Pokémon Tutorials on YouTube – What else are your kids learning?

As a middle-aged (young) mother, I have little interest in video games. In fact, I hardly have any. Observing my son, I disapproved of some of the violence in these games, but beyond the bloodshed, they have seemed for the most part quite innocuous. The worst thing you could say about them is that they were too absorbing and overwhelmingly focused on hand-eye coordination rather than logical thought processes. They also keep children away from the physical world, which by the way is not going away any time soon. I forced my son to grow vegetables this year in our little Japanese garden and, you know, he’s actually enjoying it.

Recently though, a new Pokémon store opened in a mall near us and I bought my son something called Pokémon Plush, which is just another way of saying ‘stuffed character’. He chose ‘Ampharos’, which looked friendly and hardly seemed a’ monster ‘to me (the origin of the word’ pokemon ‘is difficult to describe: technically it is Japanese but it comes from the Japanese transliterations of the two words’ pocket’ and ‘monster ‘, which is then abbreviated as’ pokemon’ or ‘pocket monster’). But most of these Pokémon plush toys look more like cute animals than monsters.

There are different facets to the Pokémon game, and a very popular one is that of the original: the computer game. I must confess that I have become quite interested in Pokémon recently, as they appeal to my curiosity for both science fiction and evolution. I also like computers and robotics. So I decided to take a look at how to play a game and chose a YouTube tutorial. I heard that Black and White was the latest in Pokemon products and games and I picked one of those. However, I must say that, as a parent, I was shocked and horrified by the 22-year-old storyteller. His language was very obscene. For adults, I have no problem with violence or profanity, but when it is under the guise of a children’s video that is where you have to draw a line.

I’ve watched hundreds, if not thousands, of YouTube videos, and I can’t remember a more poisonous narrative than this one. I was shocked and angry when I submitted a lengthy complaint to YouTube and realized that this is not limited to Pokémon games, but games across the board. As a mother, I thought that child content was harmless, it was not the case. I’m sure there are a lot of unsuspecting parents who don’t realize this either. I really think something needs to be done to give these videos a warning label or at least some sort of rating that makes it easier to identify which ones are suitable for young children.

I am happy to report that I went through a lot of Pokemon websites and found most of them innocent and cute. I picked up my son’s stuffed animal and will continue to monitor what my son watches. I urge all parents to do the same.