Need advice

[satosere]

So, my sister babysits this little girl who's like 3, and I go over sometimes to play with her and help out. As you all know, Pokemon is my fave thing ever, and I want to watch it with this little girl. Might sound stupid, right? Trying to get a 3 year old obsessed with Pokemon? I probably don't have a chance. And I'm not sure what this girl's parent's rules are about what she watches. She loves Disney movies and any fun kids show, but I'm not sure she'd like Pokemon for some reason. Would she be scared of the battle scenes? Try to get into a 3 year old girl's mind. (I also want to train her into being an Amourshipper Lol) Thanks.

[Heather]

If it's the battles you're worried about, there's pleeeenty of filler. But as a general rule, it might be a good idea to shy away from the Indigo League series for now. It's the best IMO but a 3 year old might not take well to the scene where Ash walks into a store only to have six shotguns trained on him.

[satosere]

Wasn't that episode banned though?

[Missingno. Master]

Originally Posted by satosere

Wasn't that episode banned though?

You're thinking of The Legend of Dratini. The episode Myles mentioned is Here Comes The Squirtle Squad, which was not banned. Begging the question, of course, why ban one and not the other?

[Kuvario]

Maybe because the gun was pointed veeeery close to Ash as seen in these pics of the Dratini episode? (Look at the one to the left of the photo frame with Dratini) Serebii's banned episodes list also mentioned that this episode featured firing of guns...though I'm not sure if actually did.

I guess they didn't ban the Squirtle one because it's an early episode featuring one of the Kanto starters?

[Talon87]

You can't force someone to like something, let alone to love it as much as you do. I'd say that if you were to introduce her to Pokémon there'd likely be no harm in it but at the same time you shouldn't have any expectations of her going gaga for it. And if she doesn't go gaga for it, I'd say you shouldn't be forcing her to sit down and watch it with you or something. Either she likes it or she doesn't. Either she wants to watch more Pokémon or she wants to move on to some other television program she likes.

Also: she's three years old. Not really sure of the exact consequences of this. Just sure that there would be some. Three is an awfully young age. I'd never expect a three-year-old to like something the same way a ten-year-old would the same way a twenty-year-old would. So I'd caution you there too. Try not to go into this with the expectation that you're going to produce a new Pokémon gushing buddy. Three years old is practically a baby.

[precita]

The Pokemon anime is for kids, even at its most violent its completely tame compared to any other show out there.

Let her watch whatever season of the anime you want, they're all practically the same in terms of content anyway.

[satosere]

I was thinking about starting with XY. Maybe Serena's performances? She'd like those. Or should I start from the beginning of the season?

Anyway thanks all you peeps so much for the advice. You've been a big help.

[Mercutio]

The Pokémon animé is utter garbage and has been since the 90s. Hooking anyone to it is morally reprehensible lol.

[satosere]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

The Pokémon animé is utter garbage and has been since the 90s. Hooking anyone to it is morally reprehensible lol.

Ummmm......

[Jerichi]

Don't listen to Kush. He's a curmudgeon. A correct curmudgeon but a curmudgeon nonetheless.

[Slash]

Also, grooming someone to be a shipper seems pretty immoral, too. And creepy

[satosere]

Why does it sound creepy?

[Slash]

because you're grooming someone A) with your own ideas of what love and romance is instead of letting them form their ideas and opinions on their own (granted, media already interferes with that but it doesn't make it right to stoop to their levels), B) training them to make up relationships (and in the shipping communities, often quite explicit ones) with prepubescent children, and C) rabid shipping tends to take certain assumptions too far to extremes. It's often heteronormative and/or ignores asexuality and bisexuality, defines characters entirely by what relationships you think they might possibly eventually be in maybe, oh, and yeah, in Pokemon, they're prepubescent and probably not even thinking much about their sexuality or romantic inklings.

Now, shipping in general is okay when you don't go to creepy places with it, and keep it in moderation. Grooming someone to be an Armourshipper is both.

[Kindrindra]

As someone who both did this to my sister and also trained my three-year-old (or he might have been younger, actually) how to play Pokemon Stadium... I'd be fairly hypocritical of me to not support the idea. '^_^

Also, guys, lay off, she's a kid herself, she's not grooming anyone to be anything anytime soon. T_T

[Rangeet]

You knew me too well when I was 13 to say that, Kind.

[KamenAeons]

Adding on that trying to groom someone to like something you like such as shipping or Pokemon in general can backfire. It's a mixed bag since not all kids will enjoy Pokemon or shipping characters. Also try not to heap up on the creepiness of a young child shipping 10 year olds. They're most likely younger than those fictional characters.

satosere, the main thing to take from this is you can try show the kiddo Pokemon, but don't force the kid through massive chunks of shipping material. A three year old is not going to understand the significance of Amourshipping or anything, and come several years time, Amourshipping will be replaced with another ship.

Let her make her own opinions and her own ships. At that young age, the things a kid would think would probably not be "OMG THIS COUPLE IS SO CUTE TOGETHER" but more "what is love. what is this you are showing me, mortal." You should really not force a kid to like shipping your favourite Pokemon characters without even knowing if she likes Pokemon to begin with.

(EDIT: Also probably don't try to make a massive deal about shipping at that kid's age.)

[satosere]

Well thank you all for the help. I am planning on watching some with her tomorrow. Hopefully she'll like it!!

And I will not be shoving Amourshipping in her face after all. But maybe, just maybe, she'll learn to like it on her own once she gets older <3

[KamenAeons]

That's the spirit. Hopefully she'll come to enjoy shipping like you in her own time.

[precita]

Its interesting that kids nowadays have the option of watching 6 different pokemon sagas, and can choose from 5 different female companions.

Back in my day it was only Kanto and Misty and that's it. Now you can skip ahead and watch the show in any order and can choose from 1 of 5 female leads. Its gotten to the point where you don't even have to know who Misty or Brock are to watch Pokemon.

Its so funny what a difference a single decade can make.

[Ironthunder]

It also kind of helps that you can start watching at the start of basically any region and you miss literally nothing of any importance.

[Mercutio]

Originally Posted by Ironthunder

It also kind of helps that you can start watching at the start of basically any region and you miss literally nothing of any importance.

"Hey Grandpa, why isn't that Pikachu in his Pokéball? Is he the Pikachu from the Great Pikachu Detective films? The one with the robot bodyguard?"

"I wish I'd pushed your mother down the stairs."

[Ironthunder]

Well, almost nothing. Each new region's a clean sheet for Ash, barring Johto iirc and the Pikachu thing. As in, wholly new. It's almost like he's brainwashed to forget literally everything related to battling and whatnot at the start of a new region.

(I watched some original stuff, battle frontier and early DP way back when).

[satosere]

My sister and I just finished having an Indigo League marathon! And I literally cried at the end of Bye Bye Butterfree. :'(