What Is Your Mama Opnion on Spong Bob Square Pants

I love it. I let my kids watch it when they were little, and they grew up just fine. I think it's hilarious.

We love it. Honestly, generations grew up with Looney Tunes and the subject matter there was much more "adult" than Spongebob. I lesson I stress with my kids is that Spongebob never judges or discriminates to other characters in the show, no matter how nasty they might be (Squidward). He's everyone's friend unconditionally and is quick to forgive those who might upset or cross him. We should all be more like Spongebob.

Its a cartoon, what more is there to know really. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes gross. The kids like it, and they know the difference between a cartoon and real life so it does zero harm to let them enjoy it. I know some parents have issues with it, but think back to what we used to watch, like the road runner, now there was a violent cartoon!

OMG we all love that show!! I am definitely in the minority here.

I used to think it was an obnoxious show but then I started tuning in and really listening and it is pretty stinkin' funny.

We must be an odd family...we pop some popcorn and all sit down and watch episodes together. Sometimes we break into songs that have been sung on the show. We quote "Spongebobisms" in our home often...

Soooo, my vote is it is a funny,entertaining show. I think it is harmless...and really funny.

I have to admit...most of my kiddos did not care for sponge bob...but my 'special' daughter (16 yo...but developmentally about 5 or 6) LOVES him! She has committed some shows to memory, and speaks the dialogue out loud as she watches. She seems to 'get' that there are some words that 'we' don't use here at home...and that has never been an issue. She is REALLY animated (and her speech is SO clear when she watches).

I see it as her 'guilty pleasure'...and it makes gifting easy, as I can always find something 'sponge bob' that she doesn't have.

**shrug**

Seems harmless to me!

I know a lot of parents don't like it, but it's pretty hilarious and I don't mind it. I honestly thought Power Rangers was a whole lot worse.

ETA: Have you watched Tom & Jerry cartoons? Yikes! Can't believe my parents ever let me watch those but no one second guessed it a bit back in the 70s. Every kid back then watched it.

SBSP is fine in my house. I also have a first grader, my youngest, and my kids have been watching this forever. The overall message is a positive one - SB is a nice little guy and a good friend and hijinx and shenanagans ensue during every episode. Sure there are villains (like Plankton) but good always wins. I think it's a good, silly, funny show.

Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob Square pants!!'
Absorbent and Yellow is he!!

Ahhh ....yes...Spongebob Squarepants...

love/hate relationship with the show. don't like the words used - overall? It's funny and can be used as a teaching moment....why we don't use these words, etc.

I thought I didn't like SpongeBob til I watched him.
To know him truly IS to love him. :)

Personally, I think if you are raising your children right, your children are not going to emulate TV characters and bad behavior. I also, honestly, don't think SpongeBob is bad at ALL, especially compared to so much of this junk that's on Nick and Disney these days. I mean, these kids have spoiled brats for role models, and people honestly want to pick on SpongeBob?

I honestly wonder if the people who say things like "the way the characters treat each other is awful"...etc...have ever watched the show.

I think it's hilarious, so I've watched every episode more than once...and I don't get the above sentiment. SpongeBob is the epitomy of politeness, and teaches us that even when people are awful to you (Squidward) you should STILL be nice, polite, and friendly. He also teaches us that yes, in real life, we may have an awful boss but we still ought to do our jobs the best that we are able.

And then...it's just a cartoon, for crying out loud. Sure, if your kids do nothing but watch 6 hours of SpongeBob a day, you might have some problems...but it's not because of the show. It's what they're LACKING FROM THE PARENTS.

(And this is all coming from a super strict mother.)

And no, no real educational value...but a "vile piece of trash?" Do you people remember Ren and Stimpy? Do we all know the definition of "vile"?

I don't know...I grew up with Looney Tunes as some of the other mothers have mentioned and had no problems with dropping anvils on my friends. I can't honestly even think what my children would TRY to emulate from SPongeBob.

I dont think theres any thing wrong with spong bob, I watched it as a kid. And hes always to excited about going to work lol

It's hilarious! It's just a cartoon...

sweet and fun.
khairete
S.

My daughter is also in first grade (6) and loves SpongeBob. I don't think it’s any worse than any other cartoon out there. She does still like Dora, Curious George and the other calmer cartoons. I don’t think it is any worse than the cartoons I watched when I was a kid in the 70’s.

We do not watch it in our house. It seems really inappropriate for my guys age range, 3 and 6. We likely will never watch it...

I guess I'm in the minority. I think it's pretty funny!! And I wouldn't say it's crude. It's mostly just dumb. My kids love it and they're allowed to watch it, but they're 11 and 9, so maybe that's the difference here? I don't know, stuff like that just does not bother me. I get more annoyed at shows like iCarly (thank goodness that's gone!) - that girl Sam was extremely rude! Sponge Bob? Pretty harmless. If my kids misbehave or say inappropriate things I'm definitely not blaming Sponge Bob.

We thought it was hilarious.. and our daughter knew that cartoons are not real and we do not use some of the words that are said on that show.. And some of the humor went over her head anyway..

We all like him and all his friends :-) Especially Sandy since she's from Texas too ;-)

Actually, we ALL like SpongeBob in this house! It is funny and we have taught to our kids that there are some things D. by the characters that they should not emulate. Period.
I have friends whose kids are not allowed to watch the show, I just respect that and I avoid the show when they are playing in my house, and my kids know that too.
I heard my kid just a few days ago playing in the playground with another child, this was their conversation:
My kid: "....I like SpongeBob!, Do you like it?"
The other kid said: "No, I am not allowed to watch Spongebob".
My kid: "Oh, OK....mmmm why?"
the other kid:" 'cause.....it is rude...."
My kid: "yeah...it is rude, but I just don't do the rude things, I just laugh, and I do the nice things my mom teaches me, say thanks, be kind, not saying bad words, etc"
In the beginning I felt like: "omg, I am the only one allowing my kids watch this show!"...and then I felt so proud of my little one....
Yes, we watch the show sometimes..!

Some of it I find funny, and some of it is just obnoxious and crude. DD is 5 and knows who Sponge Bob is, and in the past has even been allowed to watch it by her dad, but I avoid it. I think it's probably relatively harmless but there are plenty of other cartoons and kids shows she can watch instead that have better content. I'm not worried about her emulating anything she sees on it but I can see where for some kids that would be an issue. My stepsons are now 18 and 19 and grew up watching Sponge Bob - can't see where it's had any kind of negative impact.

I grew up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and my parents always worried that I was going to think I could fall of a cliff or get blown up by dynamite and not actually get hurt by it. But I knew better - some kids are smarter than their parents give them credit for.

p.s. We do have Sponge Bob's pineapple house in our fish aquarium at home.

I like Sponge Bob. My 7 year old loves him!!

Sorry, no SB in this house! Personally, I feel that it's disgusting and rude - hubby does too. Thankfully my boy (also 1st grade) hasn't ever taken a real shine to it. Scooby Doo seems to be tops in our house! :)

I think it's stupid but harmless.

It's hilarious but not appropriate for young children. We don't have cable, so thankfully it isn't an issue and they don't know who sponge bob is.

You're the parent and you get to pick and choose what he watches. When in doubt I say it's a "no".

In one word: ugh.

The range of shows I let my kids, age 6-2, watch is still pretty narrow.

ugh, I used to ban it completely and couldn't stand anything about it. It is just so stupid. However, I have become a little more open to it in the last year or so. We don't have NICK anymore but when we stay in hotels it seems to run marathon style so I will let my kids watch it and they love it. I feel like a few brain cells die with each episode viewed ;) ;) I heard a fellow 9 year old at my son's birthday party talking about how he watches Family Guy and American Dad regularly. So I began to feel that maybe my 9 yr/old wanting to watch Sponge Bob wasn't so bad haha.

We don't allow it. We have seen so many behavioral problems after watching it, it's just for the best. Anyone who says what we see and hear does not alter our behavior is kidding herself.

We don't make a big thing out of it if they see it a friend's house, but that's going to be a few times/month vs. weekly.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/09/13/spongebob-squarep...

I think it's dumb but harmless.
My kids watched it when they were younger but I never did!

Hi! Good mama instinct to not like it: SpongeBob is one of the worst cartoons out there for your child. Check out this news story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/watching-spongebob-...

There are much better cartoons that I'm sure your child will get into and love even more than SpongeBob. Keep up the great parenting!
S.

It is not allowed to be watched in my home. He is very disrespectful, crude and rude and any kids in my home would be in a world of hurt of they decided to copy him. It's in THEIR best interests not to watch it.

Personally, it's trash. We don't watch any trash TV. If it doesn't have an educational component, we don't bother. And now that they're older, we don't really watch TV at all. We might put on a movie on Netflix or an old episode of the Dick Van Dyke show, stuff like that.

I think it's overstimulating. It's like the TV version of pure sugar. A lot of the humor is also inappropriate for the target audience's age. So, no.

I won't let my kids watch it (4 year old twin boys) and personally, I don't like the show.

There was an article about the show and young children a couple years ago, but it was more about the effect on pre-schoolers. Here's one link, there may be other references:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44460161/ns/health-childrens_he...

The target audience for the show is 6-11 years old so it makes sense that it's not good for the younger crowd. A first grader falls into the target audience, but it's still up to you whether or not you think it's good for your child.

There are other shows I won't let my kids watch even if they may be age appropriate.

There are probably funny parts, but I don't like the way the characters talk to one another and the words they use, so it's not a show we watch at my house.

I can't stand it- its obnoxious and I don't allow my kids to watch it. The humor is very adult.

We don't personally let our 4YO watch it, and probably don't want him to even at the appropriate age. But it's hard to tell them that when Bob is all over stores and all friends are watching it. If you let him watch, watch with him so you can talk to him about what's inappropriate or the cartoon vs reality factor. if you hear an offensive or tasteless line on the show repeat it to them and say "that's just silly. you know that wasn't very nice, they can say that on a cartoon but we don't say that to real people".

I have the same issue with Transformers. My son never watches it but is influenced by another boy in daycare. I have bought him the 'rescue bots' toys (somewhat younger/less violent version) and am ok with him having a transformer shirt as long as it's not showing violence. But we talk about the bad side of it and what some of them do that is wrong. I believe it's up to you to have that dialog with your child. We can't hide them from all the negative things out there, not that we have to show them everything but for the stuff they see all their friends doing and ask about it or request it - they need to hear about it from you and the importance of why you don't want them to watch it (or if you let them, discuss what they are seeing and how that should be separated from reality. they are NEVER too young to understand this).

I do not like that one.

We watch spongebob. I am not sure what everyone is afraid that their kids will copy? He is nice to his friends works hard at his job, and forgives those that are mean to him. It's lacking in "education" but it's supposed to just be silly. Oh yeah, he is nice to his parents, loves his grandma, and takes excellent care of his pet. There are certainly worse things kids could (and do) copy b

As an adult I find it amusing, but i also find South Park Amusing.

I don't want my children to call each other names using the language Sponge Bob uses, so in our house we always gave them better options. There are tons of great kids shows out there that don't have that language and don't have stupid ( lol yes i realized i said the "s" word) role models.

Have to say I also don't like phineas and ferb, they are smart and creative and all of that but the olders sister and her "boyfriend angst" and younger brother drama are not something I choose to have my kids exposed to.

we are good with Arthur, Dino dan, Doc McStuffins (still at 8 yo), Olivia

I don't watch it. It's annoying at best and often crude. I don't think it's appropriate for it's target audence but those that it is "appopriate" for would be too mature to watch it (generally speaking). It is not watched in my home.

I think people have forgotten that cartoons are for kids and there are many that are not for kids these days (Family Guy comes to mind).

My daughter loves Tom & Jerry because she is all about physical comedy (and she knows it's not real).

I think they make Patrick way to stupid but I do think it's pretty harmless. It teaches how friends take care of each other and stuff like that. I can get tired of it after a couple of episodes but the kids really like it.

My vote is it's harmless. Not my favorite cartoon but not one that teaches kids to disrespect adults or to make bad choices such as sneaking out to go to parties or treat others like they are trash.

Yuck. I don't like it. My son thinks he likes Sponge Bob (we have a placemat and he has 1 pirate sponge bob shirt), but he has NEVER seen an episode on TV. I don't like that it's just stupid, and the humor is a bit crude for my taste, and name calling is inappropriate. (I dvr shows he shows interest in and watch them when he's asleep to see what they are like).

I didn't ban him from the home (hence the placemat and shirt) because that would probably make my 6 year old want to see it more...but I just keep the kids busy (homework, make snack or dinner with mom, bikes, play in the yard with neighbors, soccer, awanas, running club, etc) so TV is very limited. That's not the show he chooses to watch if he can only watch a couple things due to having a life and time contraints.

What we DO watch, many parents would hate but we watch it together as a family: Malcolm in the Middle reruns. But at least it's a family event and not just an inane cartoon with no value. I don't believe it's an evil government conspiracy to suck the last living brain cells from our young children or anything crazy like that though (ha)....I just don't like it and would rather the boys not watch organically mind-numbing tv. :)

Hate it, but admittedly, it is watched here from time to time. If I could go back, I would ban it because it is a vile, non-educational piece of trash.

I refuse to let my children watch it. I don't like it and feel that it is disgusting.

My kids watch very little TV, so when they do, I prefer something a little more high quality. IMO, it should either have some educational value (Magic School Bus, Mickey Mouse, Word World, etc) or be something I like (LOVE the Toy Story movies, Curious George, Barnyard (movie), Madagascar movies, etc).

I don't like it and my kids have never been permitted to watch it. I don't like how the characters speak to or treat each other. This is not the behavior I wanted emulated in any way in our home. Now that my kids are older and control the remoter more than I do, they make the choice to turn the channel when it comes on. A friend of mine let her children watch it when they were younger until her children started acting like the characters and repeating the phrases they had heard on the show. That is when she decided Sponge Bob was not a good influence. It's your home and your family, if you decide that it is not the right choice for you there are a ton of other shows available.
Good Luck

My son loves it. He has for over a year. I don't mind him watching it. His two faves are SB and Thomas the Train. Both show how to treat friends nicely and just be nice in general. SB is very silly but at my son's age, silly is a good thing!

I didn't read all your responses so sorry if I repeat something. Anyway, I had always let my kids watch it, because I thought it was kinda funny, but my neighbor would NEVER let her kids watch it, and one day I asked her why. She said HELLO the town is named Bikini Bottom and there is a Mr. Crabs. Why would I let my kids watch that!!? I guess I got it after that. Who thinks up this stuff anyway!!?

I don't ban it at all, but definitely not my favorite cartoon...

I personally find it annoying, but the kids liked it at one time.

I don't like it so I steer away from it - but I don't forbid it. Forbidden fruit is so tempting.

I find him a little crude, loud, and annoying. I discourage DD from watching, though he is not outright banned. But DD rarely wants to watch him anyway.

Geez, lighten up ladies. Who cares if it isn't educational? Good grief, didn't we all watch Looney Tunes growing up?