WHAT AGUA BENDITA HAS DONE TO MY KID

for the past few days, we’ve noticed that ineng has been utterly unruly and mischievous.

inasmuch as i would like to make myself understand that she is just entering a toddler phase where unruliness is the rule, i tried to beg myself to become more rational and look deeper into the issue.

yesterday was the height of the investigation.

all the while we thought that she was being influenced by either cousins, playmates or the hot weather (we considered that, believe me), but lo and behold, after a feat of mimicry, we came to an understanding that her tantrums and outbursts were well in fact results of her idolizing BENDITA of the popular TV series.

she even went to the extent of mimicking how BENDITA would look like when she was angry or disappointed over how her parents were towards AGUA, etc. the other day, added my brother-in-law, carla told him, “tito alvin tingnan mo o. galit si agua!” then she put her arms around herself as if trying to daunt her uncle with the pose.

***

inasmuch as i would like to understand and tell myself that time and again, the media merely influences but lets society decide, i cannot but conclude on the power of the media to create and destroy people in the wink of an eye (which is equivalent to around 29 frames shot consecutively per second or 525 frames per minute, to create motion).

partly, my wife and i were to blame because we exposed our daughter to media that we should have sieved first. either way, we would like to think that carla is still luckier, since she has parents who can do media studies as a living. my wife and i then started thinking about the other kids, whose parents were either working at night, or did not go home at all (like what i had when i was young, which is why i became a media buff, but of course TV then has lesser violence, sex and characters who bent reality); we wonder how TV shapes their lives and distorts their concepts of reality.

on the onset, we decided to stop allowing her from watching any of the late-night dramaserye. instead, we play or read books at night. we’ve learned a valuable lesson.

***

and she is still unruly, mischievous and has tantrums.