Law Office, P.C. 1139 Exchange Street | Astoria, Oregon | 503-325-8600 | www.JoeDiBartolomeo.com
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